Work paid parking fine - now taken money from wages without knowledge!

garth549

Does his employment contract only allow them to deduct parking/motoring 'fines'? The wording is very important.

Fines can only be issued by a council officer or the police. A private company cannot issue 'fines' - they are invoices.

If they can only recover fines under his contract then I'd be writing a letter demanding a refund or face court action. There was no reason for them to pay these on his behalf as they could have simply named him as driver which absolves their liability.

oldernonethewiser

Money can only be deducted with the written permission of the employee (in this case former employee).


That permission may well have been part of the contract but he would need to check the specifics.



https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/leaving-a-job/resigning/if-your-employer-says-you-owe-them-money/

Undervalued

oldernonethewiser wrote: »

Money can only be deducted with the written permission of the employee (in this case former employee).


That permission may well have been part of the contract but he would need to check the specifics.



https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/leaving-a-job/resigning/if-your-employer-says-you-owe-them-money/

Indeed. That is why I said a couple of posts back this is now an employment dispute and not a parking one.

However, as you say, it was very likely a part of the OP's contract that the employer can deduct money owed.

Either way, another factor is whether the OP needs to stay on good terms with the former employer.

spadoosh

This definitely sounds like its worth fighting. I cant imagine it will be that difficult to get out of it on a technicality. If you did get out of it, youd be laughing because theres no way the parking company would refund the employer and thus they wouldnt chase your husband.

This is just something they shouldnt have got involved with and theyre asking for problems when they do.

Undervalued

spadoosh wrote: »

This definitely sounds like its worth fighting. I cant imagine it will be that difficult to get out of it on a technicality. If you did get out of it, youd be laughing because theres no way the parking company would refund the employer and thus they wouldnt chase your husband.

This is just something they shouldnt have got involved with and theyre asking for problems when they do.

I am not sure I would agree.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of these private parking notices / invoices (some of which are legally enforceable as recent case law has shown) the OP still parked on private land without permission. Arguably this brings his employer into disrepute.

Certainly the employer should have given him the opportunity to dispute the "fine" and / or pay it promptly at the lower rate. However as another poster mentioned that aspect may be the fault of a leasing company.

Almost certainly there will be a clause allowing deductions but if there is not he can certainly demand the money back from the employer. Whether it is really in his best interest to fall out over this only he can decide.

Ultimately, had he not parked on somebody else's private land none of this would have happened!

spadoosh

Undervalued wrote: »

I am not sure I would agree.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of these private parking notices / invoices (some of which are legally enforceable as recent case law has shown) the OP still parked on private land without permission. Arguably this brings his employer into disrepute.

Certainly the employer should have given him the opportunity to dispute the "fine" and / or pay it promptly at the lower rate. However as another poster mentioned that aspect may be the fault of a leasing company.

Almost certainly there will be a clause allowing deductions but if there is not he can certainly demand the money back from the employer. Whether it is really in his best interest to fall out over this only he can decide.

Ultimately, had he not parked on somebody else's private land none of this would have happened!

That would be a dangerous precedent in my eyes.

Youd be opening the situation up to unpaid builders rocking up at someone's employer demanding payment from them.

Theres already a system in place that handles all this, in the form of court orders.

What really matters though is the nature of the fine/invoice, which is it?


ETA its not uncommon for deduction clauses to be that vague they are made effectively pointless. We where told recently that ours was contentious because it said ALL training costs would be deducted on a sliding scale and didnt reference the specific training cost it applied to. Ermhhh.... ALL of them.

Undervalued

spadoosh wrote: »

That would be a dangerous precedent in my eyes.

Youd be opening the situation up to unpaid builders rocking up at someone's employer demanding payment from them.

Theres already a system in place that handles all this, in the form of court orders.

What really matters though is the nature of the fine/invoice, which is it?

Sorry but I don't see any similarity there at all. The vehicle is owned by the company and it was parked unlawfully on private land by one of their employees. So that brings the company into disrepute.

There are some companies who would take disciplinary action against the employee for this. Obviously somewhat of a moot point here as he has now left.

oldernonethewiser

Undervalued wrote: »

Sorry but I don't see any similarity there at all. The vehicle is owned by the company and it was parked unlawfully on private land by one of their employees. So that brings the company into disrepute.

There are some companies who would take disciplinary action against the employee for this. Obviously somewhat of a moot point here as he has now left.

Unlawfully?


Perhaps not.

Undervalued

oldernonethewiser wrote: »

Unlawfully?


Perhaps not.

The OP doesn't dispute that the vehicle was parked on private land and says he was willing to have paid the "fine" had he been given the opportunity to do so at the lower rate.

oldernonethewiser

Undervalued wrote: »

The OP doesn't dispute that the vehicle was parked on private land and says he was willing to have paid the "fine" had he been given the opportunity to do so at the lower rate.

Yet not necessarily unlawfully parked.;)