Leaving Workplace/Lease Car

lufcgirl

Good Morning,

I'm hoping someone with some employment law knowledge can advise on this, as I'm currently between a rock and a hard place and need some help! (This will be quite long so apologies in advance)

So, I've worked for my employer for the past two and a half years. The company isn't run properly, I'm forced to do several underhand tactics in order to do my job which I know aren't morally right, including knowing (and keeping quiet) about some awful redundancy practises and the way they dealt with closing parts of the business and how they treated staff.
I couldn't stand working for a company this morally bankrupt, and so I decided to look around for a new job. I was offered a brilliant new role at the start of December. My direct Manager was suffering with anxiety and with it being a few weeks before Christmas I asked to start at the start of Feb so I could wait until January to hand my notice in. They were fine about this and I came back after Christmas and the same day handed my notice in to leave at the end of January.

Which leads me to the lease car. In May 2018, I signed a three year lease through work for a car via salary sacrifice, I understand that because I have left the company early I will need to pay a termination fee, which they don't have for certain as the car isn't handed back yet - but they think it will be in the region of £3k. Which is ridiculous but another story.
So this leads me to the present day. They have withheld my entire January salary towards this termination fee, and so I haven't had a salary since 20th December and I'm expected to pay the £60-odd per week petrol, I asked for a small amount of money for expenses for February which they wouldn't give me. They have also refused to give me a payslip for January showing the deductions.

Because it's in their terms and conditions rightly or wrongly I will have no salary from 20th December until 28th February in my new job. I know people will say I have and that goes towards the termination fee, but no options to pay off over time or for any help was declined.

Does anyone have any advise on if they've acted legally? I've spoken to a solicitor I know and he said because of the practises I could claim that I felt forced to leave my role as I didn't want to take part in their practises and felt uncomfortable. But it's more I've felt trapped for six months in this role and forced to stay because of this termination fee. I'm not disputing I owe it, but the manner they've gone about it fits in with the way they treat people most definitely!

Thank you if you've got this far

Dazed_and_confused

They have also refused to give me a payslip for January showing the deductions.

You can check what they have reported to HMRC on your Personal Tax Account on gov.uk. The information may be limited but might be useful.

If you look at this board for a while you will see that this type of issue is very very common when someone decides to leave an employer.

Expected bonuses not paid, problems returning company assets, unexpected deductions from final pay etc etc.

What do you hope to achieve by involving a solicitor? Are you happy to potentially pay £x in solicitor fees to just change how you will pay the termination fee off. You won't actually be any better off long term.

lufcgirl

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

You can check what they have reported to HMRC on your Personal Tax Account on gov.uk. The information may be limited but might be useful.

If you look at this board for a while you will see that this type of issue is very very common when someone decides to leave an employer.

Expected bonuses not paid, problems returning company assets, unexpected deductions from final pay etc etc.

What do you hope to achieve by involving a solicitor? Are you happy to potentially pay £x in solicitor fees to just change how you will pay the termination fee off. You won't actually be any better off long term.

No, the solicitor was a friend so it was basically just to seek some advice as to if their terms were worth the paper they were wrote on.

I have been given my bonus from my employer this month as well, they just haven't gave me a payslip and are refusing to.

Long term, I'm looking at the whistleblowing policy in regards to some serious failures in their redundancy process. This was the thing that tipped me over the edge and decide to leave when they were telling us to help with this illegal practice.

Also, I'm very fortunate in that I have savings and family to rely on for this gap in pay. The woman who sits next to me has 90% of her take home salary in rent and bills and couldn't afford this to happen to her - therefore she feels compelled to stay another two years.

Potbellypig

I'm struggling to understand the problem. You owe this money, you can afford to pay it, and so it's been paid. If it's in the terms and conditions that I assumed you signed up to when taking the vehicle, then it's all above board.

The whistle blowing thing is a completely different issue which only you can decide.