Incorrect pay by previous employer

flodger

Hi, wonder if anyone would be kind enough to comment. My son has heard that his previous employer (left about 6 months ago), has advised their staff that an error was made for over a year on their wages and this will now be corrected and back payments made to them, however this would only be for staff still in employment, there are many staff who left including my son who would have been affected by this.

is the company correct in saying they will only reimburse employees currently on the payroll, or do they have a duty to reimburse previous employees who weren’t paid correctly at the time. (I believe an error was made when changing from fortnightly to monthly wages).

Thanks in advance for any advice. 

General_Grant

Depends on the nature of the error.
If they underpaid because they miscalculated then it should be due to anyone who was underpaid.

Does your son have payslips which cover the changeover period and up to his leaving date?  Can he then work out what happened and how much he would be owed?

Marcon

flodger said:

Hi, wonder if anyone would be kind enough to comment. My son has heard that his previous employer (left about 6 months ago), has advised their staff that an error was made for over a year on their wages and this will now be corrected and back payments made to them, however this would only be for staff still in employment, there are many staff who left including my son who would have been affected by this.

is the company correct in saying they will only reimburse employees currently on the payroll, or do they have a duty to reimburse previous employees who weren’t paid correctly at the time. (I believe an error was made when changing from fortnightly to monthly wages).

Thanks in advance for any advice. 

If your son had a contractual entitlement to the amount underpaid (i.e. it wasn't something like a discretionary bonus - and it certainly doesn't sound like that), he should contact his employer in writing (email is fine) and explain what he has heard about underpayments. Remember that grapevines are notoriously inaccurate, so at this stage there's no point in sounding confrontational, although if he was on minimum wage it is worth 'innocently' making the point that he would not have received this minimum. He should ask for details of the amount he was underpaid and when he can expect to receive payment.

That may be enough to do the trick. If not, he should contact ACAS's helpline for some guidance on where to go next: 0300 123 1100

Rushing to Letter Before Action/Money Claim Online etc is a last resort, not a first one, although doubtless someone will be along to advocate that!

flodger

Thank you both for replying. 

Yes I agree about the rumour mill, and will ask him to get a bit more info before he writes to them, his wages were often wrong so his payslips are quite confusing, hence why it was probably not picked up for a long time.

Thanks again! 

Ath_Wat

How many people were involved?  If it is more than a handful then I would suggest the fact that none of them noticed means that the amounts involved are likely to be trifling.

Undervalued

General_Grant said:

Depends on the nature of the error.
If they underpaid because they miscalculated then it should be due to anyone who was underpaid.

Does your son have payslips which cover the changeover period and up to his leaving date?  Can he then work out what happened and how much he would be owed?

If they accidentally overpaid him they are entitled to claim the money back. Although obviously they could choose to waive this for employees who have left if they wish.