Employer has 'taken' back 6 years of payrises.

Wends69

Where do I start.

I have been employed in a firm of around 10 employees for the past 9 years, almost 10.  I've known my boss, the owner (35+ years).

We work within a financial organisation, and gradually overtime I have been left to 'run the office'.   I started here working for 1 adviser, and steadily as people left, worked for 3 advisers - taking on more than my fair share of the work.   This has saved them at least 1 salary.

Payrises - these are at the discretion of the company and mine have always been an informal lunch, with a comment at the end of "I'm going to give you an extra £1,000" this year - is that ok (no follow up in writing).  And this is how its gone for the past 9 years (until payroll started producing some fancy exel sheets last year).   I was told last year that I had been given slightly more due to the extra I had taken on - adviser no 3.

At the beginning of 2017, I was told that going forward, on a quarterly basis that I would receive a bonus, which would be 5% of the retained company ongoing fees, firstly for my boss, then for the 2nd adviser in 2020 and the 3rd in 2022.   All I have in writing is the initial email to payroll - going forward (so and so) will receive a quarterly bonus of 5% of commissioned earned.

A report is run every quarter from our back office system.  It was only realised in February, that there is a glitch in the report, and to cut a long story short, the company 'owes me' £15k in back commissions received (2017-23).

HOWEVER....... my boss has now told me, that if he had realised that I would be earning what I am (with the missed commissions - although  I know him and he would never have checked what I was earning), he would not have given me payrises.

So what he has done, is in effect withdrawn all those payrises and offset it against what they owe me, and the 'cost of' payrises is more than they owe me.

So they have also lowered my annual salary.

Can he do this?   It was not my understanding that my annual salary was connected to commissions earnt?  I just feel very upset by all this.  

Bobbobbobingalong

Ok, you may have a claim here but what is most important is that you do not miss any deadline for issuing your claim to an industrial tribunal which is a strict, absolute limit of 3 months less one day from the event you wish to complain about occurring. You will need to try and resolve the situation internally first but that does not stop the clock ticking. That said, every time you are underpaid that constitutes another 'event' and resets the clock to a new, hard and fast deadline - do not rely on that happening though and miss an existing deadline.

https://www.acas.org.uk/check-if-your-employer-can-make-deductions-from-your-wages

Jude57

Wends69 said:

Where do I start.

I have been employed in a firm of around 10 employees for the past 9 years, almost 10.  I've known my boss, the owner (35+ years).

We work within a financial organisation, and gradually overtime I have been left to 'run the office'.   I started here working for 1 adviser, and steadily as people left, worked for 3 advisers - taking on more than my fair share of the work.   This has saved them at least 1 salary.

Payrises - these are at the discretion of the company and mine have always been an informal lunch, with a comment at the end of "I'm going to give you an extra £1,000" this year - is that ok (no follow up in writing).  And this is how its gone for the past 9 years (until payroll started producing some fancy exel sheets last year).   I was told last year that I had been given slightly more due to the extra I had taken on - adviser no 3.

At the beginning of 2017, I was told that going forward, on a quarterly basis that I would receive a bonus, which would be 5% of the retained company ongoing fees, firstly for my boss, then for the 2nd adviser in 2020 and the 3rd in 2022.   All I have in writing is the initial email to payroll - going forward (so and so) will receive a quarterly bonus of 5% of commissioned earned.

A report is run every quarter from our back office system.  It was only realised in February, that there is a glitch in the report, and to cut a long story short, the company 'owes me' £15k in back commissions received (2017-23).

HOWEVER....... my boss has now told me, that if he had realised that I would be earning what I am (with the missed commissions - although  I know him and he would never have checked what I was earning), he would not have given me payrises.

So what he has done, is in effect withdrawn all those payrises and offset it against what they owe me, and the 'cost of' payrises is more than they owe me.

So they have also lowered my annual salary.

Can he do this?   It was not my understanding that my annual salary was connected to commissions earnt?  I just feel very upset by all this.  

You really need independent legal advice as a matter of urgency. See if you have legal cover with your bank account or any insurance product. Otherwise, find an employment solicitor by searching online. 

Undervalued

Jude57 said:

Wends69 said:

Where do I start.

I have been employed in a firm of around 10 employees for the past 9 years, almost 10.  I've known my boss, the owner (35+ years).

We work within a financial organisation, and gradually overtime I have been left to 'run the office'.   I started here working for 1 adviser, and steadily as people left, worked for 3 advisers - taking on more than my fair share of the work.   This has saved them at least 1 salary.

Payrises - these are at the discretion of the company and mine have always been an informal lunch, with a comment at the end of "I'm going to give you an extra £1,000" this year - is that ok (no follow up in writing).  And this is how its gone for the past 9 years (until payroll started producing some fancy exel sheets last year).   I was told last year that I had been given slightly more due to the extra I had taken on - adviser no 3.

At the beginning of 2017, I was told that going forward, on a quarterly basis that I would receive a bonus, which would be 5% of the retained company ongoing fees, firstly for my boss, then for the 2nd adviser in 2020 and the 3rd in 2022.   All I have in writing is the initial email to payroll - going forward (so and so) will receive a quarterly bonus of 5% of commissioned earned.

A report is run every quarter from our back office system.  It was only realised in February, that there is a glitch in the report, and to cut a long story short, the company 'owes me' £15k in back commissions received (2017-23).

HOWEVER....... my boss has now told me, that if he had realised that I would be earning what I am (with the missed commissions - although  I know him and he would never have checked what I was earning), he would not have given me payrises.

So what he has done, is in effect withdrawn all those payrises and offset it against what they owe me, and the 'cost of' payrises is more than they owe me.

So they have also lowered my annual salary.

Can he do this?   It was not my understanding that my annual salary was connected to commissions earnt?  I just feel very upset by all this.  

You really need independent legal advice as a matter of urgency. See if you have legal cover with your bank account or any insurance product. Otherwise, find an employment solicitor by searching online. 

Indeed.

By the sound of it there is a significant amount at stake here. Seek proper advice from a solicitor (and no, the ACAS helpline is not a substitute).

penners324

Get your CV upto date and start looking elsewhere as well as the above suggestions