Joiner/leaver adjustment on final pay slip?

Shadweller

Please can anyone advise if they have any knowledge of joiner leaver adjustment being applied on a final pay slip?

I have never heard of such a thing previously, and it amounts to about a month's salary being deducted from my final pay.

I have done a quick google which hasn't been much help, most of the results seem to have been set up for payroll departments, advising them how to calculate this deduction, or how not to apply it.

From that I would deduce that this is a discretionary deduction.

Can anyone advise if this deduction is fair, legal, and above board, or not? And if can be appealed?

Naturally I am pretty put out, as there was never any mention of this deduction in any previous communications.

(I wasn't sure which section of the forum this post should go in, it might belong better in the employment rights section, rather than the redundancy section, but I cant delete my post from the redundancy section)

Marcon

Shadweller said:

Please can anyone advise if they have any knowledge of joiner leaver adjustment being applied on a final pay slip?

I have never heard of such a thing previously, and it amounts to about a month's salary being deducted from my final pay.

I have done a quick google which hasn't been much help, most of the results seem to have been set up for payroll departments, advising them how to calculate this deduction, or how not to apply it.

From that I would deduce that this is a discretionary deduction.

Can anyone advise if this deduction is fair, legal, and above board, or not? And if can be appealed?

Naturally I am pretty put out, as there was never any mention of this deduction in any previous communications.

(I wasn't sure which section of the forum this post should go in, it might belong better in the employment rights section, rather than the redundancy section, but I cant delete my post from the redundancy section)

Before doing anything else, go back to your employer and ask them to explain exactly what the deduction represents.

TheSpiddalKid

You will likely need to give more information to give a better answer but theoretically and practically, yes it is possible (examples below).

The main thing to remember here is if there isn't a law against it then contracts can say what they like. 

The relevant law in this area is going to be those that relate to pay, so mainly National Minimum Wage Act but also laws related to statutory pay and in an indirect way the Equalities act.

Examples of where a 'penality' is impose on leavers has recently been discussed on another threat where a leaver wasn't entitled to a bonus or pay rise that had been agreed.

Others I am aware of are where someone on maternity leave gets occupational maternity pay, many organisations will say the employee needs to return for a certain period of time or pay back the occupational element of maternity pay.

General_Grant

Marcon said:

Shadweller said:

Please can anyone advise if they have any knowledge of joiner leaver adjustment being applied on a final pay slip?

I have never heard of such a thing previously, and it amounts to about a month's salary being deducted from my final pay.

I have done a quick google which hasn't been much help, most of the results seem to have been set up for payroll departments, advising them how to calculate this deduction, or how not to apply it.

From that I would deduce that this is a discretionary deduction.

Can anyone advise if this deduction is fair, legal, and above board, or not? And if can be appealed?

Naturally I am pretty put out, as there was never any mention of this deduction in any previous communications.

(I wasn't sure which section of the forum this post should go in, it might belong better in the employment rights section, rather than the redundancy section, but I cant delete my post from the redundancy section)

Before doing anything else, go back to your employer and ask them to explain exactly what the deduction represents.

^^^^^^
this 

find out what it is meant to represent and how it was calculated

(Presumably it is a "leaver adjustment" and the phrase "joiner leaver adjustment" is because the same line is used for either case.)

Marcon

TheSpiddalKid said:

You will likely need to give more information to give a better answer but theoretically and practically, yes it is possible (examples below).

The main thing to remember here is if there isn't a law against it then contracts can say what they like. 

The relevant law in this area is going to be those that relate to pay, so mainly National Minimum Wage Act but also laws related to statutory pay and in an indirect way the Equalities act.

Examples of where a 'penality' is impose on leavers has recently been discussed on another threat where a leaver wasn't entitled to a bonus or pay rise that had been agreed.

Others I am aware of are where someone on maternity leave gets occupational maternity pay, many organisations will say the employee needs to return for a certain period of time or pay back the occupational element of maternity pay.

The most relevant law is likely to be the one relating to deductions from wages. If the deductions are lawful and take the final pay below minimum wage, that isn't a breach of minimum wage legislation - hence the importance of knowing exactly what has been deducted and why.

Shadweller

Thanks for the replies.

The payroll dept have explained exactly what the deduction was, and it makes sense now.