HR Issue - Deduction from Employee Wages

delermd1

Hi

I have a staff member who we are having a bit of an issue with at the moment.  

Previously when he is on locking up duties, he hasn't correctly performed his duties, one of which is to do a sweep of the property and to make sure all necessary electrics etc have been turned off (lights, fans, heaters, TV's etc).

We have found, probably since the start of the year, that he has been leaving things on overnight.  He was first verbally warned and reminded of his duties, and then 3 weeks ago we provided them with a written warning.  Fast forward 3 weeks and he still doesn't appear to have taken this on board as he is still making the same errors.

Although this may seem petty, but we believe it may be a way of getting through to him, but where do we stand with regards to making small decuctions from his wages to cover the 'electricity costs' the business incurs due to him leaving said items on overnight?  We'd only want to charge a small amount (say £5 per item), but obviously the warnings aren't making a difference and so it's hoped a financial consequence may cause him to perform his job correctly.

There is the option of looking to dismiss him if he continues, but until September when some of our student staff return from summer holidays we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot short term, and so want to explore this possible option, but not sure where we stand legally.  It states in his signed contract that "The Company will make all necessary deductions from your salary as required by law and shall be entitled to deduct from your pay or other payments due to you any money which you may owe to the Company at any time".

lincroft1710

September is only 2 months away, so give him a final written warning and if no improvement give him his due notice, timed so that he leaves after the replacement staff return

tizerbelle

Probably not a lawful action to take - you are fining the employee for failing to meet performance standards - you can't couch it in the bog standard clause quoted because this isn't money the employee owes you - its just a figure you've plucked from thin air and not a deduction he would have been aware of beforehand unlike for example if you had a uniform policy that said non-return of uniform will result in cost being deducted or if you paid a parking charge for a company vehicle that the employee had been using you'd recover that.   And if he is only paid, NMW - this could effectively/technically take him below NMW for the pay reference period and HMRC are very happy to name, shame and fine employers on technicalities around NMW

penners324

Take that job off him. Maybe they don't want to do it.

Trying to charge them for electricity costs is ridiculous. You have no statutory right to do so.

Savvy_Sue

Exactly what tizerbelle said.

BUT, has anyone asked, in a nonconfrontational way, why he thinks he is missing things? Is he unsure of all that needs doing? Has he been walked through everything after each mistake? Does he perhaps need an itemised checklist?

I'm just thinking that if he is otherwise a reliable and useful employee, there could be ways of helping him. He may have the kind of mind which struggles with 'switch off all the fans and lights', but can move from room to room, ticking off as he goes. Especially if it's not something he has to do every day.

Yes, there would be a bit of work needed to set up the list initially, but once done it presumably would just need copying.

Devongardener

The clause in the contract “any money you owe the company” does not entitle you to fine him for not doing his job properly, and could potentially reduce his pay to less than minimum wage.    

The only way to deal with this is by  a formal disciplinary meetings.  What does the employee say when you point out his failing to do the job?
A checklist, as above, would be a good idea.     If he can’t understand what he has to do then he’s clearly not able to do the task, and you must demonstrate that you have given him proper training in the event of an unfair dismissal claim.
  I assum that lockup is only on part of his job, how does he perform his main duties?

Potbellypig

This is the exact reason why everyone should be in a union. Employers thinking they can go round fining people, jesus.

Follow the legal route and go through disciplinary until dismissed.

delermd1

Thank you everyone for getting back to me on this.

We weren't looking to 'fine' them per se, it was more the business recovering the costs of their actions so that it wasn't worse off, as consequently our bills are higher each month due to these actions, and so recovering these costs would leave the business in the same position financially as if they'd done their job properly.  I only explored this option as when I worked in a pub in my student days, the business was able to recover money from staff if their till/takings were down and so thought this may have been a similar exercise.

However on this basis we'll continue down the disciplinary route.  They have been an 'average' employee in their time, they bring a number of perks but also a number of cons, but complacency/laziness appears to have crept in this year, and warnings do not appear to be helping.

We do have checklists in place, however these are currently used for reference purposes rather than staff having to physically tick this off, and so we'll amend our practice so that the person locking up needs to tick and sign this checklist to show all jobs have been done, with further action to be taken if this is not the case.

It's more of a frustrating issue, in my mind it isn't worth firing someone over given the training etc that goes into the job and on the whole they can do most parts to a satisfactory standard, but its really irritating when you tell them about a minor issue, and less than a week later they're making the same mistake again... 

lincroft1710

delermd1 said:

It's more of a frustrating issue, in my mind it isn't worth firing someone over given the training etc that goes into the job and on the whole they can do most parts to a satisfactory standard, but its really irritating when you tell them about a minor issue, and less than a week later they're making the same mistake again... 

Which sounds as if they are not properly concentrating on the job in hand.


Back in the 1980s I had a junior member of staff who would be given 10 basic repetitive admin tasks. The first nine were executed perfectly, with the tenth (virtually identical to the others) they made the most appalling mess of it. I could only put it down to lack of concentration because by the tenth task they were probably bored witless

theoretica

Obviously we don't know the nature of the business, but in mine something left on would be a whole chain of people forgetting - the person who worked near it and wanted it on, the last person out of that room, the lock up walk through...

Is the electricity cost more than a timer plug/would the most energy hungry things work with timer plugs or motion sensors?

Savvy_Sue

theoretica said:

Obviously we don't know the nature of the business, but in mine something left on would be a whole chain of people forgetting - the person who worked near it and wanted it on, the last person out of that room, the lock up walk through...

Is the electricity cost more than a timer plug/would the most energy hungry things work with timer plugs or motion sensors?

This! I was often the last person to leave, and no matter how much I BEGGED people not to leave EVERYTHING to the last person, and how much I suggested that the PENULTIMATE person to leave should do a check of areas not in use, at least once a week I would find windows left open, lights on, taps dripping. 

It was particularly frustrating when I was trying to catch a train and many of them were not dependent on public transport!