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Employer withholding wages
Sassybot
Posts: 80 Forumite
Hello
I'm after a bit of advise regarding my employer withholding my pay.
My monthly pay runs from the 1st to the end of each month. I get paid on the 15th which means I get two weeks in advance.
I am in my second year of employment and contractually entitled to two month's sickness at full salary plus SSP.
I have been signed off work since the 20th February and return to work on Monday 18th March. I have had no other sickness period.
My payslip has come through and I have been docked nearly £400. My payslip is not very clear however it does say I have been allocated £118.18 SSP for. My manager has spoken to HR who have said that, since they did not know when I was coming back (not true), they have withheld the two weeks advanced payment. They said that the withheld money will be 'given back' in next month's pay.
Can they do this?
There is nothing in my contract or our sickness policy saying they do and I have colleagues who have not experienced this before.
I've been advised that, on occasion, they can correct this however I will need to appeal to one of the members of our senior leadership team when I'm back in the office on Monday.
This doesn't seem right to me but since I've rarely taken sick days in my career I don't really know what my rights are. Could someone please advise or possibly point me in the right direction of where I could get some help?
Thanks
I'm after a bit of advise regarding my employer withholding my pay.
My monthly pay runs from the 1st to the end of each month. I get paid on the 15th which means I get two weeks in advance.
I am in my second year of employment and contractually entitled to two month's sickness at full salary plus SSP.
I have been signed off work since the 20th February and return to work on Monday 18th March. I have had no other sickness period.
My payslip has come through and I have been docked nearly £400. My payslip is not very clear however it does say I have been allocated £118.18 SSP for. My manager has spoken to HR who have said that, since they did not know when I was coming back (not true), they have withheld the two weeks advanced payment. They said that the withheld money will be 'given back' in next month's pay.
Can they do this?
There is nothing in my contract or our sickness policy saying they do and I have colleagues who have not experienced this before.
I've been advised that, on occasion, they can correct this however I will need to appeal to one of the members of our senior leadership team when I'm back in the office on Monday.
This doesn't seem right to me but since I've rarely taken sick days in my career I don't really know what my rights are. Could someone please advise or possibly point me in the right direction of where I could get some help?
Thanks
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Comments
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I should add that the company asked to receive a scan of the GPs sick note until I return to work and provide a hard copy. This has been done inline with the sickness policy.0
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I'm assuming that your entitled to full pay for 2 months otherwise you'd be better off sick if you got full pay plus ssp!
I do agree it's a weird thing for them to do - by your dates you'd still be entitled to the full amount even if you were off to the end of March, which tends to blow their argument out of the water.
Have you had any sickness at all during the last year which may have eaten into your 2 month full pay allowance?0 -
gettingtheresometime wrote: »I'm assuming that your entitled to full pay for 2 months otherwise you'd be better off sick if you got full pay plus ssp!
I do agree it's a weird thing for them to do - by your dates you'd still be entitled to the full amount even if you were off to the end of March, which tends to blow their argument out of the water.
Have you had any sickness at all during the last year which may have eaten into your 2 month full pay allowance?
No sickness in the 18 months I've been there and yes, full pay for two months
I really don't understand why they've done this. At first I thought they had not realised my contract was full pay so applied SSP, but that doesn't work out either. Isn't SSP £95 a week? I got £118
The itemisation of my payslip seems crazy too. It has my monthly salary as -£658.
I've yet to be paid yet (pay day is Friday) but I've been told I have to wait until I'm back in work (Monday) to fix. The amount they've taken is essentially my mortgage. I'm worried they'll say I have to wait until next month to receive the extra money. Leaves me in a difficult position for this month.0 -
It's common for companies with sick pay schemes to deduct basic salary and then put sick pay in its place. It's also common for sick pay to make up the difference between ssp and full pay. IE
Basic pay 600
Basic pay adjustment -600
SSP 100
Sick Pay 500
Gross pay 600
If you've never seen this before it can be confusing.
DarrenXbigman's guide to a happy life.
Eat properly
Sleep properly
Save some money0 -
In essence yes they can; because by the time you get to a stage to enforce payment; 10-12 weeks will have passed0
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It's common for companies with sick pay schemes to deduct basic salary and then put sick pay in its place. It's also common for sick pay to make up the difference between ssp and full pay. IE
Basic pay 600
Basic pay adjustment -600
SSP 100
Sick Pay 500
Gross pay 600
If you've never seen this before it can be confusing.
Darren
I'm afraid I don't understand this. The £600 I previously mentioned is not my monthly salary.0 -
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Lioness_Twinkletoes wrote: »I think Darren was using the figure of £600 as an example to demonstrate how some companies calculate sick pay.
Ah that makes more sense, although I still don't understand why they have withheld my pay. I've spoken to ACAS this morning and they've advised that my employer should not have done this as there is nothing about withholding pay in my contract or the sickness policy. They advised I write to my employer and ask for the withheld portion to be added to my account by next Friday which I have done.
I'm afraid to say I've had so many issues at this company that this feels like another kick in the teeth.0 -
Yes it was just an example of how it is done.
ACAS were probably wrong. Sick pay is nearly always discretionary and it might be that it is payroll policy to not pay sick pay in advance. After you've had it reviewed and signed off it would become payable. It's also an issue that you've been there less than two years. I would not be putting things in writing right now given you could be sacked for any reason, and you've just had 2 months off sick.
DarrenXbigman's guide to a happy life.
Eat properly
Sleep properly
Save some money0 -
Sick pay is nearly always discretionary and it might be that it is payroll policy to not pay sick pay in advance.
Darren
I thought that could be the case however I've spoken to our a payroll partner who said it's not our policy. She is on mat leave so the policy may have changed though I doubt it. I've shown her my payslip and she thinks they've not realised I'm entitled to full pay (some of our workforce do not get it).
I'm not concerned about being let got. I've been off for three weeks, not two months. It would be an extreme reaction, even for them, to let me go for asking for my pay. The HR department are well known for not following their own policies
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