Looking for help, is employer breaking the law?

leslieknope · 16 July 2017 at 4:04PM

if it's an error by the employee not handing in their timesheet on time, why would it be your problem? every work has a payroll cut off. if the employee knows this date and still misses it, they have to wait until next month. if i do overtime at work after the payroll cut off, i don't get this extra money until the month after.

theoretica · 16 July 2017 at 4:16PM

This comes close to a deduction from pay - there is legislation around this which might apply. Also how do they plan to manage tax, NI etc if this happens?

Do all staff have easy access to a computer? Perhaps you could get permission to introduce an electronic form as an alternative to paper?

lincroft1710 · 16 July 2017 at 4:17PM

I think the time has come to replace your board of trustees, they are clearly non compos mentis.

Murphybear · 16 July 2017 at 4:19PM

Report them to the Charity Commission

From their website

"We register and regulate charities in England and Wales, to ensure that the public can support charities with confidence."

paddyrg · 16 July 2017 at 4:57PM

Call a payroll processing company or your company accountants and ask what they can suggest for a fully automated timesheet/approval/payment solution. Cheques etc are expensive, you pay a fee for each one.

Managing payroll workflow electronically will let people complete their sheets online, let someone approve their hours online, allow you to make any adjustments you need to make online, go to the processing company who'll make all the PAYE deductions etc automatically, and similarly account for things like student loan deductions. The payroll company will give you an amount you need to transfer to them, then they'll make the payments and post out fully compliant wageslips.

If you're doing it weekly, you may look at going fortnightly or working towards monthly pay cycles - it reduces the administrative overhead and costs. You'll have to stage it probably and allow some "subs" until payday for a couple of months to tide people over...

Savvy_Sue · 16 July 2017 at 5:02PM

Another voice for the 'no, not no way, not no how, not never' campaign.

leslieknope wrote: »

if it's an error by the employee not handing in their timesheet on time, why would it be your problem? every work has a payroll cut off. if the employee knows this date and still misses it, they have to wait until next month. if i do overtime at work after the payroll cut off, i don't get this extra money until the month after.

I agree with this, but ... I was talking to someone the other day who used to work with people who had to supply timesheets, and she was very popular because a week before she needed them, she used to send a reminder out! She said it saved her a lot of grief and meant she usually had every one in a day or two before she needed them.

And it's good that you've started a checking system: a colleague and I are responsible for inputting the monthly changes into an external system. We've got quite good at getting it right first time: we then get another chance to check it when the preview comes back. On our first pass this time I realised that we'd not calculated the pro-rata pay for someone who had changed their hours, and I noticed because 'the system' showed their hourly rate of pay had tripled ... So yes, mistakes happen!

How are the calculations of NI and PAYE and pensions made at the moment? And how is payment made to staff at the moment?

TrickyDicky101 · 16 July 2017 at 5:49PM

lincroft1710 wrote: »

I think the time has come to replace your board of trustees, they are clearly non compos mentis.

I was wondering something similar - OP, are the trustees really old (as it's the kind of half-baked idea my elderly father might suggest)?

Owain_Moneysaver · 16 July 2017 at 6:46PM

Absolutely no way.

Firstly it would be a breach of the Data Protection Act for the employer to disclose to you the employee's bank details for you to make payments to them.

Then if you are making payments on behalf of a third party it may put you in a difficult situation with your own bank. Processing payments for a third party might lead to allegations of money laundering.

You are not personally liable to other employees for any mistakes you make in processing wages.

If the employer decides to stop issuing cheques for mispaid wages then the employer must sort out how they deal with claims for missing wages from other employees.

You don't have to negotiate with your employer over this. The answer is no.

jobbingmusician · 16 July 2017 at 6:51PM

(But it is still a fact that the best way to sell the objection to your [STRIKE]morons[/STRIKE] trustees is that the auditors and Charity Commission wouldn't like it.)

ScorpiondeRooftrouser · 16 July 2017 at 7:01PM

Laugh in their faces and tell them that's the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard and you are not going to do it and if they don't like it, they can sack you, but they are going to have to put that reason in writing.

Then find a different job as soon as possible, regardless of their response.

Looking for help, is employer breaking the law?

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