Husband has left work, they have deducted all his wages!

laursi090_2 · 7 December 2012 at 7:47PM

Basically, my husband is paid 4 weekly.

He handed in his notice, followed company procedue and left his position (hes found a new job)
we were expecting his last paypacket on the 5th dec
having checked bank account he hadnt been paid, although he was due 2 weeks wages plus holidays
after recieving his wage slip it revealed he was indeed paid £420. however all his wages had been deducted.
after phoning up the HR department he was told he'd used all and more of his holiday entitlement.
me and my husband are certain he has not used up all of his entitlement.
we have briefly worked it out he has used 21 out of 22.5 holiday days.
what can we do about it??
weve phone up the payroll department but keep getting passed on from pillar to post, they say he needs to 'discuss' with his ex manager (they are not on great terms which is part of the reason he left) however we have not been sucsessfully in contact with him yet.
surely they cant just deduct all his wages!! we are now living on the bread line and how now idea how we will pay the rent.

Thanks any input would be great...

Osarkon · 7 December 2012 at 7:55PM

Sometimes the holiday entitlement is accrued throughout the financial year, so depending how far into the year he was it would dictate how many days holiday he'd have been entitled to.

E.g you couldn't take the whole entitlement and then leave in a month.

Hope that makes some sense?

zzzLazyDaisy · 7 December 2012 at 8:02PM

IF he has indeed used all his holidays and more besides, then yes, the employer is entitled to deduct any over-paid holidays from his final salary payment.

You need to double check his entitlement.

Assuming he works full time, he is entitled to 28 days statutory holiday pay in the company year.

So you need to check when the company year runs from and to. For example, if it runs 1st April to 31st March he has only worked 9 months, so would only be entitled to 3/4 of the holiday allowance. But the holiday allowance includes bank holidays, so you must deduct all paid bank holiday leave taken during that time, to see how much available annual leave is left.

Remember also that there have been a few 'extra' bank holidays this year. Some employers have given these as extra days, but they are not obliged to.

Similarly some employers give a more generous holiday allowance - but if that is the case you need to check the situation on leaving part way through the year, as the employer id only legally obliged to meet the basic statutory minimum, so anything extra is down to the wording of the contract.

Please note; I am not an official CAB Representative. The CAB reps do not post at weekends. AS they aim to reply within two working days, this means that you should get an official response early next week.

laursi090_2 · 7 December 2012 at 8:07PM

Hi, thanks for your replies,
I forgot to say, the year runs from Jan to Jan, He is entitled to 28 days but as he left in November he was told by HR he was entitled to 22.5
hes used 21.
also he is entitled to leiu days so every bank holiday hes worked he gets an extra holiday day. hes worked 6 (including last christmas).

Im not particulary fussed about being paid extra holiday days he owed, what i do want its the wages he has actually worked to be paid to him.

the money they have deducted from his wages is wrong. we know that. we just dont know what we can do about it?
Thanks x

zzzLazyDaisy · 7 December 2012 at 8:16PM

In that case he needs to write to HR setting out clearly what he is owed and how he has calculated the figure. For this purpose he will need to show how he has calculated his holiday entitlement, in order to show that the deduction from his wages is unlawful.

State clearly that you require a cheque for the money owed by [insert a date 7 days after expected receipt by HR], failing which you will commence employment tribunal proceedings for unlawful deduction from wages without further notice.

If you have been corresponding by e-mail, it is fine to e-mail the letter, but you should also post it (preferably by special delivery which will ensure that it reaches the company the next working day).

If that doesn't do the trick, you should start tribunal proceedings. There is no cost, and ACAS will mediate on your behalf so hopefully it wouldn't actually get to a hearing.

There is a strict time limit for ET claims - three months less one day.

laursi090_2 · 7 December 2012 at 8:34PM

Thanks zzzLazyDaisy,
Its been quite a struggle with this emplyer for a while now. My hubby has worked for them his whole working life (10 years). this year he had an accident at work where he had emergency surgery. we are in legal proceding with them currently over this matter, they have admitted liability and we are awaiting further information.
It feels as though since this incident the employers have just wanted rid of my hubby.
also, hubby had holiday booked in june (2 weeks) however this is around the time of the above accident and he had a sick note covering the time he had orginally booked of. we dont know if they have taken into account the sick note.
We just cant justify why they have deducted his entire wages.

Thanks for all your help

whitepaper · 8 December 2012 at 1:46PM

laursi090 wrote: »

...the money they have deducted from his wages is wrong. we know that. we just dont know what we can do about it?
Thanks x

Has he asked them to explain it to him?

They seem to have explained the holiday situation, and from what you have relayed, I can't see any way they could have deducted an additional 20 days ... unless your husband has actually taken 40+ days holiday this year.
I can't believe that is the case, or that his employer would have sanctioned it.

Get him to ask them on Monday and post back then when you have the full details

I'm sure there is a simple explanation.
Agreement of days worked and days taken as holiday shouldn't be too difficult; the employer should have the relevent records.

laursi090_2 · 13 December 2012 at 8:36PM

Hi, bit of an update of whats happened since:

Hubby found out what 'extra' days he been put down to of suppose to have taken holidays.

hes luckily kept a diary of exactly what hes worked this year and all his shift patterns, so can clearly see what he has and has not taken.

Looks like mistakes have been made and to get it resolved he needs to talk to his area manager.

My hubby used to work for a well known pub chain as assistant manager.

After having a telephone conversation with the manager, he has now turned round and said due to a cash loss from the business my partner used to work at on his last day, he is still not getting any wages paid to him!

Surely a manger cannot just turn around and say that??
NO money was missing the day husband left and no one has raised an issue with the cash until now. untill hubby has proved his days on/off.

weve wrote out grievence letters to hr and other more senior managers in the hope to get it sorted.

Weve also contacted an emplyment tribunal who should be calling us back in the next couple of days.

It feels as though its us agasint this huge company. what chance have ew got.. Causing mother of all arguements in our house. we are just hitting our heads against the wall.

Thanks

BobQ · 13 December 2012 at 9:08PM

If they have not complied with the law you have a good chance of winning against the huge company.

Unlawful deduction of wages is a breach of employment law and taking them to an Employment Tribunal will focus their mind on what they are legally allowed to do.

Do not let them drag this process out so that you miss the chance to take them to an ET. You can submit an ET claim without waiting for them to respond to a grievance.

Not sure why CAB have not yet responded but you can get a lot of useful information on their website.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/

laursi090_2 · 13 December 2012 at 9:11PM

Hiya BobQ - thanks for your reply. We rang a tribunal today but they have told us we need to contact Acas first, does this sound about right?

They are going to phone us back asap.

Trouble is all this doesnt help with the distress and lack of money around christmas time

zzzLazyDaisy · 13 December 2012 at 9:18PM

You do not need to contact acas first. However, the tribunal office does not offer advice or assistance with employment related problems (apart from dealing with the legal proceedings once a claim has been made). That is the role of ACAS, and I suspect this is why they suggested that you contact ACAS.

You do need to write to the employer clearly stating what is owed and how you have worked this out, and giving them a reasonable time to respond (see my post above). If they do not pay up, then you should start employment tribunal proceedings, which you can do on-line.

I don't know why CAB hasn't replied to you yet, but as it is now outside their target time limit, perhaps you could PM the board guide in case your post has been overlooked.

Dx

Husband has left work, they have deducted all his wages!

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