Is this legal?

Vikings

When you receive your payslip is that final and binding in the eyes of the law?

I ask because I received a payslip stating I would receive my full months wages however as I have just now left the company my wages were recalled immediately after entering my bank account to be butchered by holiday days and what not - can this be done after I received a payslip saying I would receive my full wage?

the_syco

How many days holiday, if any, did you take? I ask, as its usually 20 days a year, or one-point-something days a month, thus if you took 5 days holiday, and suddenly left, they may want those other 3 days of holiday pay back. Dunno if its legal, but more infomation will help us determine your status.

Vikings

Well the holiday year started on September 1st, I have taken a holiday since which cost me between 6-8 holiday days though for this they had decided to schedule around some of it and grant some of it holidays which made no sense to me. By my reckoning I have earned 3 holiday days so far and at most taken 8 so I may owe them for 5, which I have no problem paying back if that is the case.

But the way it was done, i.e handing me a payslip (before I got paid) for the full amount, then recalling the full amount the second it hit my account - its left me in a bad situation bills wise. Had they of slapped me with a bill instead I wouldnt have cared, but to hold all of my money from me like that surely it is illegal, no?

Pamwam

if they withheld all your salary after the date they agreed to pay it then this should not be done.
if they have deducted holidays from your final pay then yes they are entitled to do this.

Vikings

All of my salary was taken back. I have been told I was overpaid by a number of days, which sounds right to me when worked out so im not disputing that at all.

Whats got to me is that I have still not received any sort of payment, they were meant to organise a cheque for me last friday so I could get money in for outgoings and such but that never happened, it didnt happen again over the weekend and now nothing was done about this today. I have been losing out on money here - my money - i've been charged overdraft fee's and also other fee's due to this. Should I seek legal advice over this and incur further expense or weather the storm and hope its sorted soon.

The way I see it is they have not paid me for the work which I have done and should be held liable for any fee's charged to me as a result of this. Am I correct in assuming this?

Mo-Mo

I'd get advice from the Dept if Trade, Enterprise and Employment on this one. I'd also let your ex-employers know that this is what you're doing.
They might panic if they at all question the legality of what they have done.

Sangre

The only thing that dictates your pay is your contract . The payslip is just a slip indictating what you will be paid, merely a curteousy by the company.

RainyDay

Sangre wrote:

The payslip is just a slip indictating what you will be paid, merely a curteousy by the company.

It's a bit more than a courtesy - you are legally entitled to recieve a payslip showing details of all tax/prsi deductions at least.

OP - The idea of a transaction being 'recalled' from your bank account is strange to me. What appears on your bank statement? How long did the money stay in your account? Have you questioned your bank on the non-authorised deduction from your account?

Sangre

Nothing can leave your bank once its gone in unless its an authorised transaction by yourself e.g. laser/atm/direct debit.

Its just not possible for a money to leave your account again.

leeroybrown

Sangre wrote:

Its just not possible for a money to leave your account again.

Unfortunately, automated salary payments are one of the one magic exceptions to this rule. Typically the transactions happen almost directly after each other because the employer decides to do this between the automated pay roll being submitted and the transaction being processed.

Sangre

Eh? Never seen this happen.

LostinBlanch

I'd say Citizens Advice would give you more information that Dept of Trade Enterprise & Employment. But then agin you could always contact both and take the advice that you prefer!!

If the wages are less than €2000 I think you may have the option of going to small claims court,should cost you a tenner or so but it might hold up your payment though.

seamus

Sangre wrote:

Nothing can leave your bank once its gone in unless its an authorised transaction by yourself e.g. laser/atm/direct debit.

Its just not possible for a money to leave your account again.

Not entirely true. A bank can remove money which they have credited to your account by accident. They can also take statutory deductions and charges without your consent.

As leeroybrown states, banks take in payrolls as batch jobs effectively. Once you've submitted a request, the request continues to go through, and a cancellation of this request appears as a credit/debit pair on the account. Bank systems are still quite behind consumer systems because of the need for high reliability. Technically the company didn't "take" the money out of your account. If questioned, the bank would say the money was never credited to your account.

A payslip isn't final and binding. So long as the company issue you with a corrected payslip for the month in question, they haven't done anything wrong.

Ultimately, you are entitled to be paid for the work you've done, in a timely manner and within the schedule dictated in your contract. Whether they're liable for the fees on your account would be a long and drawn out one. After all, if you have sufficient money in your account, even without being paid, then you won't have incur any charges. You would have to prove that it's the company's fault that you didn't have sufficient funds. Think about that one, it's not as simple as it sounds.

Vikings

Ok just to update. I was paid by a cheque last Tuesday - 6 days overdue. This cheque did not clear into my account until Friday - 9 days overdue. This cost me €25 in fee's as had the salary stayed in my account they would not have been incurred.

I was issued a pay slip for the full amount of what my wages should have been, they then went in to my account and straight back out. This would probably have happened at the same time, as soon as it was credited it was debited as 'Recalled.' I have since been given a simple printed page (not usual payslip material) in the format of a payslip though with not all information present.

I called my bank re. the recalling of the salary and they said it could be done. I ended up receiving about 60% of my normal salary once holiday deductions were made which is fine however the company should have approached me directly for the other 40% I owed them but they went ahead and took the salary back without even a warning. This is what has me so annoyed. I have my money now but I am out €25 and also have these two unpaid direct debits to my name now.

Im debating whether or not to take this further at the moment, I dont want to incur further expense at this time but what they have done really did get to me.

Add to the fact that the company I signed my contract for was a PLC, just recently the company changed hands and is no a private Ltd company. We were never properly informed of this changeover, we were given no new contracts to sign - nothing. The first month of the changeover we had to be paid by cheque also as they had not sorted out the banks to pay us that way. It is all very dubious in there at the moment which was the main reason I left to be honest.

Decisions, decisions....

bullrunner

as far as i can see, the only possible thing that you could do at this stage is to sue for breach of contract (not paying you on the day/date specified in your contract). The chances of this being successful are probably high, but the chances of any kind of payout would seem to be low (as you have received your money..albeit a bit late...you should also check if they have given you EXACTLY what they should have..if not then it might strengthen your case).

To cut to the point...i think you will be wasting your time taking this any further. Just look at it as experience gained!

RainyDay

LostinBlanch wrote:

If the wages are less than €2000 I think you may have the option of going to small claims court,should cost you a tenner or so but it might hold up your payment though.

Small claims court does not deal with employment issues, only consumer issues.