Leaving job, that will defo screw me over on money owed. What Steps????

gunsofbrixton

Leaving job, that will defo screw me over on money owed. they've done it to others employees who have left so what steps can I take to get the money owed to me????


I'm owed shift wages from a job completed over two months ago this shift money is stated in my contract as being an away from home allowance.

Also i have not been payed correctly for the last year in my contract it states a basic working day of 8 hours. I have been working and being paid for nine at the basic rate i.e. one extra hour at the basic rate when it should have been time and half......all of the above total about €2500 euro

The company i work for are dicks and I have heard on the grapevine that if i leave i will not be getting my shift pay regardless the pay problem totals about €1500 which I don't think they'll pay either. I will be handing in notice soon and will do it properly giving two weeks etc.

So when they don't pay what can I do?? What steps can I take??? This is a mickey mouse outfit so you can forget a polite letter to the MD requesting funds it'll have to be a bit more persuasive than that........

Was thinking about joining a union Siptu will this help?? I'll be the only member in the company.............

Apart from that what can I do????????

mikemac

Can I ask why you left this so long to sort this?
If you started working extra hours then this should have been sorted back then and not 12 months later.

Not sure will joining SIPTU help but sure ask them for advice. It's a pity that people only join unions when they have problems.

I think you will lose the money. I hope you have payslips or some way of documenting everything.

Edit: Go the your local citizens information centre and they are extremly helpful in situations like this
Find your nearest officehere or ring the helpline on the website.

keefg

anything worth robbing or taking hostage before you go?

Not exactly legit but if they are as bad as you make out then you may need to fight fire with fire.

markpb

gunsofbrixton wrote:

Also i have not been payed correctly for the last year in my contract it states a basic working day of 8 hours. I have been working and being paid for nine at the basic rate i.e. one extra hour at the basic rate when it should have been time and half......

I worked a temp job in the States a few years ago where I was paid by the hour. They often did the same as your company. Their logic is that we were working eight hours a day but only being paid for seven (after breaks were taken out) so they could ask us to work an extra hour a day before overtime became a consideration.

gunsofbrixton

surely there is a legal way of doing this. I have a contract that clearly states the overnight allowance and have payslips and timesheets showing I was located in away from for that number of weeks.

As regards the the 1 hour in the morning it is something that has only come to light now as I go through my contract.

seamus

If they failed to pay, you would need to bring a civil case against them to get your money. There is no ombudsman or employment authority or union that can force them to pay you. Essentially their failure to pay is a breach of contract. So it's a civil matter between you and them.

Many companies actually rely on the fact that most people either couldn't be arsed, or are scared of solicitor's bills in the event that they lose.

I'm not sure what way the company is structured, but I would advise doing the following, *before* you hand in your notice;

Write up a letter. Re: the unpaid shift allowance. Detail the exact dates involved, the exact money owed, and reference the clause in your contract (or any other agreements, informal or otherwise) which guarantees you this money.
Then add a section dealing with overtime. List all of the dates of your overtime as you have recorded them, the exact amount of overtime done each day, and the amount outstanding per day (i.e. if you got paid normal hours, and you're due time and a half, then you're out by half.)

Have your boss sign this. If he refuses to sign it, you need a reason. Photocopy the document. Give the signed document to the person responsible for recorded/paying overtime.

I spend a lot of time dealing with timesheet queries, and one of the big ones we get is, "I put in 150 hours of overtime last month, but the system only says I put in 135. Can you fix this please?". The system has never been wrong. Without fail, they've worked it out wrong on their slip of paper, or otherwise missed something. You need to be sure you have it worked out and recorded correctly.

hunnymonster

seamus wrote:

...Have your boss sign this. If he refuses to sign it, you need a reason....

seamus, could I just clarify soemthing. Are you saying that if the boss refueses to sign the sheet he is obliged to give a reason why he will not sign it? I'm not in this position or anything, it's more out of general interest.

seamus

hunnymonster wrote:

seamus, could I just clarify soemthing. Are you saying that if the boss refueses to sign the sheet he is obliged to give a reason why he will not sign it? I'm not in this position or anything, it's more out of general interest.

No, not saying that at all. Just giving advice to get a reason. It's very rare that someone would have the balls to just flat out refuse to sign something without a reason.

gunsofbrixton

Seamus,

Handed in notice, with a little thing written on it as regards away from home money owed that I would like before i leave. It said on the letter the exact dates i'm leaving giving full two weeks notice I asked that this be signed to show he has received it(i'm thinking long term here about a future case) but he flat out refused to sign anything in his office bla bla bla he's the boss blah.....you know the type

Spoke to someone who said take it up with the rights commisioner from the department of trade enterprise and emplyoment under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 and that they can hear my case.

Anyone else got ideas my main focus is the back money owed for working away from home the 1 hour thing in the morning i will pursue if i have to take the legal route. By the way Seamus, it is definetly no clerical error on my part the basic hours of work in my contract state clearly 9-5 however we/I have been working 8-5 as standard and this is reflected on the payslips/timesheets where 45 hours are payed @ the basic rate only then do we go onto time and half. It clearly states in my contact work that falls between 6am-9am should be paid @ time and half and work after 5pm the same.

seamus

gunsofbrixton wrote:

Spoke to someone who said take it up with the rights commisioner from the department of trade enterprise and emplyoment under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 and that they can hear my case.

Indeed they're right. Check out the last item on this page:
http://www.entemp.ie/employment/rights/paymentofwages.htm

By the way Seamus, it is definetly no clerical error

I never said otherwise
Just some friendly advice to make sure everything was recorded.

damnyanks

Can't you bring them to court with the potential threat of them being declared bankrupt for not paying their money owed?

gunsofbrixton

anyone what the stand is on asking for copies of all your payslips and timesheets can they refuse to give you copies

Gran Hermano

gunsofbrixton wrote:

anyone what the stand is on asking for copies of all your payslips and timesheets can they refuse to give you copies

An alternative might be to get a bank statement showing the lodgements
made to your bank account by your employer. Whilst it will not detail
the number of hours worked it will show the total net amounts you were
paid.

RainyDay

gunsofbrixton wrote:

I'm owed shift wages from a job completed over two months ago this shift money is stated in my contract as being an away from home allowance.

Why is shift money being paid as an away from home allowance?

nesf

gunsofbrixton wrote:

anyone what the stand is on asking for copies of all your payslips and timesheets can they refuse to give you copies

Were you given payslips all along?

gunsofbrixton

have payslips, but timesheets will show location of where I was working

Just to clarify its overnight payments i'm due not a shift allowance

nesf

Ah, right. I've no idea if you are entitled to it but it would be considered common courtesy that they'd go through it with you. At least in my experiences companies are generally fairly decent about timesheets etc because as seamus pointed out it's rare that it's the employer who's wrong.

seamus

gunsofbrixton wrote:

anyone what the stand is on asking for copies of all your payslips and timesheets can they refuse to give you copies

Technically, if you have already been issued with a payslip, then they may be able to refuse.

You could make a request on Data Protection grounds however - they would be obglied to provide you with all information about you that they hold on file (so you can verify its correctness). They are however allowed to charge a fee for this.