Not getting paid

ergonomics

Hi all,

I started a new job with a clothes shop 7 weeks ago. It's one of a very large chain and as such all the wages and accounts are apparently done in London. I am a full-time college student and work there at weekends.

After 3 weeks I was supposed to be paid for the first time but I didn't receive anything. It turned out that the managers in the shop I am working in hadn't sent my next-of-kin details to London so I couldn't get paid. I was really annoyed as it wasn't like it was my bank details or PPS number but as the same thing happened to every other staff member who started with me I let it go. I was also told that as the wages are done in London, once they are done they are done so any problems cannot be sorted until the following month. Although I let it go and didn't kick up a fuss, I did have to cancel a holiday to London, my only holiday this year, as a result of not getting paid.

This morning I was due to get paid again. About a week ago another staff member who has been working there since the store opened last year said 'Oh you won't have gotten paid yet so next week you'll get 7 weeks pay. That happened me, it's great to get a lump sum', so I assumed I would get paid for the first 3 weeks and the last 4 weeks, giving me almost €450. Instead I got paid €116. I thought that maybe I had only gotten paid for the first 3 weeks but even at that I am very short. I shouldn't be paying emergency tax as I handed in my P45 on the day I started.

I have tried ringing the shop but managers are not picking up my call and no one is getting back to me. I'm in college and won't be back until much later this evening but plan to call in immediately, but I was wondering if anyone knows my rights? Despite working 7 weeks can they only pay me for September when everyone else in the shop got paid this month for the weeks they worked in October? Can I ask them to sub my wages out of the till until it is sorted? I can not physically make €116 last me 4 weeks and I am getting extremely stressed out about this, to the point where I am thinking of leaving and getting a job where I would actually get paid when I'm supposed to. I absolutely love the job but I'm in my final year of college, I don't need extra stress.

Thanks.

Claire121

'Oh you won't have gotten paid yet so next week you'll get 7 weeks pay. That happened me, it's great to get a lump sum'

What's with this attitude in Ireland? I got it when I was on emergency tax for months on end. How do these idiots think you're supposed to pay the rent/bills/eat? It's completely unacceptable. I would ask them to sub my wages out of the till if it was me. Some idiot didn't do their job properly - why should you suffer?

leeroybrown

ergonomics wrote: »

I shouldn't be paying emergency tax as I handed in my P45 on the day I started.

That's not necessarily true. It's quite likely that your employer doesn't have a tax credits cert for you. Ring your regional tax office with your employers number (should be on your payslip) and they will issue both you and your employer with a new certificate. Do this every time you start a new job as employers generally won't do it promptly and won't bother telling you to either.

That said, even at full emergency tax you should be receiving substantially more than that based on a gross of €450. Emergency tax is introduced on a phased basis over nine weeks so you should not be paying full emergency tax yet either. For the first three weeks alone (assuming equal pay each week) you should have more than €116 left with the initial phases of emergency tax.

ergonomics

Well I went and talked to the manager yesterday and got my payslip. I had been paid for 12 hours and there was no emergency tax taken. She said that the accountants never back dated the pay I was owed from before my next-of-kin details were handed in. She said she would *try* get me a sub from the till but if this has happened to everyone else that won't be possible. I told her that that wasn't good enough and she would have to sort something out, and that if I don't get paid all the wages owed to me next payday (in November) I will be leaving on the spot. She was extremely rude to me and kept acting like it was my fault so it got my back up.

Luckily my grant came through yesterday so I can use that money to live on for the rest month, but I won't be telling her that, not a chance. If she can't give me a sub of my wages as everyone else has the same problem I'm going to ask that she gives each of us €50 a week, per week until we get paid again. She can't expect us to go without wages, especially since she hasn't even tried to fix the problem.