Having wages cut because till was short

foxy06

I'm sure this has been asked a million times but I am pretty sure this is an illegal practice am I right? Can your wages be short when til has been short a night you worked? Also can this be written into your contract?

jenzz

I know this was tried where I worked a few years ago - until it was challenged legally by a staff member who was sacked on grounds of suspected theft - . The end result was if your employer does this they are effectively accusing you of theft. Ie they are deducting it from your salary yet they have no proof you took it so they have no right to take it from you unless they can prove 1. you took it .2 you were the reason its missing - prove you overchanged someone 3. That you did not act responsibly thus responsible for the loss of the money ie left the till open & someone else stole it.

A very easy way to solve this is to ask your employer why they are taking it from your . Depending on their answer then ask are they accusing you of stealing it. If they say yes they are walking themselves into a huge can of worms..

I know thats not the full legal line - Thats just my exp in a very large retail multinational .
Hope it helps.

Shelflife

it doesnt have to imply theft, it does imply responsibility, if the op operated the till and only the op operated the till then it is reasonable to expect the till to balance, if it doesnt its either incompetence or dishonesty.

theres nothing to stop an employer or employee entering into a contract whereby any shortages are made good by the employee.

Sleepy

It's illegal.

I can't remember the exact case law but I'm pretty certain this has been tried under Irish law.

namenotavailablE

The information on this Citizens Information page should help you:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/employment/employment-rights-and-conditions/pay-and-employment/pay_slip

leeroybrown

Like many things. it depends...

An employer can't just turn around and start making deductions from an employees wages without telling them about it. To do so would be illegal. However, an employer can make an employee enter a contractual agreement regarding such deductions so long as the amounts are reasonable and fair and the notice was in advance of the deduction.

The employer is not accusing the employee of theft, they are making a deduction in respect of an omission that resulted in a loss of earnings. In the situation mentioned by 'jenzz' above the employer essentially overstepped the mark leaving themselves open to litigation. The deductions are legal so long as the employer deals with them in the correct fashion.

EDIT: I had a quick look around and it appears that NERA have a nice explanatory booklet for the Payment of Wages Act. It's linked on this page and the relevant information is from pages 17 onwards. It covers the some of the more complex requirements (one of which no doubt the employer has broken). I hope that helps.