Can an employer deduct from wages?

mickoneill30

My OH has a problem in work at the moment.

She made a mistake which cost the company money. A piece of data was entered by her that was meant to have been checked by a second party. The second party missed the mistake too.

However as the person who entered the data her employer is giving her 100% of the blame.

The employer chose to rectify this mistake using a method which, in my wifes opinion, was exhorbitant. It could have been fixed for a couple of hundred Euro but they chose to fix it for a few thousand which they're now deducting from her pay. I would have thought they'd have insurance for her mistake but apparently not.

So the question is, is an employer entitled to do this? When she's explaining it to me it seems like here empoyer is being mental but I'm obviously only getting one half of the story. I just want to help her out by telling her what her rights are, if any.

She's probably going to ask NERA but I'm impatient and thought I'd ask Boardsies

Nody

In general I'd say no but it will come down to what her contract and/or company procedures says.

markpb

This page might be of some help.

Where your employer suffers loss through your fault, for example breakages or till shortages or your employer supplies a service as part of the job, for example, a uniform, deductions may be allowed but only where:

They are allowed for in your contract
They are fair and reasonable
You have received a written notice of the deduction - a full week's notice if the deduction arises from your mistake
The amount of the deduction does not exceed the loss or cost of the service
The deduction takes place within 6 months of the loss/cost occurring

mickoneill30

No mention of it in her contract. It's a one pager.

The fair and reasonable is a bit open too. She could argue that she had an inexpensive fix but the company chose the gold plated fix. I'd guess that's all subjective though.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Beano

mickoneill30 wrote: »

No mention of it in her contract. It's a one pager.

The fair and reasonable is a bit open too. She could argue that she had an inexpensive fix but the company chose the gold plated fix. I'd guess that's all subjective though.

Thanks for the replies guys.

I think you have misunderstood what was said. The deduction must pass ALL of the conditions in the previous post. So if there is nothing in her contract about deductions then they cannot deduct anything irrespective of whether it is fair, reasonable or otherwise. If they persist seek legal advice or go to a rights commisioner.

seamus

^^ What Beano says.

It must be fair and reasonable and in her contract.

That's a protective clause so that an employee can't be docked a year's pay just because it says so in their contract.

A mistake made by an employee is a mistake made by the company. It is wholly unfair to expect an employee to pay for such mistakes.

wmpdd3

I have seen supermarkets try claw back money lost from tills and there is no way around it. The 'payment of wages act' is always quoted and the company backs down.

bbam

Definitely only if it's in the contract, the only other way round it not being in the contract was if she signed something as a once off agreement to pay it back....

Max001

Different routes you can take to resolve this. As others have said, NERA & Rights Commissioners are two ways to go. If your OH is in a union, she should take this to her rep immediately. If she's not in a union, she should consider joining one immediately. Many people join to resolve specific disputes and unions expect this and tend not to mind, so long as you say you'll stay in afterwards. I say this as someone who's been on the management side of the table, all of my career. Without knowing specifics, I'd be cautious about giving an opinion, however this employer's actions seem unreasonable and possibly hard to defend, if you were to involve outside parties.

Esroh

Is there a company employees handbook. It would have all the conditions re events like this