Payslip changes

Ann2

Left a job cos the employer said he was going to take money from my wages for a mistake that was made. I kicked up a fuss, after seeking advice from citizen information & barrister. Employer didn't like this, made my life hell and was so miserable I had to quit.
My last payslip shows that I worked considerably less hours than I have recorded in my personal organiser, in fact just the right amount of hours that'd cover the money I was supposedly obliged to pay back.
Didn't sign contract with them & was given no indication that this was the course of action they were gonna take.
This can't be legal, can it?

Esoteric_

Ann2 wrote: »

Left a job cos the employer said he was going to take money from my wages for a mistake that was made. I kicked up a fuss, after seeking advice from citizen information & barrister. Employer didn't like this, made my life hell and was so miserable I had to quit.
My last payslip shows that I worked considerably less hours than I have recorded in my personal organiser, in fact just the right amount of hours that'd cover the money I was supposedly obliged to pay back.
Didn't sign contract with them & was given no indication that this was the course of action they were gonna take.
This can't be legal, can it?

Did you clock in and clock out when you were working each day? If so, the company would have a record of you working exactly as many hours as you did work.

I'd get in contact with this lot over it - http://www.employmentrights.ie/en/

tatli_lokma

OP, normally if an employer suffers a loss as a result of fault of an employee, they do have the right to reclaim the loss via your wages. So this practice in itself is not unusual.

HOWEVER!

in order to make such a deduction:

citizensinformation.ie wrote:

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. In these cases a deduction (or payment by the employee) is only allowed where:

•It is allowed for in your contract
•It is 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
Failure to pay all or part of the wages due to an employee is considered an unlawful deduction and a complaint can be made under the Payment of Wages Act – see ‘How to apply’ below. Likewise, unpaid notice, holiday pay, bonus and commission payments can also form part of a claim under the Act.

so, if the information you have given is true, and you have never had a contract, and had no written notification of the deduction, then the employer had no legal right to make the deduction from your salary.

You should make a claim under the payment of wages act - you can do this via Employment Rights (formerly NERA). Make sure to keep all the details of the hours you worked as you will need these as proof. The employer is also obliged to keep accurate records of time and attendence, so he will either have your hours recorded which will back up your claim, or he won't. If he has amended the hours to corroborate the payslip, but you have decent proof of the hours you worked, then not only will he be in trouble for making an unauthorised deduction (which is basically theft) but he will also be in hot water for not having accurate time and attendence records in line with the Organisation of Working Time act.

Make sure you put in your claim quickly though, as there is a cut off point where you can claim underpayment of wages - I think it's 6 mths.