Unlawful wage deductions?? Please Help?

Question

I really need some help with regards to a work matter, I suppose I should start at the beginning...

Ok, so last year i had 17 days off work ranging from Jan 06 - Nov 06. I understand that this is an excessive amount, but due to personal issues the absences were unavoidable. I did apologise to my boss and have assured him this would not be an ongoing thing. However, yesterday (18/01/07) i was called into my bosses office and I was told that as a result of my un-authorised absences, my boss was to deduct 12 days worth of pay from my wage over 4 months (I’m paid monthly) and also take 5 days holiday from my annual holiday entitlement.
He gave me a letter to sign to say that i understood & agreed with what he proposed to do, I did not sign this letter as I feel that taking money from my wage for days off I had over 11 months ago is not only morally wrong but I also believe it to be unlawful, as with taking my holiday days, as I am entitled to them by law!

Any info will be a big help

Answer 1

To be truthful, I don't know whether this is lawful or not, but I just wanted to say that you have basically created this predicament yourself.

I understand that from time to time you may need to take the day off work - we all do sometimes. But why did you take unauthorised absences? Why did you not just take a day's holiday or something? You obviously weren't signed off sick or you would have this to cover yourself.

You probably feel like the situation you're in now is very unfair, and to be honest I have very little sympathy. You are expecting to be paid for work which you did not do. The only thing that I think is unfair is that your boss is only just now deducting the money and it's all in one go - he should have done it on an ongoing basis.

You need to be very careful right now. If, as some other answerers have suggested, your boss is trying to get rid of you, you're going to find it very difficult to find a new job. A potential new employer will call up your boss for a reference and one thing that will be asked is how many days absence you had.

Answer 2

The relationship between you and your employer is bound by the employment contract you signed when you joined. In law you have to have an employment contract and it cannot be changed without your agreement.

I would be very surprised if your contract says that you can be penalised for taking time off for personal issues. However, if you took the time off as sickness and they don't believe that you were sick then they can refuse to pay you sickpay or recoup sickpay that you were paid fradulently (in their view). Is this the case?

Were the 17 days taken as holiday? If so you can do what you want with the time but I'm guessing that they weren't if they are trying to take money back for them.

You are in a difficult situation here. If you have legal cover on any of your insurance policies - motor, house contents etc - then now is the time to use it. If you don't then try to find out when your local Citizen's Advice Bureau is open. Take along a copy of your employment contract. I'm guessing you aren't a union member or you would have mentioned this.

Good luck.

Answer 3

I'm going to assume that you are working in the UK. If this is true then your boss has acted unlawfully. There are only two things that may be deducted from your wages without your consent, these are.....

a) Tax
b) National Insurance

Anything else eg Pension contributions must have your written authorisation.

Also, as regards your holidays, this is something which would require further investigation. However......I fail to see any moral or lawful reason why this occurance should be legitimate.

My advide, as regards your loss of earnings, would be to either go to a small claims court or find a better job with a better boss. As for your holiday entitlement, contact your local CAB and see what they say.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

It depends on what you were told when taking the days off. Since they were unauthorised, you should have been deducted them from your wages. Unless other people in the company are also paid for similar days off. If you were told they would be paid and that was fine they cannot later come back to you to take them. With your holidays, they are simply netting off the days you should be paying back with days you are have as holidays which is surely better than them asking to deduct 17 days and give you all the holidays.

Answer 5

From what you say it appears that your absences were unauthorised and, as such, your employer can decide whether to treat them as annual leave or unpaid leave.

I assume that at the time of the absences you were paid so it is simply that your employer has now decided to recover the apparent overpayment of wages. Your employer has a right to do this and seems to be acting reasonably in his intentions to recover the overpayment over a period of months and accept some of the unauthorised absences as annual leave.

Morally you are expected to give your employer reasonable notice before taking leave in order for them to take appropriate steps to ensure that your work is covered over any period of absence.

There does not appear to be any issue re: unfair deduction from wages, however you may wish to seek advice from an employment lawyer, Law Centre or Citizens Advice before deciding to accept the proposals offered by your employer.

Answer 6

Your boss is being unlawful.
If he did not pay you for the time off that was at his discretion but ONLY AT THE TIME!
As for the Holiday, This is a legal entitlement that CANNOT be taken from you.
As an example - if you were off sick before and entering a period of Annual Leave, that Leave MUST be rescheduled as you are sick and cannot start Holiday because they are completely different.
See your Union rep if you have one, or see Citizens Advice.
The letter he wanted you to sign was a legal document that would have taken waived your rights. You were right not to sign.
If he is taking the money from your wages anyway, IT IS THEFT!

Answer 7

Your boss has many options, the one he is chosing is the most bizaare. However, if you decline to agree to his proposal, he can simply fire you. Or he can reduce your salary by the equivalent amount. Legally, he hasdone nothing wrong, because he is asking for your agreement. You need to make a choice as to whether or not you want to work there. Also, the amount of time deducted should be adjusted to take into account any personal or sick days allowed by the company.

Answer 8

When an employee need to take days off in excess of what is allowed, they are given unpaid leaves. Your boss should have adjusted your pay at the time it happened. I think he could deduct your pay, but, I don't know doing so as an after thought would be against the state labor law. Call the state labor department and ask.

Answer 9

If you in The UK,
He cannot legally deduct holidays from you, unless you have taken them, I doubt that 17 days absence would add upto 5 days,

the money side of this, you need to check you contract, also what was agreed when you took the time off, why has he waited this long to do this,


He CANNOT SIMPLY FIRE YOU for not signing this form, I also think he is getting you to sign this form because he needs you to agree to these ludicrous deductions - you sign, he is covered
contact acas - www.acas.co.uk for uk only

Answer 10

I don't know what country you are located in, but if your absences were not for reasons of being ill, you are not entitled to be paid for them. If you were paid for the 17 days, I feel he is right in what he is doing, This is not a legal opinion. This is his way of making up for 17 unauthorized days that you were paid for I assume.
If you were not originally paid for them, I feel your argument is good, if you were paid, just go along with him.