Boss trying to charge mate for mistake.

[DRCAGE]

Hi guys, going to try and keep it simple, if that's possible.

My mechanic friend made a mistake at work, that cost them £650, does my mate have to pay for his error or not?

Just let me know if you need anymore information.

Thankyou!!

[Engineer1]

Is he an employee or self employed mechanic working at the garage?

[rog007]

As already suggested, employment status is important here. If employed and mistake was genuine rather than negligent, then little chance of recovery of money via wages. If negligent, then usually a warning would suffice for a first offence. Should be made clear at that point what the consequences would be for a similar second offence. Often however, mistakes are due to a lack of competence, so it could indeed be the employer at fault if insufficient induction or training has been carried out.

If self employed, he may be liable but would be covered by his own business insurance...

[DRCAGE]

Cheers for the replies guys.

He is an employee, not sure whether it would count as negligent or not, i'll ask him.

Just to add, the boss has supposedly always been a bit of a pain, sounds like he's really tight with wages, holiday etc. Think mate is still on pretty much minimum wage after a few years there... college completed at least 2 years ago.

Mate has been on about leaving for a while and was wondering if he can quit without HAVING to pay for his error, if he HAS to he will, if he doesn't, he won't.

Thanks again!

[davepoth]

DRCAGE said:

Cheers for the replies guys.

He is an employee, not sure whether it would count as negligent or not, i'll ask him.

Just to add, the boss has supposedly always been a bit of a pain, sounds like he's really tight with wages, holiday etc. Think mate is still on pretty much minimum wage after a few years there... college completed at least 2 years ago.

Mate has been on about leaving for a while and was wondering if he can quit without HAVING to pay for his error, if he HAS to he will, if he doesn't, he won't.

Thanks again!

My guess is that his boss would subtract it from his last wage packet, and then you are in to small claims court to get it back.

[wormburner]

He could get into bother for the mistake, and even sacked if it was serious enough, but the money problem is the boss' own. You can't charge employees for honest mistakes, however stupid.

[elster]

davepoth said:

DRCAGE said:

Cheers for the replies guys.

He is an employee, not sure whether it would count as negligent or not, i'll ask him.

Just to add, the boss has supposedly always been a bit of a pain, sounds like he's really tight with wages, holiday etc. Think mate is still on pretty much minimum wage after a few years there... college completed at least 2 years ago.

Mate has been on about leaving for a while and was wondering if he can quit without HAVING to pay for his error, if he HAS to he will, if he doesn't, he won't.

Thanks again!

My guess is that his boss would subtract it from his last wage packet, and then you are in to small claims court to get it back.

Don't need to bother with small claims, just go straight to ACAS.

[icetea]

wormburner said:

He could get into bother for the mistake, and even sacked if it was serious enough, but the money problem is the boss' own. You can't charge employees for honest mistakes, however stupid.

You can if its in their contract - lots of store staff need to make up any shortfall in their tills.

[wormburner]

icetea said:

wormburner said:

He could get into bother for the mistake, and even sacked if it was serious enough, but the money problem is the boss' own. You can't charge employees for honest mistakes, however stupid.

You can if its in their contract - lots of store staff need to make up any shortfall in their tills.

Granted. That's a cash-handling position though with a theft issue to cover.

If this lad has accidentally dropped his ratchet onto a windscreen or something, that's not something he'll have to pay for.

[singlecoil]

icetea said:

wormburner said:

He could get into bother for the mistake, and even sacked if it was serious enough, but the money problem is the boss' own. You can't charge employees for honest mistakes, however stupid.

You can if its in their contract - lots of store staff need to make up any shortfall in their tills.

I'm very surprised to hear that, but if it's true and they get to keep any extra if their till is over, then that would seem to be fair.

[Crafty_]

davepoth said:

My guess is that his boss would subtract it from his last wage packet, and then you are in to small claims court to get it back.

Unless the contract specifically says so I don't think that is allowed.

Many years ago I left an employer who then withheld wages due, claiming I had done something that had cost them time and effort to sort out (which wasn't true).
I took advice and was told that an employer is not allowed to withhold wages. They have to pay and if they feel properly aggrieved take the former employee to small claims court to recover any monies.
A couple of rather stern letters saw them pay up, never heard anything from them again.

[Rowan138]

icetea said:

You can if its in their contract - lots of store staff need to make up any shortfall in their tills.

unless it can be proven there is a mistake elsewhere, such as streamline errors or petty cash cockups.

[davepoth]

Crafty_ said:

Unless the contract specifically says so I don't think that is allowed.

Many years ago I left an employer who then withheld wages due, claiming I had done something that had cost them time and effort to sort out (which wasn't true).
I took advice and was told that an employer is not allowed to withhold wages. They have to pay and if they feel properly aggrieved take the former employee to small claims court to recover any monies.
A couple of rather stern letters saw them pay up, never heard anything from them again.

No, but there again forcing people to pay for their mistakes when it doesn't say so in the contract probably isn't allowed either. My guess is that the employer is one who likes to sail rather close to the wind in HR issues.

[kev b]

Are we getting the full story? How many mistakes has he made previously?

[singlecoil]

kev b said:

Are we getting the full story? How many mistakes has he made previously?

What difference would that make?

[wormburner]

singlecoil said:

kev b said:

Are we getting the full story? How many mistakes has he made previously?

What difference would that make?

None. If he's incompetent you can go through the relevant motions and sack him. You can't invoice him.

[fadeaway]

singlecoil said:

icetea said:

wormburner said:

He could get into bother for the mistake, and even sacked if it was serious enough, but the money problem is the boss' own. You can't charge employees for honest mistakes, however stupid.

You can if its in their contract - lots of store staff need to make up any shortfall in their tills.

I'm very surprised to hear that, but if it's true and they get to keep any extra if their till is over, then that would seem to be fair.

you want to incentivise store staff to short change customers. interesting approach!

[icetea]

singlecoil said:

I'm very surprised to hear that, but if it's true and they get to keep any extra if their till is over, then that would seem to be fair.

Its a one way deal only - if your till is over you don't get to keep the difference, as it would just encourage people to short change customers and create a nice end of day bonus...

[singlecoil]

icetea said:

singlecoil said:

I'm very surprised to hear that, but if it's true and they get to keep any extra if their till is over, then that would seem to be fair.

Its a one way deal only - if your till is over you don't get to keep the difference, as it would just encourage people to short change customers and create a nice end of day bonus...

I did actually realise that, I was just drawing attention to the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

[DRCAGE]

Thanks for the replys, I think he is reading this himself now, alright Crackeye!

Pretty sure he doesn't care if he is fired, looking to quit anyway. Boss sounds like an arse, zero respect for the bloke/job so will happily leave short notice etc.

So, as long as it's not in his contract, he doesn't have to pay for the error?

I could get him to come on here and explain the exact situation but I don't think it's needed. If someone can confirmn the bold bit, job done.

He really does appreciate it, thankyou.