Ex-employer is witholding pay
Discussion
I need some advice from those who may have been through something similar or are in the industry.
My Fiance has been working for a small finance company (one boss, 4 staff) for the last 2 years. For about 18 months of that she has pretty much hated it but stuck it out for one reason or another. I have seen her return home on several occasions upset with the way in which he has treated her. This has tried my patience as I've wanted to ask what the hell he was playing at but quite frankly we would struggle with just my wage so I have pushed her into looking for another job.
A couple of months ago, she was successful for one of the jobs she applied for. It was less pay but she couldn't wait to get out as he had been giving her a hard time at work so she was just waiting for security checks to come through. As she didn't know how long these would take, she had to sit it out but could hand her notice in. She did so (had to give 4 weeks) but within a fortnight the new job asked her to start work the following week. Its a governmental position and they have intakes of which the next one would be six months away so being halfway through the notice period, she walked out and didn't return.
She started her new position the following Monday.
Since then he wrote a number of letters to her asking why she terminated and even contacted her new place of employment (he put 2&2 together with a reference request) asking how long she had worked there etc.
Anyway, she wrote back and asked that she was entitled to any monies owed to her (which is about half a months pay) and that she would not be returning to work.
It is now around 7 weeks since she left, a month since she was due to be paid but she hasnt received anything and no reply to the requests for her money to be paid to her.
I have been tempted myself to phone up and ask whether she is to be paid, but short of threatening legal advice (which would probably cost more than the wages she is owed), i'm not sure whether I have anything else to go with.
Could anyone else help with this quandry?
No answers with acts of criminality please as I would really like to know what we can do about it. The way in which he has treated her and still continues to do so is seriously trying my patience.
My Fiance has been working for a small finance company (one boss, 4 staff) for the last 2 years. For about 18 months of that she has pretty much hated it but stuck it out for one reason or another. I have seen her return home on several occasions upset with the way in which he has treated her. This has tried my patience as I've wanted to ask what the hell he was playing at but quite frankly we would struggle with just my wage so I have pushed her into looking for another job.
A couple of months ago, she was successful for one of the jobs she applied for. It was less pay but she couldn't wait to get out as he had been giving her a hard time at work so she was just waiting for security checks to come through. As she didn't know how long these would take, she had to sit it out but could hand her notice in. She did so (had to give 4 weeks) but within a fortnight the new job asked her to start work the following week. Its a governmental position and they have intakes of which the next one would be six months away so being halfway through the notice period, she walked out and didn't return.
She started her new position the following Monday.
Since then he wrote a number of letters to her asking why she terminated and even contacted her new place of employment (he put 2&2 together with a reference request) asking how long she had worked there etc.
Anyway, she wrote back and asked that she was entitled to any monies owed to her (which is about half a months pay) and that she would not be returning to work.
It is now around 7 weeks since she left, a month since she was due to be paid but she hasnt received anything and no reply to the requests for her money to be paid to her.
I have been tempted myself to phone up and ask whether she is to be paid, but short of threatening legal advice (which would probably cost more than the wages she is owed), i'm not sure whether I have anything else to go with.
Could anyone else help with this quandry?
No answers with acts of criminality please as I would really like to know what we can do about it. The way in which he has treated her and still continues to do so is seriously trying my patience.
Firstly, written grievance to company documenting unpaid wages. Give timeline for response. Concurrently, you might as well prepare your ET1 online for submission to Employment Tribunal. Don't wait too long, especially as you are already 7 weeks down. I would say letter out tomorrow, with outcome to be delivered by Monday next week. No response, then click submit and send through to ET. You would be claiming for anu unpaid basic salary, any contrctual bonus/incentive/commission, and perhaps balance of holiday entitlement.
edc, thanks for that - in response to the other posters, could they be on the right track in relation to a counter claim? My OH is aware that he had a temp in the door before she left, which subsequently left herself a week later after she found out what wage she was on. I think a further temp he employed left after she didnt like working for him.
edc said:
Feasibly, yes, they could sue for breach of contract - but in this instance what is the actual loss? If a temp is in already doing the job, then assuming the job is done to the same standard then the main cost is the difference in salary costs or fees paid.
Which could quite easily be £20 / hour for a relatively 'normal' job.(I've used a merchandising agency in the past who charged £25 / hour, but paid the staff £8 / hour)
That's quite a lot over a couple of weeks.
I don't know what the role or salary is so wouldn't hazard a guess as to the difference but OP basic salary + circa 12.8% NI/tax + p11d benefits - agency fee wouldn't be a huge amount. Under contract as well you need to mitigate your loss, so temp in asap is one step, but not hiring permanent and maintaining temp possibly won't be enough. You can then argue all day long about other reasons not to hire permanent.
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