Updated January 2011
Pay and Wages are slightly different
- Pay is the basic amount you should be paid (e.g. your monthly or weekly rate).
- Your Wage can also include any bonuses or commission you are entitled to, holiday payments, statutory payments (sick pay, maternity pay). Wages do not include expenses owed, pension and redundancy payments or compensation for loss of office.
See our
advice on chasing /collecting late payments
To calculate your take-home pay, if you have been offered a new job or salary, go to this salary calculator
Unauthorised Deductions from Pay and Wages
Employees and Workers are protected from Employers making unathorised deductions from their pay or wages.
Your employer cannot deduct money from your pay unless:
- It is required by law (e.g. National Insurance contributions, tax, student loan repayments)
- It is allowed by a term in your employment contract (but you must have seen a written copy of that part of the contract) or if your Employer can demonstrate that you were not ‘ready and willing’ to do the work
- It is a statutory payment due to a public authority
- You have not worked due to taking part in industrial action
- It is to recover an earlier overpayment of wages or expenses (for more information see below)
- It is a result of a Court Order or Employment Tribunal decision.
Before making any deductions, your employer must tell you in writing the full amount you owe and make a demand for this payment and you must give written consent to this deduction, before your employer makes the deduction.
- Unauthorised deductions from for e.g. redundancy payments (i.e. not pay or wages) are not protected, but you may be able to claim for breach of contract if you are entitled to the payment in your employment contract.
If your employer deducts money from you without following the law:
After checking your payslip and contract for an explanation, try to speak to your employer first to find out why, or a Trade Union representative if you are a member. Ultimately you have the right to make a claim at Employment Tribunal for your money.
If your employer tells you that you have been overpaid what will happen?:
Your Employer will no doubt try to recover the overpayment from you, and they are allowed to deduct payments from your wages, by law, to cover this. However, if you can prove that:
- You were led to believe by the Employer that you were entitled to the extra cash
- And you had, in good faith, ‘changed your position’ as a result of the overpayment (spent it) and
- The overpayment was not your fault
you may be able to keep some or all of the money. If you have incurred expenditure (e.g. with a mortgage) because of the overpayment then your Employer may not be able to recover all of it. However, to prove that you had ‘good faith’ may be difficult as you would normally notice if you wage increases greatly and you haven’t been informed of this. Your Employer should be reasonable in requesting how and when the overpayment be paid back to them.
Is your Employer obliged to pay you if you cannot get into work because of severe weather conditions or public transport disruptions?
The responsibility is on you, the employee, to get to work regardless of the circumstances (unless your Employer has contractually promised to provide transport for employees to and from work).
If you fail to attend work there is no obligation on the Employer to pay you (or pay you for missed time if you arrive late) – even if is not your fault – unless your employment contract has specific provision for such absences to be paid. Your Employer is only obliged to pay you when you are ready, willing and available to work.
An Employers failure to pay you in these circumstances is not an unlawful deduction of wages.
In these circumstances Employers should consider:
- Encouraging employees to find other forms of safe transport
- Allowing employees to work from home
- Allowing employees to make up the time at a later date.
If none of these options are viable then the Employer should advise the employees whether their time off work in these circumstances will be paid or unpaid or whether they can request to take the time off as paid annual leave. (However, Employers cannot insist that employees take annual leave without the requisite notice – see the information on notice periods
here in the Working Time Directive section).
If my Employers business premises is temporarily closed (e.g. due to flooding, fire, power supply failure) are they obliged to pay me?
If an Employer has to temporarily close their business premises at short notice and there is no work available for its employees as a result this is called a period of lay-off. During a lay-off you are entitled to receive normal pay (unless there is a contractual right to be laid off without pay or employees consent to not being paid).
If your contract of employment has a right for the Employer to impose a period of lay-off without pay, or you consent to a period of lay-off without pay, you should be entitled to a Statutory Guarantee Payment for any complete day of lay-off (for more information about Lay-Off’s see the Direct Gov site here).
If you are entitled to normal pay but do not receive it you can sue your Employer for damages or claim unfair constructive dismissal (if you resign as a result of the non-payment) on the grounds of a breach of your contract of employment; you may also claim that your Employer has made an authorised deduction from wages.
Pay Cuts
If your Employer is considering cost-cutting measures that includes pay cuts, then a pay cut should not be imposed upon an
employee without their consent. They should seek your agreement and confirm the change in writing, informing you if this is a permanent change (or if there is a time limit).
If you do not accept the proposed change you should -
- Make it clear, in writing, that you are working under protest or as a last resort
- Resign on the grounds that your employer has breached your contract of employment by imposing a unilateral change (always take advice before pursuing this course of action).
- In either case you should raise a grievance detailing your complaint. You will then be in a position to bring a claim for unlawful deduction of wages, breach of contract and/or, if you have resigned, constructive dismissal.
Your Employer, if you do not accept the change, may terminate your existing contract and re-engage you on a new contract. This is a dismissal so you could make a claim for unfair dismissal at an Employment Tribunal (although your employer will probably claim this was a fair dismissal for business reasons).
As this can be a very complicated area, please take advice from your Trade Union, or the Citizens Advice Bureau or elsewhere before proceeding down this route.
Workline is supported by Employment Lawyers Goodman Derrick LLP. Please note that the advice given on this website and by our Advisors is guidance only and cannot be taken as an authoritative interpretation of the law. It can also not be seen as specific advice for individual cases. Please also note that there are differences in legislation in Northern Ireland.
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