Buyout taken back?

[mjon5324]

At my current place of employment ( a warehouse) , up until last november we had £0.90 attached to our basic wage (national minimum wage)

 

This was described as an "attendance allowance"

 

In November 2014 they said they were going to take this attendance away and reduce our pay. In exchange for this we received a monetary buyout equivalent to 2 years of the extra we would have received were we still receiving the additional pay.

 

I was a union rep at the time of the negotiations, and one of the conditions that was mentioned was that if we left within 12 months of the payout being received (November pay), we would give half of it back (approx £1800).

 

It is important to note at this point that no amendments were made to our contracts, there was no verbal agreement and we never signed anything to declare this as legally binding.

 

Owing to medical problems I have been advised by HR (pre buyout) and by my doctor(post buyout) to look for another job as my current one is making my issues worse. I have since started doing this and had several interviews.

 

I since found another job, and so I contacted my employer to see what they were going to do with regards to me paying back this money.

 

The manager of the warehouse simply said they would take the money out of my final salary, which is 6 weeks pay.

 

I only take home £880 a month, so 6 weeks would be about £1300, which means in turn they are refusing to pay me any wages for my final month. I wouldn't mind if they released me instantly so I can go to my new job and start earning money again, but they are insisting that I work my 4 weeks notice as well.

 

So essentially they want me to work for free...

 

Are they legally able to do this? Once again I must stress that no contract was signed by anyone.

[steampowered]

Unless I am missing something, I think the short answer is that they are not allowed to deduct wages in this situation.

 

Do make sure you read your contract carefully though - it sounds very strange that you were paid 2 years worth of attendance allowance up front without being asked to sign anything.

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/13

(1)An employer shall not make a deduction from wages of a worker employed by him unless—

(a)the deduction is required or authorised to be made by virtue of a statutory provision or a relevant provision of the worker’s contract, or

(b)the worker has previously signified in writing his agreement or consent to the making of the deduction.

(2)In this section “relevant provision”, in relation to a worker’s contract, means a provision of the contract comprised—

(a)in one or more written terms of the contract of which the employer has given the worker a copy on an occasion prior to the employer making the deduction in question, or

(b)in one or more terms of the contract (whether express or implied and, if express, whether oral or in writing) the existence and effect, or combined effect, of which in relation to the worker the employer has notified to the worker in writing on such an occasion.

[Emmzzi]

union negotiated terms would make it repyable I beleive, but not in one lump if it takes you below NMW for that paypacket.

[mjon5324]

Unless I am missing something, I think the short answer is that they are not allowed to deduct wages in this situation.

 

it sounds very strange that you were paid 2 years worth of attendance allowance up front without being asked to sign anything.

 

 

We (the workers) the voters voted for the buyout via ballot so I don't know if that changes anything but there was no mention of a payback on the ballot, we thought it was strange that we weren't being asked to sign anything but chose not to say anything. In case a situation where one of us wanted to leave came up.

 

union negotiated terms would make it repyable I beleive, but not in one lump if it takes you below NMW for that paypacket.

 

I'm hoping this will be the case, I have mentioned to my rep that I have no objection to paying half back, my only objection is to the way they are trying to take it back.

 

If they do take it, what are my options in terms of what I can do next?