Wages withheld by Postmaster

[nellie123]

Ok will try to be patient thank you

As yet we have not received a reply to our letter. We have contacted ACAS to open a case for us with the hope that it will go to an employment tribunal and that we are successful.Are we on the right track ?

[ostell]

Sorry, the first link was about a postmistress who had been jailed because of the system "glitch"

[Phaeton]

I suspect ostell means the 'glitch' although the first link doesn't work

[nellie123]

Here's one link

And another

Has it actually been fixed?

Has what actually been fixed ?

[ostell]

Here's one link

And another

Has it actually been fixed?

[nellie123]

I would just caution making any assumptions at this moment, particularly if they cannot be proven.

Let's just see what response your wife gets to her letter and take it a step at a time. Hopefully the fact that the letter has talked about unlawful deduction of wages will make him think about his actions and speedily rectify the situation.

Ok will try to be patient thank you

[ostell]

There was a great furore some time ago about the Post Office back office system that would "lose" money. Post Masters got sacked because of it. It turned out to be a glitch in the system. I suggest a lot of google searching.

[ULA]

I would just caution making any assumptions at this moment, particularly if they cannot be proven.

Let's just see what response your wife gets to her letter and take it a step at a time. Hopefully the fact that the letter has talked about unlawful deduction of wages will make him think about his actions and speedily rectify the situation.

[nellie123]

Happy New Year and sorry to hear your wife's issue has not been resolved.

From your latest post is sounds like no wages have been paid to your wife. Does the amount of her wages due equal the amount of money that was short in her till? I would find it very coincidental if that was the case, or was she paid part of her salary minus the "shortfall" amount?

You have followed the correct course of action by sending a letter as soon the event of the unpaid wages has occurred and you have given a reasonable time for the postmaster to respond. It is now a waiting game to see whether you get a response. Did you mention in the correspondence what you would do if a response is not forthcoming in the time?

Ultimately if the matter does not get resolved then your wife has the option to claim the monies via an Employment Tribunal, which will include ACAS's early conciliation scheme. Your wife would have to make the claim within 3 months less one day from the last day the unlawful deduction was made which in this case would be 1 Jan, since that was the date payment was due.

You are correct in saying that she has not received any of her monthly pay. That wage was approx. one third of her till deficit by a typo error. She has actually visited her last place of employment to send a signed for letter to her present employer.The cashier who served her ( a previous colleague ) could not believe her employer had done such an action. She also stated that her own till was in debit by £2000-00 which would never be deducted from her pay as it always comes back eventually after a long process in the system that is used. ironically my wifes postmasters till was in debit by some £650 the same month as my wifes was down by £950-00. So am I right in thinking that he has stolen that money???

[ULA]

Happy New Year and sorry to hear your wife's issue has not been resolved.

From your latest post is sounds like no wages have been paid to your wife. Does the amount of her wages due equal the amount of money that was short in her till? I would find it very coincidental if that was the case, or was she paid part of her salary minus the "shortfall" amount?

You have followed the correct course of action by sending a letter as soon the event of the unpaid wages has occurred and you have given a reasonable time for the postmaster to respond. It is now a waiting game to see whether you get a response. Did you mention in the correspondence what you would do if a response is not forthcoming in the time?

Ultimately if the matter does not get resolved then your wife has the option to claim the monies via an Employment Tribunal, which will include ACAS's early conciliation scheme. Your wife would have to make the claim within 3 months less one day from the last day the unlawful deduction was made which in this case would be 1 Jan, since that was the date payment was due.

[nellie123]

Sorry but there are several issues to unravel here.

Firstly the issue of your wife not having a contract - these do not need to be in writing to be legally valid but it is always better if they are. A contract starts as soon as an offer of employment is accepted and starting work would be considered acceptance of the terms and conditions, so if no written contract had been provided before starting, it would be the verbal terms and conditions when your wife was interviewed that she accepted on starting the job. Going on from this though most workers are legally required to be provided with a Written Statement of the main terms and conditions of employment within 2 calendar months of starting employment covering things like pay, hours of work and holiday entitlement.

Secondly, the issue of withholding of wages. In the absence of a written contract or Written Statement which contains a clause about being able to deduct from wages if there is shortfall in the till and if this was not explained to your wife verbally when being interviewed for the position and if she has not agreed to the deduction then the actions taken by the owners are an unlawful deduction from wages.

Her first course of action would be to raise a grievance with the owners regarding this unlawful deduction of wages. In doing so I would suggest that she set out the reasons why it is an unlawful deduction as explained above and hopefully the fact that your wife raises the issues in this way will resolve the situation. If it does not then she will have the right to make a claim with the Employment Tribunal but hopefully it will not come to that.

Hi happy new year.
Going back to this case , my wifes wages should have been paid on the 1st of Jan 2019. The wages have not been paid. We have just send a letter stating that it is illegal to withhold these wages and have asked them to respond within 7 working days. Also today we were contacted by the police as the postmaster is now stating that my wife has stolen the money. The police have investigated this accusation and have told us they will not be taking any further action.He could not prove that my wife had taken any money.What would be our next step to achieve a satisfactory result from this.
Thank you

[nellie123]

Thank you very much ULA

[ULA]

Sorry but there are several issues to unravel here.

Firstly the issue of your wife not having a contract - these do not need to be in writing to be legally valid but it is always better if they are. A contract starts as soon as an offer of employment is accepted and starting work would be considered acceptance of the terms and conditions, so if no written contract had been provided before starting, it would be the verbal terms and conditions when your wife was interviewed that she accepted on starting the job. Going on from this though most workers are legally required to be provided with a Written Statement of the main terms and conditions of employment within 2 calendar months of starting employment covering things like pay, hours of work and holiday entitlement.

Secondly, the issue of withholding of wages. In the absence of a written contract or Written Statement which contains a clause about being able to deduct from wages if there is shortfall in the till and if this was not explained to your wife verbally when being interviewed for the position and if she has not agreed to the deduction then the actions taken by the owners are an unlawful deduction from wages.

Her first course of action would be to raise a grievance with the owners regarding this unlawful deduction of wages. In doing so I would suggest that she set out the reasons why it is an unlawful deduction as explained above and hopefully the fact that your wife raises the issues in this way will resolve the situation. If it does not then she will have the right to make a claim with the Employment Tribunal but hopefully it will not come to that.

[nellie123]

Afraid you'll have to wait for those I tagged to get premium advice on the next move by your better half !

Employment isn't my scene and I only picked up on your post as once, a long long time ago for a whole year I was a sub postmaster.
One of the reasons for selling that shop was Post Office Counters were such lousy employers!

Thank very much anyway. Have a good one

[des8]

Afraid you'll have to wait for those I tagged to get premium advice on the next move by your better half !

Employment isn't my scene and I only picked up on your post as once, a long long time ago for a whole year I was a sub postmaster.
One of the reasons for selling that shop was Post Office Counters were such lousy employers!