Wages withheld by Postmaster

[nellie123]

Hi to all. My wifes wages have been withheld . She is a post office counter clerk.Her balance was showing a minus at the end of her shift. The owners of the post office have said openly that they know my wife has not actually stolen any money , but that she is responsible for the minus balance on her stock.This can only be a typo error. She has repeatedly asked the postmaster to have someone from the main post office to look into it. He has not done this,and he is withholding this months pay. She is in part time employment with no contract and only does 12 hours per week. The annoying thing is that her float money( which can be several thousand pound ) is available for any other employee to access. Please help

[nellie123]

I have prepared a draft response to the solicitors letter, as this is a public forum I have anonymised some of the content with "xxx" which you will just need to sort out. You may wish to tweak but it provides the basics of a response.

Dear Sirs,

Re: Your Client [Insert the Name] – Debt Recovery

Further to your letter dated xxx in which you assert that on xxxx there was a shortfall in my till of £xxx which was later reduced to £xxx as of xxx, please can you provide the relevant and necessary evidence to prove these facts. Furthermore, as you are no doubt aware, your client, having reported the matter to the police, have confirmed that following their investigation into the accusation they will not be taking any further action.

You also refer to my employment being in the past tense; “By way of background we understand that you were employed by our client…..”. Since I have not been dismissed nor resigned I am in fact still employed by your client, albeit currently signed off work due to [insert reason on Fit Note from the GP].

In regard to the position your client has taken by withholding wages owed and due to me of £xxx, as effectively a contribution to the unevidenced shortfall, since I do not have a contract of employment that allows for such a deduction and no agreement was made with me to deduct the shortfall from my wages this is in fact an unlawful deduction of wages.

Based on the above and with no evidence to prove the facts that your client is alleging I will be strongly defending any claim that may be brought.

Your faithfully,

Thank you very much. I will forward that in a letter and report on the outcome.

[ULA]

I have prepared a draft response to the solicitors letter, as this is a public forum I have anonymised some of the content with "xxx" which you will just need to sort out. You may wish to tweak but it provides the basics of a response.

Dear Sirs,

Re: Your Client [Insert the Name] – Debt Recovery

Further to your letter dated xxx in which you assert that on xxxx there was a shortfall in my till of £xxx which was later reduced to £xxx as of xxx, please can you provide the relevant and necessary evidence to prove these facts. Furthermore, as you are no doubt aware, your client, having reported the matter to the police, have confirmed that following their investigation into the accusation they will not be taking any further action.

You also refer to my employment being in the past tense; “By way of background we understand that you were employed by our client…..”. Since I have not been dismissed nor resigned I am in fact still employed by your client, albeit currently signed off work due to [insert reason on Fit Note from the GP].

In regard to the position your client has taken by withholding wages owed and due to me of £xxx, as effectively a contribution to the unevidenced shortfall, since I do not have a contract of employment that allows for such a deduction and no agreement was made with me to deduct the shortfall from my wages this is in fact an unlawful deduction of wages.

Based on the above and with no evidence to prove the facts that your client is alleging I will be strongly defending any claim that may be brought.

Your faithfully,

[nellie123]

Just finalising the draft for you. How long has your wife been employed at the post office and is she still going into work or possibly off sick which would be entirely understandable?

Employed as a counter clerk approx. 15 years. This particular one 17-06-2016 was start date . She is off sick due to work related stress. In the letter I posted to you ,it says were employed but she has not been notified that she has been sacked etc .

[ULA]

Just finalising the draft for you. How long has your wife been employed at the post office and is she still going into work or possibly off sick which would be entirely understandable?

[Amethyst]

Just Ula without any number after

[nellie123]

At the very top of the page in black panel near your avatar picture and next to the bell icon is an envelope icon, opens up a box and click Send New Message in first box type Ula and then compose message and attach the letter them send.

I will review this and draft a response over the weekend, so hold on I will get something back to you.

OK ihave done that , but there are 3 different Ula with different codes. Which one are you ?

[ULA]

At the very top of the page in black panel near your avatar picture and next to the bell icon is an envelope icon, opens up a box and click Send New Message in first box type Ula and then compose message and attach the letter them send.

I will review this and draft a response over the weekend, so hold on I will get something back to you.

[nellie123]

I understand how you feel about the situation but would you be happy for me to reword this letter?

Yes please. Thank you.

[nellie123]

You can send it to me via PM

How do I do that on here ?

[ULA]

I understand how you feel about the situation but would you be happy for me to reword this letter?

[ULA]

You can send it to me via PM

[nellie123]

Letter I intend to send.
I am in receipt of your letter dated 8th January 2019. I am going to treat this letter with the contempt it merits.
You and your client are at cross purposes here,you have stated that the shortfall on my stock unit was due to errors on my behalf .
So on the 2nd of January your client accused me of stealing monies. If you need to verify that with my witness to that fact ,here is my witnesses identity.
P.C.Sarah Daniels3398.
I am disgusted with your clients recent actions.I refute any of this matter and will rigorously defend any claim brought against me.
I reserve the right at this time to action a counter claim .

[nellie123]

Having just read the solicitors letter again. It says at the head of the letter.
OUR CLIENT : M...…..h Post office.
Should it not be the Postmasters name as it is him that has made the deduction.
Directly Below That it it says...
Re: DEBT RECOVERY.

Is there any way that I can forward this to ULA

[nellie123]

We are here for you/your wife.

You have correctly contacted ACAS for early conciliation in regard to the unlawful deduction of your wife’s wage. In case you are not aware, whilst these discussions are taking place the time limit for making a tribunal claim is extended. The early conciliation period can be up to a month initially and can be shorter or up to 14 days longer according to need. If this does not work, then you can submit your ET claim but even given the above an eye on timescales needs to be kept so that is it is not out of time.

The solicitor’s letter, in my view, a direct response to your letter of 2 Jan and is an attempt to deflect the situation away from the actions of the postmaster. If you want to post up an anonymised draft of your reply to the solicitor, then we are happy to review for you.

Excellent I will do one later thank you