Unagreed change to salary

[yaykenny]

HI,

I had an orig salary of 25K and my employer increased this to 29K after 2 months in the job, all good - new contact. They have now decided that they want to revert the salary back to 25K due to the business not making enough money. I initially said no but offered via an email a figure of 27K if we could agree some targets. I received no confirmation of the email but my line manager spoke to me 2 weeks later to say that no changes would be made to my salary until a meeting had been held to finalise things and discuss targets. At the end of the month my pay slip showed my normal monthly salary and then underneath a deduction of £166. When I queried this with accounts I was told that this was to reflect my new salary !

When I questioned my line manager about the deductions I was told "A letter was drafted for you about your salary but uit never got posted"

AM i right in thinking that nothing has been formally accepted by my employed or by me and as my contract still says £29K they are taking this money illegally?

Cheers

[ULA]

Just to confirm you were either given a new contract or a letter confirming that your salary had been increased to £29k?

Legally, an employer cannot impose a pay cut if you have an employment contract or letter that sets out details of your salary entitlement. What they need to do is follow a process of consultation with you to agree the change and I think that since they are arguing a business need to reduce your salary you have taken a reasonable stance by agreeing to meet them half way.

The fact the letter was not posted is their issue not yours and whatever its contents it should have been part of the consultation process with you in an attempt to reach agreement on a reduction in your salary given the trading conditions.

I suggest that firstly you get a copy of the letter you were supposed to receive just to see what the contents are. Based on its contents it will be easier to determine what course of action you may need to take.

Just for my reference how long have you been employed with the company?

[yaykenny]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I have been with the company just over a year and last June (4 weeks in) I was given the £4K raise and received a new contract to reflect this.


I will request the copy but wonder if can now request the deduction that was taken last month be refunded?#

Many many thanks

[ULA]

I am thinking that it may be considered an unlawful deduction of wages since you have not agreed to the reduced salary, in which case you could write to them asking for the money to be refunded stating you believe that to be the case.

On a cautionary note with less than 2 years service your employer could decide to dismiss you fairly (albeit there will be some situations when this would not be the case) without having to give a reason, although this is not good practice.

So I would suggest that you deal with the issue in a factual/professional manner which you seem to have already tried to do with your compromise suggestion, so maybe continue your discussions with the company on that basis, at least for the time being, to see if you can get some resolution you are perpared to accept.