Backdated Pay

[Confuzzled18]

I'm looking for some advice regarding a situation at my workplace. It's a little long winded so please forgive me.

In March this year, my manager resigned. A week into her notice period, the CEO and Head of HR took me to one side and offered me a promotion. I say offered, they made lots of promises that they have unfortunately not kept. They also said if needed, my pay would be back dated. Looking back, I should have seen that red flag.

As a two person team that was already in need of a third person, my workload dramatically increased after my manager left. During this time the CEO and Head of HR bounced me off each other, got me to write my own JD and PS, and blamed the delay on the Council who have to approve all salary/promotions.

After a few months, I started looking for new work.

On the 29th July an apprentice joined the company and was to be trained up and managed by me. Later that day, I received job offer. I was ready to hand my notice in but when I got to work the following day, the Head of HR took me to one side. She said she was bypassing the Council and offered me a £5k pay rise that was to be back dated until 1st April. She said it had already gone through to payroll and would be in my August pay and that she would announce it to the company that Friday via email. I had decided to turn the new job down however, before I could do so, it came up in conversation with HR that payroll had cut off and they'd not received any instruction to increase or back date my pay. The following day, I handed my notice in.

I've been informed that I will not have my pay back dated, or receive the pay increase for my notice period where I am managing the apprentice.

I don't really know where I stand with this. Whilst I don't have the amount agreed on paper, I do have emailed from the Head of HR confirming I would be receiving a pay rise and it would be back dated. I suspect I might just have to chalk it up to experience and move on but thought I'd see if anyone else has experienced similar and what they did?

Thanks for listening and any advice you can give me.

[ULA]

This is a difficult one and it depends on how far you want to try and argue the issue.

What you could do is raise a grievance regarding the matter on the basis that that promises, even verbal ones, can be legally binding as long as the promise was a) clear enough, b) there was intention to be bound and c) the employees provided “consideration”, that is something in return and in your case this can be proven if you carried out the function of the promoted role. If this argument holds then it would follow that by not paying you the salary with the relevant back-dating then this could be considered an unlawful deduction of wages. In which case if the matter could not be resolved then you could have a claim via the Employment Tribunal.

Not sure whether your employer will accept this but it may be worth a try.

[Confuzzled18]

Thanks for your advice.

I spoke to ACAS who said it wouldn't be something I could go through the Employment Tribunal process for. The woman said it was something to do with my contract not having terms of promotion.

Really disappointed to be honest as I'm only leaving the company as I feel I had no other option unless I wanted to be taken advantage of further. I highly doubt my workplace would do anything if I raised a grievance and I really don't want to go through to civil as it will cost a fortune.

Guess it's time to put my big girl pants on and chalk it up to experience.

[Confuzzled18]

Update: I've decided to raise a grievance with the company.

During my notice period they have made what I feel to be unfair demands (why would someone leaving in August be expected to completely plan the Company summer ball for the following year, for example). They are still expecting me to carry out the management position despite not paying me it so I guess it's worth a shot.

Have never raised a grievance before. Hopefully I'm putting my point across well

[ULA]

Let us know how you get on.

[Confuzzled18]

I've got an informal meeting with my manager today. Not particularly happy as my grievance is about her but apparently it's the first part of the process. If I'm unhappy it will progress to stage one etc etc.

There are mixed views on how she will react. Some think she will pretend to be shocked and hurt, others that she will play friendly but dismissive. Overall, most I've spoken to think I need to take some sort of flame retardant shield. She has one hell of a temper on her.

I'm surprisingly nervous. I think it's my upbringing as I've never asked for money before and was always taught that asking for it is rude so a part of me keeps saying I shouldn't be raising this. Got to stick to the facts. They promised me a pay increase several times and I carried the job out in good faith because a) I believed them and b) they said it would be backed in the 'rare' situation that the promotion would be delayed. Whilst I don't have the amount in writing I do have an email demonstrating the intent to increase and backdate.

Could do with a gin!

[ULA]

Good luck for today.

Keep everything very factual, I know these situations are not easy but try and stay as calm as possible even if your manager is getting angry.

Let us know how you get on.

[Confuzzled18]

Thanks. I think if she gets angry/frustrated/raises her voice I'm just going to end the meeting. I don't get paid for the job I do, let alone to take her nonsense.

On the plus side, she has taken next week off so my last week in the company will be free of her, her inappropriate remarks and insane requests. As the CEO of the company hasn't spoken to me since I resigned I don't have to deal with him either. Might actually get some work done

[Confuzzled18]

Apparently it was an over sight and I'm getting the back dated pay and pay for this month too.

She started the meeting by apologising about that straight up and said I'd find out how much that amount would be today.

We then talked about the experience. It was all very logical as to why it was delayed and she seemed to take on board my view of how it should have been communicated.

Can breath now

[ULA]

Fantastic news. Well done

[Confuzzled18]

It's never going to be over.

I got a post-it note on this morning with a figure half of what I worked out last night (the difference between each monthly take home x four months(I actually worked in that role longer but was playing it safe)) and that figure didn't include what she said about the add-on for holidays.

Have emailed asking for a breakdown. I need to get better at this. Part of why I feel so anxious is I'm worried I'll look greedy if I query it plus I'm not confident in working stuff out.

[ULA]

Once you get the breakdown then you can compare that with your figures and see where the discrepancies are.

The meeting yesterday confirmed it was an oversight and you were due the money, so do not worry about looking greedy, you are just making sure that you receive in full the monies that it has been agreed are owing to you.

If you want you can always post up the information (anonymised) here and I can double check your calculations.

[Confuzzled18]

I'm not going to get the breakdown until Wednesday as the guy at the council who does our payroll is off.

I figured I would get about £1200. I've already posted my salary on here before so I'm not ashamed

I'm currently on £26,484.42 annual. The agreed increase was to £31,371. I've used listen to the taxman and the difference after tax is £300.

We agreed I'd be back paid to 11th April. When I tried to work it out, I only did it for the months of May, June, July and August because I didn't want to guess at figuring out a half month, so came up with £1200 owed. I was also told there would be additional payment because the holidays I was paid for in my final pay should have been on the higher salary band.

The post-it (highly professional) said they were paying me £620. It just doesn't seem right although perhaps I am being greedy.

[ULA]

The calculation should be as follows:

Difference between current and agreed increase is £4886.58/12 equals £407.22 per month so for May to August would be £1628.88.
For the part month I would calculate it as £4886.58/52 /5 x no of working days 11 April to 31 April and assuming you are paid bank holidays (Easter) which is 14. This calculation equals £263.12

Total due £1892 plus the holidays you should have been paid at the higher rate which is an easy calculation. It is the number of days x the day rate difference in the two salaries which is £18.79.

Hope that helps.

[Confuzzled18]

Thanks - says something when a person online is more helpful than your own HR department. I'm pretty certain that £620 was after tax but still, tax is not that much.

The grievance was only at the informal stage on Thursday, will request it go to stage one on Tuesday. Not sure what will happen as my manager is on annual leave next week and I leave on the 30th. I'm still not sure why, if my grievance was with my manager, I had to do the informal stage with her but whatever.