Unpaid wages from former employer

[retro pedro]

The situation is that the former employer did NOT pay the full amount for worked overtime hours for work completed by the employee.
The employee was contracted to do 16 hours per week with extra hours worked to be paid as authorised overtime.
The employee left employment on 13th December 2019. There was an underpayment of £442.85p for overtime hours worked. It seems that this is an internal payroll department error not paying from central office.
The employee contacted the employer to this effect on 5th February 2020. This was supported with a spreadsheet showing hours worked. The employer responded (payroll office) by the form of a letter stating the they believed an overpayment had been made of £75.05p. The response from the employee was to dispute this statement and again gave notice via email that it was in fact an underpayment was the actual.
The employee's email dated 19th March 2020 was received with a confirmation of receipit of email and that they were going to revisit the case. To date, the employee as not had any further response from the employer regarding this matter.
Rather that letting time slip any further, the employee is going to respond, via email, to the last correspondence requested the underpayment factor is recitified immediately.
Please can anybody advise what the next procedure is regarding further legal action, should the employer not rectify the underpayment and if there are timescales to be adhered to. Bearing in mind, correspondence as already been entered into by the employee to the employer.
The employee does have hard evidence of work rotas required from the local branch manager at the time. This document does show that the overtime hours were requested, and indeed worked. Just not paid for by central offices.
Many thanks in anticipation of any forth coming advice.

[Celestine]

Ula Moved from Welcome forum X

[ULA]

Given the length of time since the ex-employee left the company they are now out of time to make a claim for unlawful deduction of wages via the Employment Tribunal which would have incurred no fees. The only other alternative now would be to start a small claims process for which there will be a fee dependent upon the amount being claimed.

I would suggest that in this next email the ex-employee refers to previous correspondence which provided the documentary evidence of the underpayment and state that is it is unacceptable that this issue remains outstanding. Give the company 7 days in which to respond and that in the event they do not then the ex-employee will be forced to commence with legal proceedings.

[retro pedro]

So here we are having contacted the company concerned throughout June with the last correspondence on the 9th July. Conflicting requests made regarding hours worked and not paid. On the last email sent to them I pointed out the hours NOT paid and change in contractual hours amendment during my term of duty which meant they clawed back more hours than they should have. I offered to go over and discuss with the local site manager to sort out the hours discrepancy with the view that all could be amicably be agreed and the issue of non payment finalised. The central payroll centre, to whom I have to send correspondence replied with the non return email acknowledgement. This carries an advisory that they would ring me within 48 hours or 5 working days. Has as been the pattern in previous correspondence, they did not comply with their advisory and no correspondence was made.
Within my last email, I did state that unless correspondence was not made within 7 working days or payment received within the next 14 working days, I would be taking the view to pursue my claim by the options open to me. Both time scales have now passed.
With that in mind, I rang ACAS and they explained that because the 3 months period from outset of my non payment wages had lapsed, I would be advised to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau for further advice on how to pursue through the Civil Courts. So my question is, does any body know the procedure for starting a claim through the civil courts or would the strong recommendation be to contact the Citizens Advice. It's because I possess strong evidence of proof that I worked when I said I did and that I've got strong documentation detailing my working hours contractual obligations that the company should have honoured. Indeed, within the previous e-mail correspondence, the company actually detail hours they thought that I should have been paid.
Many thanks for any forthcoming advice.

[ULA]

I believe that you would need to pursue a case using the governments Money Claim Online service

https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim

Although I will tag Celestine to confirm this is correct.

[retro pedro]

I believe that you would need to pursue a case using the governments Money Claim Online service

https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim

Although I will tag Celestine to confirm this is correct.

Thank you very much. I'll await Celestine's response before pursuing

[Celestine]

Good evening Pedro
From your post #4 it does not appear that you have sent them a correctly worded pre-action letter giving them a minimum of 14days notice that you will issue a claim against them. That is the most important next step, if worded correctly it should get their attention and hopefully yield a payment.
I will post a template for you tomorrow when I’m
on my laptop.

[retro pedro]

Good evening Pedro
From your post #4 it does not appear that you have sent them a correctly worded pre-action letter giving them a minimum of 14days notice that you will issue a claim against them. That is the most important next step, if worded correctly it should get their attention and hopefully yield a payment.
I will post a template for you tomorrow when I’m
on my laptop.

Thank you Celestine, that will be very much appreciated.

[Celestine]

Your address
Their address DATE
Dear ………….
Reference: Recovery of unpaid wages
I write in compliance with the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct as no resolution has been achieved to date and it seems likely court action may be required to resolve this dispute.
(Set out a clear description of the dispute, timescales, actions and grounds for bringing the claim)
I am claiming against XXX company: (state what amount you are claiming and set out how you have calculated this)
Listed below are the documents on which I intend to rely in my claim against XXX company:
(List documents you intend to rely on to prove your case)
In accordance with the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct I would request that you provide me with copies of the following documents:
(List documents you require (if any) from the company)
I can confirm that I would be agreeable to mediation and any other system of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in order to avoid the need for this matter to be resolved by the courts. I would invite you to put forward any proposals in this regard.
I would draw your attention to paragraphs 15 and 16 of the Practice Direction which gives the courts the power to impose sanctions on the parties if they fail to comply with the direction including failing to respond to this letter before claim.
I look forward to hearing from you within the next 14 days. Should I not receive a response to my letter within this time frame, then I will commence court action to recover this sum with no further reference to you.
Yours faithfully,