Is this legal??

[Guest]

Hi All

I have a company car and am due to resign from my current job next year. I have received acceptance of my resignation, but in it it says this:



"As you are leaving very early in March, we will be holding back 2 weeks of your February salary. In line with the company car policy it is expected that employees should return their company vehicles in an acceptable and roadworthy condition and in particular at the end of contract. Any vehicles being returned with bodywork damage, alloy scuffs or missing items such as spare keys etc face a recharge. Any costs associated with damages, **** reserves the right to make deductions from the employee’s salary or invoice the employee directly for any such costs. As soon as we have received everything back, including a final mileage form and once we are happy that there are no damage re-charges we will release this money. Any private mileage will be deducted from the monies withheld"

I do not start my new job until 3 weeks later and this will leave me in financial difficulty

Any advice would be great

Thanks

[ostell]

Unless it is in your contract then it is not legal.

[efpom]

It seems to me, from reading the sentences beginning “As soon as we have everything back…” that the employer’s purpose of withholding wages is aimed at holding on to funds to cover damage to the company car.

If my understanding of the law is correct, the starting point is that the employee is entitled to have his/her wages paid in full on time, every time.

The contract of employment, may, however, permit the employer to withhold such sums as are expressly agreed in that contract

It follows that the statement - “As you are leaving very early in March, we will be holding back 2 weeks of your February salary.”, if acted upon would be an unlawful deduction from wages, which is actionable – unless the contract of employment expressly gives the employer the right to do that.

“In line with the company car policy it is expected that employees should return their company vehicles in an acceptable and roadworthy condition and in particular at the end of contract.”

Again, unless it is a term of the contract of employment that the employee is bound via the contract of employment to comply with the company car policy then he/she is not bound.

The usage of the words “acceptable” and “roadworthy” implies that the state of the vehicle is to be judged solely by the employer, which offends the concept of natural justice.

“Any vehicles being returned with bodywork damage, alloy scuffs or missing items such as spare keys etc face a recharge. Any costs associated with damages, **** reserves the right to make deductions from the employee’s salary –

Unless, the contract of employment gives the right to the employer to do so, legally, he cannot make such a deduction from wages- If that is right, “ …or invoice the employee directly for any such costs.” , is the Employers only remedy i.e. he sues in tort for damages.

“As soon as we have received everything back, including a final mileage form and once we are happy that there are no damage re-charges we will release this money. Any private mileage will be deducted from the monies withheld".

In order to get to the bottom of this, you will have to give your contract of employmen a close reading. It might be worthwhile posting up it’s terms on here.

[Goose]

Me again! I had forgotten I was registered
This is what my contract states regarding payments:

For the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996, you authorise the company to deduct from your salary any sums due to the company including, without limitation, any over payment of salary and any advances or loans made to you by the company. In the event of such sums being due to the company on the termination of your employment, and if you’re final salary payment is insufficient to allow for the whole of any such deduction, you will be required to repay the outstanding amount due to the company within one month of the date of the termination of your employment.

and this is what the company car policy says:

Should you leave the Company before the end of the contract term; then the vehicle must be returned to the Company on the last day of your employment. It is the employee’s responsibility to arrange the return of the vehicle with the HR fleet administrator and fulfilling all of the normal return requirements.
If the vehicle is not returned on time and/ or returned damaged, **** reserves the right to withhold any final salary payment until the damage has been rectified by the lease hire provider.

It is expected that employees should return their company vehicles in an acceptable and roadworthy condition. Any vehicles being returned with bodywork damage, alloy scuffs or missing items such as spare keys etc. face a recharge in accordance with the BVRLA fair wear and tear guidelines (see appendix E). With that in mind, please ensure your vehicle is treated as if your own through the course of your employment and that when returning it, the vehicle is clean enough to be inspected so you can challenge any damage claims by the person receiving the vehicle.

Now it does say they can withhold my pay IF the car is damaged, but nothing about withholding it before they have eve inspected it??

[Goose]

Hi All

I did post this up on the other forum but it was clearly in the wrong place and I now have additional info to add


I have a company car and am due to resign from my current job next year. I have received acceptance of my resignation, but in it it says this:

"As you are leaving very early in March, we will be holding back 2 weeks of your February salary. In line with the company car policy it is expected that employees should return their company vehicles in an acceptable and roadworthy condition and in particular at the end of contract. Any vehicles being returned with bodywork damage, alloy scuffs or missing items such as spare keys etc face a recharge. Any costs associated with damages, **** reserves the right to make deductions from the employee’s salary or invoice the employee directly for any such costs. As soon as we have received everything back, including a final mileage form and once we are happy that there are no damage re-charges we will release this money. Any private mileage will be deducted from the monies withheld"

I do not start my new job until 3 weeks later and this will leave me in financial difficulty


This is what my contract states regarding payments:

"For the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996, you authorise the company to deduct from your salary any sums due to the company including, without limitation, any over payment of salary and any advances or loans made to you by the company. In the event of such sums being due to the company on the termination of your employment, and if you’re final salary payment is insufficient to allow for the whole of any such deduction, you will be required to repay the outstanding amount due to the company within one month of the date of the termination of your employment"

and this is what the company car policy says:

"Should you leave the Company before the end of the contract term; then the vehicle must be returned to the Company on the last day of your employment. It is the employee’s responsibility to arrange the return of the vehicle with the HR fleet administrator and fulfilling all of the normal return requirements.
If the vehicle is not returned on time and/ or returned damaged, **** reserves the right to withhold any final salary payment until the damage has been rectified by the lease hire provider.

It is expected that employees should return their company vehicles in an acceptable and roadworthy condition. Any vehicles being returned with bodywork damage, alloy scuffs or missing items such as spare keys etc. face a recharge in accordance with the BVRLA fair wear and tear guidelines (see appendix E). With that in mind, please ensure your vehicle is treated as if your own through the course of your employment and that when returning it, the vehicle is clean enough to be inspected so you can challenge any damage claims by the person receiving the vehicle"

Now it does say they can withhold my pay IF the car is damaged, but nothing about withholding it before they have even inspected it??

[ULA]

Is this a duplicate thread from the Welcome forum for which you have already had responses? If so I will need to merge these threads otherwise the original community members who responded to you will not know that you have created this thread and many of their comments are useful.

[Goose]

Yes it is I did point that out but wasn't sure what to do abut it! If you could merge that would be great, thank you :-)