Friend having problems with cleaning company

[GulDukat]

Hi,

I have a friend who works for a cleaning company. Recently they accidentally damaged a customer's carpet, with this customer complaining to the cleaning company that it needs to be replaced.

Incredibly, the cleaning company withheld my friends wages for a number of weeks until the earnings covered the cost of the carpet. They made them pay for the carpet damage.

I was obviously very suspicious of this. What are my friends legal rights? I've never heard of such a thing happening.

Thanks in advance everyone.

[teaboy2]

Re: Friend having problems with cleaning company

section 13 of the the employment rights act prevents the company from unlawfully withholding or making unlawful deductions from an employees wage. The company insurance would have covered the replacement of the carpet. Your friend needs to check his/her contract to see what is said about who pays for damage caused by an employee to a customers property. If nothing is stated then they can not take the money from the employees wage. They most certainly can not leave the employee with no income either and should have at the least agreed an affordable repayment rate with your friend to cover the damage if need be.

Let us know what his/her contract says in regards to such incidents!

[GulDukat]

Re: Friend having problems with cleaning company

section 13 of the the employment rights act prevents the company from unlawfully withholding or making unlawful deductions from an employees wage. The company insurance would have covered the replacement of the carpet. Your friend needs to check his/her contract to see what is said about who pays for damage caused by an employee to a customers property. If nothing is stated then they can not take the money from the employees wage. They most certainly can not leave the employee with no income either and should have at the least agreed an affordable repayment rate with your friend to cover the damage if need be.

Let us know what his/her contract says in regards to such incidents!

Apparently the company boss said they didn't have insurance, which was supposed to justify their actions somehow. I'll ask my friend to get a copy of the contract, but by the sounds of it I'm not even sure there is one. If there is no contract then what is the situation? What if there is a contract but it says nothing about damage to client properties?

It certainly is outrageous that the company didn't work out a repayment plan.

[miliitant]

Re: Friend having problems with cleaning company

the company must have public liability insurance to trade as its entering other peoples property

demand they replace the wages with immediate efect in writing or a claim to the employment tribunal service will be submitted

even if its included into a contract of employment i would consider it an unfair implied term

this is not damage through a malicious act or theft of stock, it was an ACCIDENT, and subject to an insurance claim

[GulDukat]

Re: Friend having problems with cleaning company

the company must have public liability insurance to trade as its entering other peoples property

demand they replace the wages with immediate efect in writing or a claim to the employment tribunal service will be submitted

even if its included into a contract of employment i would consider it an unfair implied term

this is not damage through a malicious act or theft of stock, it was an ACCIDENT, and subject to an insurance claim

So this company might be trading without Public Liability Insurance? Is that legal? If it's not then they could be in big trouble.

[teaboy2]

Re: Friend having problems with cleaning company

No its generally voluntary to have. Though if your a company that is in close contact with the public or customers its wise to have it, to cover legal costs and losses incurred by member of the public or customer whos been injured or suffered damage to property as a result of the companies employees, products etc.

As for the contract, it would not be an unfair term if the worker was self employed. Nor would it be unfair if the cost was spilt 50/50 - In fact, it may not be unfair at all, though the action of the employer taking the full amount and leave the employee/worker with no income is more what is more likely to be deemed unfair and unreasonable. Remember in contract law, a party is responsiable to cover the cost incurred by the other party as a result of the actions of the first party under the contract (granted such cost would be far less if they had insurance) - The company could claim the employee/worker acted with insufficient duty of care to the customers property (was negligent), which led to the carpet being damaged, something they may be able to quite easliy proof. But thats not the issue here. The issue here is they unlawfully deducted it from his/her wages, as the employer would have required his/her prior consent to deduct it, which is the main reason why i asked what his/her contract stated, because if he/she gave permission for the employer to deduct such costs from there wages then the employer may not be in breach of section 13 - Because if its in the contract then prior permission has been given as per section 14 subsection 4. Though granted under section 15 subsection 2 it does make clear that the employee has the right to not make payments to the employer if no written contract including such terms was given or no written confirmation of of such verbally or implied terms where given to the employer.

[miliitant]

Re: Friend having problems with cleaning company

I HAVE MADE THE MISTAKE ON PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE AND EMPLOYERS LIABILITY INSURANCE

By law it is a legal obligation for all employers to have a minimum cover of 5 million pounds. This is covered by the Employers liability (Compulsory insurance) Act 1969 and your business can be fined up to Ł2500 per day that this is not in place and up to Ł1000 as an on the spot fine if you do not have your certificate on display. Public liability it not required by law and is voluntary however will protect you against any risk.

[teaboy2]

Re: Friend having problems with cleaning company

But thats employers liability insurance, which covers their liability for injury or loss caused to there employees. Public Liability insurance is different and is not compulsory like employers liability is, and its public liability insurance that would cover the OP's situation with the customers damaged carpet.

Ahh sorry, just noticed you added about the public liability on the end of your post. Time i got glasses i think

[miliitant]

Re: Friend having problems with cleaning company

thats the error i made, i confused the two

i would bet my house that this employer does not even have employers liability insurance if they are cost cutting on public liability insurance

[teaboy2]

Re: Friend having problems with cleaning company

I bet your right too. So thats defiently something that could be thrown at them, as one report to HSE would put them out of business!

[enquirer]

Re: Friend having problems with cleaning company

It would be interesting to get a look at the cleaning contract as supplied to the customer.

[bluebottle]

Re: Friend having problems with cleaning company

The three main insurance policies an employer should have are -

Employer's Liability - mandatory, covers injury to and damage to health of employees;
Public Liability - voluntary, covers third party damage/injury risks;
Product Liability - voluntary, covers third party damage/injury risks associated with products manufactured/supplied by a business.