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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to be annoyed at my first month's pay?

40 replies

clarabellabunting · 02/12/2013 16:12

This might seem a bit of petty gripe but I started work in a new job on Nov 4th and have just received my first month’s pay. The day I started was a Monday and Nov 1st had been a Friday.

I checked with payroll about how the pay had been calculated and the response was that since I had started on the 4th, the way my pay had been calculated was:

Annual salary / 12 = normal monthly salary
Normal monthly salary divided by 30 days in November x 27 days = my pay for that month

My assumption was that it would be:
Normal monthly salary divided by 21 working days in November x 20 days worked = my pay for that month

Does it sound right to anyone else that weekends were included in both my 27 days I was paid for and my 3 days I wasn’t paid for? I’m not contracted to work weekends or paid for weekends. I am contracted to work 37 hours Monday-Friday.

I’m not sure if I want to make a fuss about it as I have just started. But it does make a difference of about £121 to my gross salary, which is annoying.

OP posts:

todaysdateis · 02/12/2013 23:04

Just to add more confusion - I work in the public sector and we have a day of strike action tomorrow, if anybody takes the option to strike they will be stopped 1/260th of their salary. So by the looks of that it means they only pay working days (Mon - Fri) and not weekends.

Was totally confused when I saw the figure I thought it should be 1/365th.

samandi · 03/12/2013 08:40

Perfectly standard the way they worked it out. You could try and make a fuss but I'd doubt you'd get anywhere as they've done nothing wrong.

Vivacia · 03/12/2013 08:43

today if you're referring to the teachers' strike action then teachers are not employed for a full calendar year. It's not a very well-known fact but teachers are not employed for the summer holiday. A teacher's salary is spread out over 12 months to, I guess, help with budgeting.

flowery · 03/12/2013 08:47

Your daily rate is the amount you get paid for each day you work.

I've never come across an employer who didn't use 1/260 to find out the daily rate of a full time employee tbh.

Your annual salary is what you get paid for working 260 days, and it is paid to you in 12 equal monthly instalments for convenience. Don't base calculating daily rate on monthly salary because there are not always the same number of days in a month.

todaysdateis · 03/12/2013 08:51

Hi Vivacia yes I know about how the teachers are paid - 2 DC are teachers. I'm not a teacher but work in HE as admin staff and we are also given the option to strike if we belong to the unions.

MaxPepsi · 04/12/2013 13:29

Wow.

I've never really given much thought to how my salary is worked out.

I get paid 12 times a year, DH gets paid 13 times a year.

I'm going to try and work out which 'scheme' we are both on. I'm private he's public.

Original poster

clarabellabunting · 04/12/2013 14:19

Well... in case anyone is interested. There was no mention of how this sort of thing would be worked out in my work handbook.

Interestingly, I also work in a non-academic role in an HE institution. And the people who were on strike yesterday lost a day's wages. I wonder how they calculate that? As 1/31 of December's pay or as 1/22 week days in December.

Strange that some people responded to me that I'm categorically wrong and the 1/365 method is quite right, whilst others have said that the 1/260th calculation (which would be closer to my 1/21 assumption for the month) was the norm as far as they were concerned.

My assumption that you only got paid for days you were contracted to work has been called bizarre up thread but it seems it is usual in some industries and not others.

I had never even considered any of this until I got my payslip last week!

OP posts:

cornflakegirl · 04/12/2013 14:39

I agree with Kelly and flowery - when I had payroll responsibility, partial months were worked out using a working year of 260 days (or possibly 261, iirc).

EssentialCoffee · 04/12/2013 21:52

I think it should be in your employee handbook, it's a shame they haven't put it there. Do you have a staff extranet type thing with company policies/procedures? I wonder if that might have more information.

I currently work on three separate payrolls and each uses a different method to calculate the employees daily rate...I prefer the 260 working days method myself!

Original poster

clarabellabunting · 17/12/2013 21:12

Just to resurrect this thread...

My Mum, who works for the same institution was on strike a couple of weeks ago and has just been notified that she is being deducted 1/260th of her annual pay for that day.

So does that mean that either I have been deducted too much or she has?

According to HR, my pay per day is 1/365 of a year's pay (or a month's pay divided by the total days in that month, including weekends), which meant I had three days deducted despite only missing one working day last month because of the two weekend days before I started.

But for my Mum's strike day, it was 1/260th. So the day's pay was calculated just based on working days.

It just seems like they're using the calculation that means they can deduct the most in each situation aren't they?

OP posts:

quietbatperson · 18/12/2013 16:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

clarabellabunting · 18/12/2013 19:55

Would you normally expect to be paid for the weekend? Or just for the days you're contracted to work? (Mon-Fri)

If my Mum was on strike for one day, why is that day worked out as 1/260th of her yearly pay?

It should be 1/365th shouldn't it? (if weekends are included)

OP posts:

alphablock · 18/12/2013 20:11

Everywhere I have worked used the 1/260th calc until one place where they used 1/365 for my final salary (even though they had used 1/260 in a maternity calc previously). I was shocked as I had not seen this before and ended up being paid 5/7ths of a week's money for my final week even though I had done a full week's work (albeit Monday to Friday). I tried to argue the case (having spoken to 2 accountant friends who thought the calc was wrong). I was told it was perfectly legal and had to write it off to experience.

mercibucket · 18/12/2013 20:19

public sector have good unions generally, can you ask them?

Katherine330 · 31/03/2014 17:53

I've just joined this thread. I found it only because I've got a similar gripe to Clarabellabunting and I was trying to research the facts of the matter. I started with the NHS on February 24th. I was paid for February in my March salary and my pay for February against the hours I actually worked (30) amounts to less than minimum wage. I've contacted various members of the payroll staff, and they all tell me the same thing: that my monthly salary was divided by 28 (days in February including weekends!!) and then multiplied by the number of days left of February from when I started work (5). I've never before come across this absurd way of working out daily salary. Either it should be annual salary divided by 260 working days or the hours worked in a part month multiplied by the hourly rate. This way, I've been underpaid for one week by nearly 50. I'm not happy, but apparently, that's the system. I'm with you totally Clarabellabunting!

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