To think boss can't do this?

[CollyWombles]

I work in the retail industry. I am the manager with three members of staff.

The returns policy is 28 days from date of purchase.

Some of the staff in the company have returned products from customers that my boss says are not broken/faulty so shouldn't have been a return.

He has decided to deduct cost of items returned from staff wages if he believes the items are not faulty.

AIBU to think he can't do that?

(Does not apply to me but one of my staff members is facing a deduction as are others in the company)

I feel it's not written in their contract then he can't just add this clause in now.

No he can't. The right to deduct must be written into a contract AND this is only valid if the employee has been given a written copy of the terms before agreeing to them. Even if this is the case, the deduction must be discussed with and agreed by the employee in writing before any deduction is made. I believe there are special rules for retail workers in addition to these.

The other consideration (even if all of the above was done correctly) is that a legal deduction cannot push an employee's wage below the NMW.

I would also think that the returned item should then be the property of the employee...

No he can't decide to do it willy-nilly.

So if the items are not broken/faulty, then can he resell them? So he gets the returned item to sell again, plus the cost of it from the staff member's wages?
Even before taking into account the legalities of deductions, that doesn't sound right at all.

It's not in our contracts. I'm actually really angry about this as staff don't just accept returns willy nilly. We do get a fair amount of customers that threaten trading standards as the return policy is ridiculous at 28 days.

He wouldn't be able to resell items without a special license as they are technically second hand.

I am actually leaving anyways, unrelated to this situation but am currently working my notice. I just feel sorry for my staff I am leaving behind.

28 days is a fair returns policy. No-fault returns policy are not a legal requirement, its a store policy. He could alter his returns policy to state faulty/damaged returns only and have or don't have store credit for non-faulty. But he is just going to end up with a load of damaged returns that he can't re-sell.

I would advise the staff to speak to acas and threaten him with small claims court if he deducts anything from them.

and to add - would be illegal if a reduction in wage brings it below nmw.

there are other ways to reduce unsuitable returns. like update of policy, staff straining, mandatory manager approval of returns...

Can you refuse to do any returns and call the manager each time?

Mostly my staff do run returns by me but if I'm off they tend to decide themselves. Not sure how it is in our other stores.

No way!!!