To ask the owner to pay me

[SixPenceNonTheRicher]

I work in a small company made up of 3 directors who are the owner and his 2 sons and 3 staff one of whom is the office manager.

We always get paid on the 28th of each month, so on the 27th or the working day before the 27th the manager loads the payments and gets the owner to authorise them and then they hit our accounts on the 28th.

I checked today and there was no wage in my account, I spoke to the Manager and she said she was too busy to load the payments before today and the owner is in a bad mood she does not want to bother him today.

I have direct debits and standing orders that have come out my account today and I just received a text from my bank saying there are not enough funds to make the payments and I would need to pay funds in by 2pmm_ in order for the payments to be made and to avoid charges.

I told my Manager this and she said there is nothing she can do at the moment as she does not want to bother the owner.

AIBU to go to the owner myself and asked to be paid? I do not want to get charges or late payment strikes, I am not really sure where I stand with this.

I don’t really have much dealings with the owner usually he comes and goes and nods or says hello but that’s as far as communication goes with him and I.

Wow, thats awful. As a buisness owner myself i would NEVER not pay my employees on time.

Go and ask the owner and say about the DDs and late payment penalties. Even if they can just do yours and BACS it straight to you now. Not an ideal solution but it might work.

@billybagpuss

Lots of smaller companies now use faster payments to pay salaries allowing a later process date.

Of course you should! She was too busy to pay you?? I'm assuming you're not a 15 year doing odd jobs for some extra cash in hand. That is totally unacceptable.

We had issues when our company was bought by another company meaning that some people’s pay was later than it should have been for the first month after the change took place and other people didn’t get their full pay. We were told to let them know and if we had to incur any additional payments for not having the money in time we were to show them the extra fees for this and they woukd also give the money for the fees so we weren’t out of pocket by their mistake.

I spoke to the Manager and she said she was too busy to load the payments before today and the owner is in a bad mood she does not want to bother him today

Do go a see the owner, but like billybagpuss says, make a plan B to cover yourself in case the company is going down, and the manager is deflecting.

Small company salaries used to be done via ACP which would take 3 working days

I can do a bank transfer guaranteed in 2 hours and usually there in a minute.

YANBU

I would also be suspicious there is something amiss.

Tell the office manager that if she won't speak to him you will. Wait by her desk until she does it.

This gives her the chance to do the right thing. You need to give her that chance, as, if you speak to him, he will want to know why she hasn't dealt with it - you will in effect be complaining to him about her.

Your contract should stipulate a payday.

@billybagpuss Lots of smaller companies now use faster payments to pay salaries allowing a later process date

I figured and hoped that would be the case

I think that either manager has 'forgotten' and doesn't want to admit to big boss when he's in a bad mood, or as I said originally the company is in trouble.

Hold on.

"We always get paid on the 28th of each month"

Maybe your contract stipulates you get paid before the end of the month. I'd check before going barging in to see the boss.

That is bonkers.

Bad enough to say that she has so far been too busy, but to then refuse to do it when it has been pointed out.

But as for charges being incurred-is it the company's problem that Op has dds going out the same day as wages usually go in?

Does it state a date on your contract?

If your contract says end of the month or doesn't specify, they have until the 31st to pay you, even if they usually do it earlier.

Absolutely tell her to bloody well bother the owner! It's your money!

Yup - whatever is on your contract is when you should be paid by. And it should be on there. Bank holidays should then activate payment earlier ie if your pay date is 27th, then the contract would usually say something like, "on or before 27th" which means in this case you should have been paid by friday.

This happened to me once in my first job. I was 22, had NO money by end of the month. I told my boss. She was MORTIFIED. At the time, online payments took at least 24 hours. She rushed off to the bank and drew half my salary in cash and thrust it at me, then sent me to the bank to deposit it to make sure that my rent and car payments would be met on time.

I'd be looking for a new job today. I don't believe that silly story about them not getting around to paying people yet. What a load of nonsense. That's usually the start of a long line of stupid excuses when a company is in serious trouble and can't afford to pay people.

That's just awful, OP! Check your contract, then if it confirms today is your official payment day, then let the manager know you're speaking to the owner ASAP.

And to avoid any future issues, it's a good idea to move your DD dates back a bit, to give you more of a cushion. I get paid on the 27th, and nothing comes out until the 4-5th. Good luck!

Thinking about it again I would definitely check your contract to make sure they haven't just been paying you early in the past. If your contract states the 28th then I'd worry the company was in trouble because surely no one would be stupid enough just to not pay their employees because they were busy.

I would go straight to the owner and ask that this doesn't happen in future. Its ridiculous I would stop working until I got paid.

I'd be looking for a new job, tbh.
maybe the owner is in a bad mood because of finances and can't afford to pay wages.

Set dd's for a couple of days after payday.

That’s fucking outrageous, I’d be fuming. Definitely go and talk to your director about this

What does your contract say. We stipulated last day of the month but pay a few day early to ensure everything gets done.
All about the contract though

Have you spoken to the director yet?

Shoddy behaviour from your employers OP.

Can you set your own date for DDs? In my experience, the people taking the money set the date. I always knew the dates that money would be taken for various DDs, but to be fair I never even tried to change them so I don't know if that's possible.

I hope you did talk to the manager as your 2pm deadline is gone now, and I hope you got paid.

Sorry, OWNER, not manager.