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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think I've been underpaid in first wage slip?

89 replies

Maria53 · 30/10/2019 21:03

I just started a new job and have only worked 7 days.

I have been paid £583.31 and no tax has been deducted.

I was told my starting salary will be £23,000 per annum. I'm no mathematician but haven't I been significantly underpaid?

A colleague was meant to go over my contract with me this week but it has now been moved to next week. Should I raise this with my manager tomorrow?

OP posts:

imnottoofussed · 30/10/2019 21:45

Do you work 5 days per week and do you know the pay period? How have you done shifts if you are salaried? My company pays two weeks in front and two weeks in arrears. Some companies get paid for the full month at the end of the month. I do payroll for a company that pays on 28th of the month for hours worked from the middle of the previous month to the middle of the current month. Best to contact the payroll people to ask them to explain the calculations.

slashlover · 30/10/2019 21:50

Mine also takes my basic annual salary and divides it by 12 to account for the difference between 4 and 5 week months. I'm paid on the 23rd and overtime cut off is generally the last Sunday of the previous month.

fruitbrewhaha · 30/10/2019 21:51

They have worked it out by the mount of working days in the month. So for October this year it was 23 days.

23000 /12 = 1916.66 per month
1916.66 / 23 = 83.33 a day
83.33 x 7 = 583.31

This is a correct way to do it.

BarbaraofSeville · 30/10/2019 21:51

If you only started on the 23rd of October, it's a miracle you've been paid anything to be honest. Most employers would pay you nothing at all until the end of November.

Is there any chance that it's just a rough and ready approximate amount so you have some money to live on before you get your full salary and any adjustments at the end of next month?

fruitbrewhaha · 30/10/2019 21:52

*amount not mount

BarbaraofSeville · 30/10/2019 21:53

So, by fruits explanation, it looks like you have been paid the right amount.

HidingInTheKitchen · 30/10/2019 21:54

If you started on 23rd then you would have been paid for all the working day for the remainder of the month = 7 days (I am making an assumption here but is usual in my experience)

£23k / 52 then divided by 5 = day rate of £88.46 X 7 days = £619.23 (before deductions)

You say no tax or NI has been deducted? Do you have a payslip? No one can give you accurate advice without seeing it. Please feel free to message me directly though!

fruitbrewhaha · 30/10/2019 21:57

I run the payroll for my company.

There's no set way of working out the pay for a mid month starter, as long as a company always uses the same method it's allowed.

It does sometimes fall in the worker's favour or the business's.

adaline · 30/10/2019 21:58

Looks bang on to me.

You've only worked seven days - what were you expecting?!

Marnie76 · 30/10/2019 22:02

Fruit has it right. That’s how we work it out at my company.

BrieAndChilli · 30/10/2019 22:03

You started on the 23rd - have you actually worked 7 days in a row?

Ali1cedowntherabbithole · 30/10/2019 22:06

Are you working variable shifts? As this can make a difference.

Say you were contracted to work 37.5 hours each week based on an average of 5 days working and 2 days off per week. You might actually work 6 shifts in a row then have extra days off, but would still only work 150 hours in 4 weeks.

I’m wondering if the 7 days you worked will be balanced with days off?
So you have been paid for an average week.

ThanksForAllTheFish · 30/10/2019 22:11

Your wage slip should tell you how many hours you have been paid for. You might have missed a cut off or only been paid for 5 of the 7 days. Your company might start the working week on a Sunday so only pay to the Saturday (a lot of weekly pay jobs do this). Some do a 25th day of month cut of and others are 28th etc. I’m actually surprised you didn’t have to work any lying time before getting paid. Almost every job I’ve ever had you had to work a full pay period lying time (week/fortnight/month) before getting paid.

C8H10N4O2 · 30/10/2019 22:19

If you are working shifts rather than "office hours" then work out your hourly rate and then check your salary against the hours you have worked.

Unless you do 9-5 type hours Monday - Friday daily calculations probably won't help.

WaxOnFeckOff · 30/10/2019 22:27

You mentioned extra hours but they may not have been able to put anything more than standard days through for this month as they would have had to put it through early to make sure you got it on time. Next months should be adjusted if the policy is that extra hours are paid.

tictoc76 · 30/10/2019 22:30

There are 23 working days in October - pay is right.

23,000 / 12 months / 23 working days * 7 = 583.33

MitziK · 30/10/2019 22:41

DP started work in mid-August, missed the payroll cut off date for processing September's salary by one day due to the person in HR that deals with new starters being on holiday that week, so didn't get his first pay until last Friday. This pay period includes August and the first two and a half weeks of September.

To be able to guarantee I was paid in September for my new job (that had started 24 days earlier), I had to provide all my payroll details by the last week of July.

I'd be glad they managed to sort everything out in a week.

Chloemol · 30/10/2019 22:43

You get paid each month for the days you work in that month. Therefore if you worked 7 days in October that’s how much money you will get. Next month you will get more, but may also find some adjustment for this months salary if you have not paid tax, NI etc.

Speak to your payroll dept the6 will explain to you

bridgetreilly · 30/10/2019 22:53

Yup, OP, your problem was assuming 21 working days in the month. There are more than that this month because of how the weekends fell. Do your calculation again with 23 days.

topcat2014 · 31/10/2019 13:15

I don't really agree with the method of dividing one months salary by however many working days there are in that month. Surely one days work is worth the same in any month?

bridgetreilly · 31/10/2019 13:45

I don't really agree with the method of dividing one months salary by however many working days there are in that month. Surely one days work is worth the same in any month?

Everyone who gets paid monthly gets paid different daily amounts. This is so normal I can't believe it needs explaining. You don't get less in February every year because there are fewer days, or less in May because of the bank holidays. You get an annual salary divided into 12 equal amounts. So if you are only employed for part of a month, you get the monthly amount, pro-rataed for the days you were on the pay-roll.

StatisticallyChallenged · 31/10/2019 13:47

If you are paid a fixed monthly salary then no, a day's pay is not always the same each month. You get the same each month which means in theory you get paid more for a February day than an October one

CallieCat19 · 31/10/2019 14:07

I work in payroll and the way we would work it out would be:
23000 / 12 = 1916.66 For your monthly pay
1916.66 / 31 = 61.83 for your daily pay
61.83 x 7 = 442.79 for one weeks pay so you have been overpaid.
If you think it is wrong get in touch with your payroll department and they should be able to send a full breakdown

MyNameIsArthur · 31/10/2019 14:15

Different organisations have their own way of calculating part monthly payments in the payroll so it is probably best you ask your payroll dept how it was worked out. They are only human so don't be afraid to ask. Mistakes do get made and they are happy to rectify it if it is wrong.

MyNameIsArthur · 31/10/2019 14:31

Where I used to work, if you started on 23rd October, then they would simply take that as 9 calendar days out of 31 days in the month of October, so the calculation would be:

£23000 div by 12 = £ 1916.67 x 9 / 31 = £556.45 gross which is near to what you were paid. As you haven't yet had any tax, NO or pension deductions then the gross amount is the same as the net amount.

Did you provide a P45 to the payroll dept when you joined and have you not worked previously in this tax year ?

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