Can a company make an employee pay back a cash mistake they made?

[amummyinwaiting]

My husband works in a shop that is part of a chain.
His area manager was telling him about how an employee had made a mistake at the till and a credit card had been declined but he hadnt realised so in effect the member of the public had walked away with £500 of stuff but the shop hadnt got any money for it.
So the area manager said they had checked with there HR and sent the employee a letter saying he had got to pay the £500 back out of his own money.
Is this legal?
Nothing to do with me or my husband but just find it really harsh.
Also a young employee charged somebody £1.10 rather than £11.00 so they made him pay the difference back there and then infront of the other staff (to humiliate him also)
I just think its really wrong.

I shouldn't have thought so. They would have to prove liability wouldn't they?

I'm no expert, but I would have thought something like this would have to be spelt out in their contract of employment. Employers aren't allowed to make deductions from employees pay without their specific consent, I think. Definitely worth getting some legal advice on, but given that the employer sounds hideous (humiliating staff) there probably won't be a job for that particular employee if they do try to take it further.

i recently left my job in national bank. when i was doing my training 6 years ago it was stressed that mistakes could be taken out of employees wages. now i had more than my fair share of mistakes in my 6 years and i never heard it mentioned once that i would be paying it back. but it was made clear to us during training that it can and had been done.

sorry, a national bank.

That is shocking. I don't know whether they can do it or not legally but it is truly shocking.
And bumping for you.

Advise him to join a Union.

Look at the legislation about Pay Slips and try to find legislation about "deductions from Wages" If they have done it already, how has it been described on his Pay-slip?

Have they made the deduction Before tax or after tax? and what about National Insurance contributions? I would say they cannot do it UNLESS there is a clause in the contract of employment.