Ex employer being difficult/ illegal?

[MerryMarigold]

I'm not sure what is/ isn't allowed in employment law. I used to work for a private nursery and left with one month's notice at the end of Dec. I'm paid by the hour but I get a standard amount per month regardless if I do the extra hours needed to get my work done.

1. My final wages are approx 20% less than usual. I've had no notice verbal or written that this would be the case. In fact I worked a lot of extra hours (without expectation of payment) as I was in charge of a show and needed to prepare on top of the usual workload. I even worked an hour extra on my last day! So it's a bit galling to actually be paid less in the light of the extra hours I did! (I know the extra was voluntary). Is it legal to make deductions without letting the employee know what they are?

1. They are refusing to give me my first aid certificate. I did this course in my own time (online and on a Saturday) without TOIL or pay. I have worked for 17 months since I did it, but it's valid for 3 years. I can't contact the course provider as I can't remember the name. The contract does state that any courses will be deducted from wages if you leave within 3 years of doing the course.

They only have to pay you what you should have been paid.
Deductions are when they take money off for perhaps a course, uniforms

You need to look at the timeframe the pay covers and work out the hours for this time.

Often pay for the month can be three weeks behind and a month ahead or any variation.

20% implies there is a difference in the time frames and also consider
if you are ahead with holidays and they have clawed them back, plus any sickness in this period or the month before plus any sub you may have had.

Failing that you need to ask for a breakdown of your pay.

Thank you. It probably is a course I did back in March I think, which I had no choice whether to attend. God, they're awful and I'm so glad to be out.

I gave a lot of my own time and money to 'them' (actually the children but then parents are happy so the Nursery benefits) voluntarily but then they'll charge me for a course I didn't want to attend!

Most First Aid at Work courses I have done have been Red Cross or St John Ambulance, sometimes at their facilities, other times on our site. Was your course in your workplace or elsewhere? My last certificate was electronic, so if you can find out the provider, they might be able to send a replacement.

Ebeargug, it most probably wasn't a first aid at work course, more likely to be a paediatric first aid course, and there are hundreds of small local providers of those.

If it was that, OP, did you do half the course face to face and half on line(blended learning)?
You should have been given a first aid booklet with the course providers details on.
Secondly, look at your holiday entitlement. Had you taken more than you had accrued? If that was the case they would balance it up and deduct money for that.
Have they given you a pay slip? That should have some detail on it.

Same providers also do paediatric first aid courses, and if the OP knows the course was at a particular off site place, she might be able to work it out that way.

The course was a small local provider in a church hall. It was online plus face to face. I looked up local courses and I think I recognise logo.

We have online pay slips but I've forgotten my log in. I'm not sure it would detail what the deduction is for anyway. I'm happier to let the deduction go because they can easily dredge up that course as a reason for it. I'm sure they've got a spurious reason all ready for me to query.

The question I have is that if I did the first aid course in my own time, am I entitled to the certificate?

Sorry, I really don't know the answer to that. I guess it's a lesson to always take a copy of all certificates before handing them to work.
Where I work, the office keeps photocopies and the person keeps thier own original certificate.
Sorry I don't know the answer to your question though.

Did they cover the costs of you doing the course? If so they probably can refuse to give you the certificate on the grounds that it was only for their use. I don’t know for sure though.

Chessie, yes they paid for course but not the time (I think about 6-7 hours). I never touched my certificate or indeed see it. It was sent straight to work.