Under paid 5 months now!

[TeenLifeMum]

I’ve worked for my organisation for 10 years. Never an issue but since a take over with a new company there’s issues with different systems not talking to each other etc. I’m in a team where everyone is from the take over company and I’m the only one from the smaller company. Huge employer.

Every month my over time doesn’t go through. In August I got my over time from June then finally this month I got the extra hours from August.

In addition, I got a decent rise confirmed for September but received an apology that it would go in October’s pay with back pay to September. Nothing. I was promised it’s now all sorted and I’ll see it with all the back in December’s pay…. Nope! I’m now owed more than £1500. Any advice how to approach this?

have you spoken with any ex colleague from your previous team as to whether same happening to them?

Where you TUPE’d?
I would speak with the tupe person or hr. Is the over time pre approved? Maybe make it clear you cannot complete further overtime until this is resolved? Don’t worry about being awkward if they are as big as you are saying they will be used to unhappy employees

Over time is on a rota - pre planned.

my entire previous team left due to toxicity in the new team; they were not exactly welcoming. We’ve come through it and initial delay was my line manager’s error but now it’s payroll. Line manager doesn’t seem to see the issue as when I do get it it’ll be back dated.

Tell them you intend to take them to an employment tribunal if it is not resolved within 5 working days,
https://www.acas.org.uk/if-your-wages-are-not-paid

Thing is, I want the over time because other wise I miss out on earning the extra pay (which I appreciate is a moot point if it’s not paid but eventually I’ll get it).

I was tuped over and same pay and conditions so it’s a standard increment pay rise that’s been authorised.

@Redburnett thank you, that’s really helpful. Payroll closed until new year but I’ll call 3 January!

You clearly have no experience of this whatsoever if this is the advice. All this will do is mark the OPs card, and won't get her a penny any faster.

And in no universe, under any law, does five days constitute a reasonable deadline in law, no matter how justified the ire is. 28 days is normal, 21 at a push..

OP, I understand the frustration, but you need to do this correctly - even that may not be good for future relationships with your employer, but that's a decision for you to take when and if it comes to that.

The correct procedure is to raise a grievance laying out what you are owed, when it should have been paid, and what solution you would like. That should hopefully resolve the problem. I'd suggest that your requested solution is the payment of what is owed, within xx days (21 or 28 are normal), and an undertaking that future payments will be paid in a timely manner. I can't see it going beyond that - but if you don't get a resolution you'd need to appeal.

Unless you have done all that, the tribunal would blame you for not taking the proper steps - and your employer can really drag it all out for a lengthy period for you to get nothing more than what you are owed.

Start looking for another job if this is your only option left.

Of course you can alternatively take your employer to the small claims court. You will need to write a letter before action, explaining your claim and giving them a reasonable period to pay - again 28 or at best 21 days...

... see previous advice about looking for a new job now.

I totally understand it's frustrating. And no way should an employer let things get to this stage. But you still need to do things the right way. Threats about tribunals in five days are not only laughably not the right way, but simply make things worse. They may not be the best employer. They may have idiotic systems that aren't fit for purpose. But none of that means you want to burn your bridges with someone who is still your employer..

If it's a large employer, it's more likely that you will get the money, but it sounds like there's a systems issue. It's verystressful feeling like you have to keep track of overtime and chase up any money you are owed.

It would be helpful to find out what the procedures and timescales are. When do the hours need to be in by, how do they need to be approved, when do they get paid? There's quite often a delay in overtime getting paid but if you are doing it regularly, after the initial delay it just becomes regular. If there's an issue with your manager signing things off that's difficult to resolve (but you can have some influence over it by getting things in on time and checking it's been approved - though harder if your manager is unhelpful). In theory payroll shouldn't have problems as it's a standard process, but it is something which seems to go wrong more often than you'd expect...

My employer is public sector 🙈
i so think part of the issue has been my line manager but not fully her fault. I’ve learned I’m not alone in these issues.

Was coming to say just this.. some people should not give advice on things the know nothing about. Cause more issues in the long run..

I would highly recommend seeking advice from union if you have one. If not labour relations can be very helpful especially where process is concerned. They will also support you the whole way if needed. I hope you get sorted it's not a good position to be in especially in todays climate.

I have sent a polite and factual email to payroll asking them to look into it and let me know if there’s actions required outside of the payroll team that I could help chase to support this going through more smoothly. I figure pissing them off isn’t the best action to get the outcome I want. It just frustrates me how little urgency anyone is showing - guess that’s how little I matter. However, I need to stay a bit l longer as it works around the dc.

Send them am invoice for amounts owed plus interest
If ignored send solicitors letter or take them to small claims

Have you spoken to ACAS? Are you in a union?

I have a friend who successfully managed to resolve organisation-wide issues like this by pretending that they were impacting on personal finances to the extent that she couldn’t afford petrol for her car.

Lots of emails and calls about needing to work from home, and asking a senior manager who lived nearby for lifts to meetings etc. Enquiring whether she could expense a taxi for certain crucial days instead of claiming mileage etc etc.

Apologetic and solution focused but not caving and putting in petrol each month until paid what she was owed. It took some balls but was very successful!

@Wildhorses2244 as one of the highest paid colleagues in the team I don’t think that would land very well. I emailed payroll but no reply - presumably they didn’t bother to cover the Christmas period, which is pretty shocking considering the number of teams who are working. I’ll see what response I get next week.

Fair enough- that might make it look a bit less solution focused and a bit more passive aggressive! Good luck finding a solution…

If it’s not sorted this month I’ll escalate to the director. I sit in the office with them so might be able to mention it more subtly depending on working patterns.