***URGENT ADVICE PLEASE*****

[heeeeeelp]

I have been on maternity leave from my employer and it finished on 21st September, I was expecting my final salary (accumulation of accrued holiday pay) on the 25th of September but nothing was paid in and I never received my final pay slip (have had them every month up until now. Called my payroll dept and they claim I OWE THEM MONEY!! and muttered something about the printers not working for payslips My question is - I had a computer which was a tax free perk and I was paying money to it every month, the payments stopped whilst I was on maternity as they cannot take deductions from maternity pay, I was expecting a bill after I left for the remainder, is it legal for them to remove this last payment from my final wage ?? they holidays are accrued whilst I was on maternity so are they allowed to deduct from this and can they deduct without informing me first?? I no longer have the T&A of the contract for the computer but am sure there was a hand back clause if I left the company. she is finding out what the wage slips says and is calling me back....where do I stand??? I need this last payment can they take it from me?? I have a sinking feeling thats what they have done, can I fight for it back???

Help help help

bump

please can anyone give me a snippet of something so I can sound like I have taken advice and know what I am talking about....rather than just muttering 'thats illegal'!!!!!! when I dont know if it is

You need to check your contract of employment and the terms of the deal on the computer purchase.

Im not an employment lawyer but most contracts will allow employers to deducts sums owing to them form your final salary so be careful before you go in guns blazing.

I would ask them for a copy of your employment contract if you cant find it and scan it for the relevant part.

have you still got the computer ?

I take it you are not going back to work ? Cant they claw back your maternity pay as well or is it just SMP ?

errr - how were you going to pay for it if not out of your salary?

hi there, my company does this if someone leaves and owe the company something which has a monetary value, they take what is owed from the final salary eg if an employee has taken too much annual leave, if a learning agreement had been signed and was in place for a training course etc. This does tend to shock people who didn't think they would have to pay the final installments of whatever it is that they owed. Sorry to say but I think that they can do this legally - hopefully someone will come on here and tell me i'm wrong!

just a thought, did you inform them via letter that you were not going back to work? did they reply and if so is there something in there regarding your final salary?

i'm pretty sure that companies can deduct monies owed from your final salary however would need to inform you first via employment contract or letter.

hth

Hmmm if you owed them money for the computer it sounds legal for that to be offset against any salary due.

How much did you owe for the computer and what arrangements had you made to pay for it?

this is what I thought , I thought that I could pay in installments or hand the pc back, I only took it as I needed a pc at home for work. I have had no contact from employer since I handed in my notice last month and still no payslip, no-one has contacted me back either I only received smp so they cant take that back they never supplemented it, I only got the standard payment. I never paid attention to the deal just that I would receive a pc and monitor for tax free payment from my salary of around £30 per month, never thought I would get pregnant so never worried about final payment stupid I know!!!!

I had a computer by that method and when I left work, the amount still owing was deducted from my final payslip. AFAIK that is what always happens in cases like that.