In what circumstances may an employer deduct wages from an employee?
What happens if an employer makes an unlawful deduction of wages from an employee?
Can an employer be ordered by law to deduct wages from an employee?
Is an employer liable if it fails to comply with an attachment of earnings order?
Is an employer liable if it inadvertently fails to pay an employee's wages?
If an employee is absent without authorisation can the employer make a deduction from his or her pay?
Is an employer required to pay employees who cannot make it into work because of severe weather conditions?
Is an employer required to pay employees who arrive late or do not arrive at all due to disruptions to public transport?
If an employer closes its business because disrupted public transport prevents employees from attending work does it have to pay its employees?
If an employer's business is closed because of, for example, flooding, is it obliged to pay its employees?
Where an employer has accidentally overpaid an employee can it reclaim the overpayments?
Can an employer deduct overpaid holiday pay from a final salary payment?
If an individual whose employment comes to an end fails to return company property what action can the employer take?
First of all, the employer should check the employee's contract
of employment to see if there is a return of company property clause and, in
particular, a clause enabling the employer to make deductions from the
employee's final salary payment in the event that company property is not
returned. It will be possible for the employer to make a deduction from the
employee's salary to cover the cost of the missing property only if there is a
specific clause in the employee's contract of employment that permits the
employer to do so in such circumstances, or the employee has signed a written
agreement signifying his or her consent to the making of the deduction. Even if
there is a clause, it must have been drafted in such a way that it represents a
genuine pre-estimate of the loss or damage that the employer could suffer as a
result of the employee's failure to return the company property and it must not
act as a penalty on the employee. Penalty clauses are unenforceable. In this
case, it is likely that the clause would have to restrict the deduction that
could be made from the employee's salary to the second-hand replacement cost of
the missing property.
If there is no appropriately drafted clause or agreement the
employer would have to make a claim in the civil courts against the employee
for 'trespass to goods' in failing to return the company property. If there is
a return of property clause but either the employee has already been paid all
outstanding wages or the clause does not cover deductions from the employee's
wages, the employer would have to make a claim in the civil courts for breach
of contract and/or trespass to goods. The employer can claim damages for actual
financial loss only; there are no damages for inconvenience. The starting point
here would be for the employer to write a letter before action to the employee
demanding that the property be returned within a certain number of days,
failing which legal proceedings will be issued without further notice.
One final option would be for the employer to report the matter
to the police to see if they are willing to investigate whether the criminal
offence of theft has been committed. Unfortunately, in most cases, the police
will say that the matter is a civil one because the employer provided the
company property to the employee at the outset, meaning that there was no
dishonest appropriation of the property. It is nevertheless worth the employer
adding into the letter before action that the matter will also be reported to
the police. In many cases, this will be a sufficient threat to ensure that the
company property is returned.
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Can an employer dock the pay of an employee who has arrived at work late the morning after the company Christmas party?
