out of date pay-cheque

[crisgal]

i get paid weekly by cheque and last summer i misplaced a cheque whilst putting my house up for sale. I knew it was around somewhere but it didn't turn up until just after thye six months were up. I gave it to my employer and asked for a new one but he refused. Anyone know where I stand?

[stevie21]

If your employer owes you the money, they plainly just owe you the money.
That cheque itself will be useless (unless you try to fiddle with it and change the date!) but unless there's a law which says that there's a time limit on when you can claim back pay I'd say that he is completely in the wrong.

This is nowhere near a professional opinion though so I'd be interested to hear from anyone more qualified to comment.

[Hgrove]

I think your employer has to pay you and has not done so.  He cannot hide behind "but I did pay you - I gave you a cheque!" as the cheque has not been debited to his account.  First of all, have you tried paying it in?  I think they used to say that cheques over six months old went "stale" but I believe it is not a hard and fast rule.  Failing that, you could try writing a letter to your boss pointing out that inadvertently the cheque was not paid into your account, and however remiss of you, they still owe you the money.  If that does not work, you could try asking a Law Centre for advice (get the details from your nearest CAB);  you could also try ACAS. http://www.acas.org.uk/

[stevie21]

The 6 months rule on cheques is definitely hard and fast - cheques are only valid for 6 months from the date of issue.
I wouldn't actually even try to pay it in (or, as I joked earlier amend the date on it) - I would seek a professional opinion and hopefully leave your employer with no choice but to pay you.

I know that if my employer makes an honest mistake with my wages, they are allowed a "reasonable time" to correct this. It's generally accepted that adding any slight underpayment to my next wage is reasonable. Again, I don't know if there's any expiry date/timescale imposed on claiming money owed.

[Miss Zippy]

Technically he�s in breach of contract as it�s a condition of your contract of employment that you will be paid.  He�s effectively refusing to pay you for that particular week�s work so is in breach and you have a right to take action to recover the money owed to you.  Why don�t you point this out (politely) in a letter/email to him?  By the way, for breach of a �simple� contract, as in this case, you would have six years to make a claim to recover the money owed.(I�m not suggesting you go to the hassle and expense of claiming thought he Small Claims Court, but just pointing out what your rights are.)

[crisgal]

thanks for your comments - very helpful. just to let you know i have contacted ACAS who tell me that you are all correct - he does have to pay me. i have sent him a polite letter requesting that he re-issue the cheque. ACAS said that if he still refuses i can him to the employment tribunal under the wages claim act.

It''s absolutely ridiculous, the company i work for is a committee run charity. he is the just the treasurer and therefore it's not even his money!

By the way, we are talking about thirty six pounds! Not much to the company but, with three kids, it's a lot to me.

[stevie21]

crisgal, congrats on the good news from the more knowledgeable guys here. It seems as though it's a formality that you'll get the money.
All the best!