Termination of employment pay.

[idly_enjoys]

Last month I had a meeting with my manager which resulted in me handing my notice. I had worked there for 10 months and things weren't going well with the product (I'm in sales) and we decided it would be best if I left. He told me I could leave that day, I said fine but you have to make sure I get my 1 month's notice pay anyway, as I didn't have another job to go to. He agreed to this, then I was out the door.
Surprise surprise, payday is coming up and now he's saying there's a problem, there is something he wasn't aware of.
What are my rights in this situation?

[ChuffingHell]

If your contract says you have a months notice and it was agreed that you would go on garden leave (where you spend your notice period at home) for that month, then you are entitled to that notice pay. I don't suppose you got anything in writing about this - even just an email?

I would address the matter head on and find exactly what this 'problem' is. The bottom line is that if they weren't in the position to allow you to take garden leave then they should have notified you of this and dragged you back into the office. As they didn't do that, you're entitled to the pay. If the co has an HR dept, get them involved immediately.

All that said, I am working on the assumption you haven't gone into another job during this month as garden leave is null and void if you take up another post.

[idly_enjoys]

Okay I have found out more.
The problem is that while I was working there, I was helping out a friend from another company out with some work like proofreading and things, for which I received no payment, and people knew about it at the company I worked for full time.
They went through my emails when I left and found that I'd sent emails to my friends telling them 'I'm doing some work on the side, hopefully I'll get some extra money out of it.' Apparently this is a breach of my contract, which states that I must not have ANY "outside interests" of any kind. This was basically a hobby, I didn't get any money and it wasn't during work time and I didn't use work resources.

They are delaying paying me my notice money until the issue is resolved to I'm going to the citizen's advice bureau about it.

[ChuffingHell]

Unfortunately, looking at that, they're probably within their rights. You hoped to get some extra money and they don't know that you didn't.

When you say people in the company knew, did your line manager know? If so, I would go back to them and say - look, I didn't hide this. My manager knew and never said it was a problem. If your colleagues or other managers knew, it will be more difficult to make your point.

Also, they'd argue you did use work resources as you wrote about it on your work email!

Do bear in mind that you can go to CAB but you should think about this before entering into conflict with your employer in any big way - these people may be asked by future employers for a reference: is it worth having a cloud hang over them, for a months pay which you may not legally be entitled to, anyway.