Suspended with pay actually means???

[shiftywifty]

I am a car salesman and have now been off work suspended for a minor issue for nearly 3 weeks. I am told i to be paid for my time however if i am not at work selling cars i am not earning commission. My salery is very low and impossible to survive on. i am now having growing concerns about how much money i wont have if this continues much longer.

Does the employer have to consider loss of potential commissions earnt, when factoring in pay for this period. i really need advice on how i stand with this. i can only find information stating you are entitled to the same perks, nothing about this.

Regards

[tamborine]

wots the suspension for? Were you rude to a customer? When suspended you're on basic wage.

[shiftywifty]

i handed over the wrong car to the wrong customer. 2 cars the same and we got them mixed up.

[tamborine]

that should warrant a short suspension.....a stupid error. Still costs your employer!

[Androcles]

Suspension from work for three weeks sounds unreasonable to me - the employer must investigate any breach and bring it to a disciplinary action within a reasonable period. Most terms and conditions of employment disciplinary procedures should specify what that period is. You could raise a grievance that this has not been dealt with in a timely manner, which should bring matters to a head.

see http://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=6429

[shiftywifty]

biggest problem with my employer is he is a clever sod and only trys to make things harder if you question him. it is one of those "my business so my rules, if you dont like it leave" i feel he is deliberatly making it as hard for me as he can. Hence my query on what he really has to pay me. Because a month on basic is less than if i was jobless

[shiftywifty]

btw i was told that i am suspened pending a investigation into how this happened and to learn if this matter is to be considered gross misconduct. no disaplinary action has come to light

[ABerrant]

Although I broadly agree with Androcles, I am not sure what purpose the link to a US (Texas) based website is meant to achieve outside of that jurisdiction.

[tamborine]

Start looking for aother job - seems your japes are out of line with your employer.

Had I received my new car & told later it was the wrong one and given another, I would be suspicious of the retailer & could cancel my order. But, that's just me!

[shiftywifty]

well the beauty of the problem i caused is that as far as the customers are concerned the cars are correct. they only had 1 digit different in the cassis number. It is a more a matter of getting in contact with dvla and having the vehicle details swapped over. Yes it causes a small head ache but not massive end of world thing. having done the job for 4 years i am amazied such a thing could happen yet we are all human.

[Androcles]

Sorry, you are right ABerrant, inaccurate mousing - I clicked on the wrong link - see http://www.backuphr.c...d-news-article-94.htm

[buildersmate]

I would talk to ACAS about this one because I agree that your employer is acting unreasonably due to the length of time he is taking to investigate.
http://www.acas.org.u...x.aspx?articleid=1410
One wonders whether trade is light at present and he is seeking to save money by having you off the incentivised payroll? - otherwise I don't see how this action advantages him - because the nature of a sales role (where a large proportion of the income is commission-based) is that you generate income for the business, as well as generating income for yourself.
There is no maximum time it should take to invesatigate but the employers action have to be reasonable.
I also believe that your salary and benefits package does NOT include commission earnings (or average commission earnings) if you are 'off' - unless anything written down in an employment contract says something different (unlikely in such a business, I imagine). You could check with ACAS to make sure.

If your holiday pay is calculated on average commission earnings - that might be an indicator that you could claim that 'base level pay' included some commission-element?

[buildersmate]

Well, was this helpful?
Otherwise these questions just disappear into a black hole and one never knows if one is merely wasting one's time.

[tonyav]

I think that he ( your boss ) maybe trying to get you to leave on your own accord, he knows that you are most likely struggling on basic wage therefore he is probably stringing out your suspension for as long as he possibly can. I think he has probably hung you out to dry, phone ACCAS if i were you.

[buildersmate]

. .............. which is where we were 2 days ago.
Maybe he's still waiting for the phone to be answered.