Any Time Limit On Back Pay ?

[mrswitzend64]

My son has had a weekend job for the last 7 years for a small local company. He gets paid by the hour ( this is also stated in his contract). He gets paid on the 24th of each month and I've just discovered he gets the same amount every month regardless of whether there are 4 weekends in a month or 5. (It had never occurred to him that he was not getting paid for the 5th weekend !) Anyway we've backtracked and counted up all the months with 5 weekends in them and the company owe him over £3,000. I've got 2 questions. Firstly what's the best way to raise this with the employer ? (He still wants to work there on good terms) and secondly, is there a time limit on how far back some one can ask for their wages ? Thanks in anticipation

[Zacs-Master]

He should go into the office of the most senior person he can gain access to and state, in a very calm and collected way that he thinks there has been an error. He should then go on to state what he thinks that error is. He should then wait for a reaction, which will probably be 'we'll have to look into it'.

As,for,the second point. I've no idea.

[Hopkirk]

No wonder you are at your witzend.

How come he didn't think of this before?

[EDDIE51]

How many hours does he get paid for? They could have added up the total hours he would work in a year, divided it by 12 and pay that amount each month. I had a weekend job and it was paid like that ,1/12 of a years total per month. It is a lot easier to work out and you know exactly how much you are going to get each payday.

[EDDIE51]

Also it is not just a 4 or 5 weekend month. Months can start on a Sunday and end on a Saturday so there are months with 4 and a half weekends as far a pay is concerned.

[Buenchico]

A debt lasts until it's paid (unless the debtor goes bankrupt), so the money is still owed to your son irrespective of how far back the errors go.

However court action to pursue a debt can't be taken if no attempt to claim the money has been made for a period of 6 years.

[fairycakes69]

I get paid the way Eddie has described, checked to see if this is the same for your son, before he tackles his boss.

[atalanta]

2 ways to approach this :
1) the son joins a union and gets proper advice
2) he goes to the Citizens Advice Bureau

[mrswitzend64]

Thank you to all for your help. I hadn't thought of working the hours \ wage out the way Eddie and fairy cakes suggested. He gets £8 an hour, just looking for the calculator to work it out properly. Thanks to everyone for your good advice. Fingers crossed for Saturday !

[EDDIE51]

^^ it is quite common to just pay 1/12 of the years wage each month for a weekend job. Makes it a lot easier and quicker to work out and the worker knows exactly how much to expect each payday.

[thugulike]

Raise the concern in writing to the company and ask for an explanation. If he gets no joy then make a claim to County court rather than Employment Tribunal as CC hears claims under The Wages Act and is much cheaper. Might be better to just make sure everything is on the correct footing going forward.

[Maydup]

I get paid the same amount every month regardless off the number of days/weeks in the month, but it is averaged out over the year. Not uncommon.

[mrswitzend64]

Thanks guys for the sound advice.. He's written everything down so he's got all his facts to hand.. We'll see how he goes on. I'm hoping he doesn't have to take it any further.. I've told him I want a big box of chocs once its sorted. I'll think of you all as I eat them. :-)

[EDDIE51]

Does what he got paid work out correctly to the average hours he should work?
You Know how many hours he is contracted to work per weekend, the number of weekends in the year, and the hourly rate.
All you have to do is take his months pay , divide the gross pay by 8, and multiply it by 12. The answer should be the same as his total hours worked in a year.