Pay Slips

[iloveglee]

heres one for the legal eagles out there. does an employer have the right to insist that employees receive their payslips via e-mail. i know the employment rights act states that employers have a legal obligation to give their employees a written and itemised payslip on or before the pay day. does e-mail consititute 'given', and 'written'. i am asking because a friend, who is mentally disabled (fragile x), is being told by his employer he will have to receive payslips by e-mail. he does not have access to the internet, and even if he had would not know how to access an e-mail. he has been told he HAS to get an e-mail address, and will have to go to a library or internet cafe to access his payslip. quite apart from his inability to do any of this, what about security. this has been explained to his employer who have said he will have to get a friend to do this for him, or have his payslip sent to them and have them print it out for him. can this actually be legal. they have asked if the payslip can be sent to his employer's e-mail and be printed out there but they say this is not possible because it is not secure!!! but they think an internet cafe is?? because he is disabled, would this not also contravene the disability discrimination legislation.

[Maydup]

It is discrimination, best to contact ACAS who will help you/ him through it.

[Buenchico]

The employer is required to make 'reasonable adjustments' to their employment practices to prevent a disabled employee being put at a disadvantage in comparison to other workers. Making special arrangements for this employee's pay slip would seem to fall within 'reasonable adjustments'.

As Maydup suggests, ACAS can advise you further:
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2042
(It can take a long time to get through on that number but it's worth the wait).

Mencap Direct might also be able to offer advice and support (including, possibly, getting someone from Mencap to contact the employer and explain their responsibilities): 0808 808 1111 or email [email protected]

[iloveglee]

thanks for this, yes i wondered if acas would be able to help. i would have thought that, asking someone to get a third party to receive their pay slip and then print it out would somehow be contravening the data protection act as well.

[factor-fiction]

Certainly I have not had a physical pay slip for years - I just get them online.
So, I think the only avenue to explore is the 'reasonable adjustments' arguments. However I'm not sure whether not having access to the internet is enough of an argument- it would have to be the mental inability. What sort of job is involved here though?

[iloveglee]

my friend works part time in a cafe in a large supermarket chain, clearing and cleaning tables etc. the cafe is not owned or run by the supermarket but by an outside caterer, which is a very large company. he is a registered disabled person. there is no chance that, even if he did have a computer and online access at home, he would know how to set up and access e-mail. having looked at the equality act it would seem that they may be in contravention of this if they, as has been said, don't make the necessary adjustment to their working practices to enable this employee to have a payslip. i also believe that arranging an alternative way for him to have his payslip would come under reasonable adjustments. he has worked there for a long time but i think he got the job through remploy in the first instance and had an advocate there. now that most, if not all, the remploy places have closed down in our area i am not sure if they would be a source of assistance. now that i can come from a point of view that what they are insisting on is probably discriminatory we can move forward from there.