Wages

You should be paid for the work you carry out, in accordance with your terms and conditions of employment. Under current legislation a deduction can only be made directly from your wages in one of the following circumstances:

• It is covered by statute (e.g. Income Tax and National Insurance);
• It has been ordered by a court (e.g. Attachment of Earnings Orders);
• It has been authorised by you, in writing, before the deduction is made.

If your employer makes a deduction which is not covered by the above then it will be deemed to be an unlawful deduction from wages.

‘Wages’ are defined by the Employment Rights Act 1996 as follows:

• any fee, bonus, commission, holiday pay or other emolument referable to his employment, whether payable under his contract or otherwise;
• statutory sick pay;
• statutory maternity pay;
• a guarantee payment.

Any Employment Tribunal claim for an unlawful deduction must be made within 3 months of either the deduction being made or you being notified that the deduction has been made (if this is later).

In addition to this, before any claim is lodged you must write to your employer to raise a statutory grievance about the deduction. Failure to do this at the appropriate time is likely to result in your claim being rejected by the Employment Tribunal.

The law on the deduction from pay is straightforward and the award made by the Tribunal is simply the value of the deduction made. As a result of this, and the fact that most claims are of low value, we feel it is inappropriate for an ethical organisation like ours to represent clients in wages claims. This is especially true where any fee charged could be disproportionate to the amount won. We are, however, happy to advise individuals on how to make a claim.