salary stopped on leaving employment

[Benny888]

Hi

A friend of mine has had £70 stopped from her final payslip due to her leaving early by 5 or 10 minutes on two occasions, concluding in her dismissal. However the employer has said it is due to their `assumption` that she had regularly done this on several occasions and had therefore deducted pay according to their `assumption`. There was no clocking in or out procedure at the time of the disputed times.

Can somebody advise of the legal position please?

[factor-fiction]

Maybe rather than disputing £70 there should be a bigger consideration here.
I would be very surprised if someone was dismissed solely for leaving 5 or 10 minutes early on just two occasions (unless the time was critical- for example a teacher walking out 10 minutes before the end of a lesson, or a nurse leaving a seriously ill patient unattended.) I assume the employer felt they had good reason to believe she had done this on more than two occasions.
Does your friend accept that they were other occasions and did he/she challenge the dismissal?

[rowanwitch]

I wonder if your friend is telling you the whole story... ie was she given any warnings about her time keeping prior to dismissal. If not she ought to phone the ACAS helpline for advice.

[buildersmate]

If all she is fussed about is the money (i.e. she has burned her bridges anyway and doesn't have any thought of the need for even a simple reference as 'employed between X and Y as as Z') then she could write back stating she considers it as an unlawful deduction of wages. Then see what they do.

[tonywiltshire]

Part two of the Employment Rights Act 1996 protects employees from unauthorised (where the employee has not consented in writing) deductions, however, it will not apply where the deduction is made under a provision in the contract of employment.
As in so many cases it depends on what was agreed in the contract of employment.

[Roddles]

Did they follow their disciplinary procedures? It's hardly gross misconduct so she should have had proper hearings etc., with a written confirmation of future action and a period for improvement with consequences for failure to improve. Buildersmate's comments regarding references are very relevant.

[grffindoor2011]

Ordinarily, I would go further with this. However as much as I believe in standing up for what you believe in, I think that for the sake of £70 it would be best to move on......but send them a letter threatening legal action, just to see what they do unless they provide a detailed breakdown of the deduction. If it wastes their time all the better.

[joko]

they must assume she has done it many many times for it to total £70

in her wages how many does that add up to?

if she say earned £6 an hour - 5 - 10 mins is 50p and £1 ... so has she doen it 70 times?