A friend of mine is having trouble with his boss.

A number of items have been stolen from a shop throughout the month, and the owner of the business has docked the cost of the items from all the employees wages, despite knowing the items were stolen from members of the public. He says it is to make the staff more aware of shoplifters.

This surely cannot be legal, what action can he take?

well it certainly doesnt sound legal to me.
give the citizens advice a ring they will give him the correct people to contact.

Litha

It'll be in their contract, but sounds dodgy to me

This is most certainly illegal - get the CAB to check out the contract and they will advise him further.

Its illegal..............seek advice!!! I can't imagine (but then I may be wrong) that any term in the contract would hold up in court to cover this sort of behaviour. The boss should be more concerned with catching the shoplifters than persecuting staff.

You may find this web page from the dti useful....
[url]www.dti.gov.uk/er/pay/contracts.pl8106.htm

Sounds like a good shop for easy pickings - care to name it? :)

I can't make that link work :confused:

K x

seems the info has changed by the dti. have a look under www.dti.gov.uk/er/pay/contracts.pl8106.htm. If the link is still down just try the search engine on the dti page....wage deductions

factories act...no employer shall deduct monies from any employee without their written consent...tell him to look at it,by law it has to be displayed in his work area,usually near the clocking in machine or canteen

Have a look at this site also

http://www.acas.org.uk/

I recommended contacting them to someone on another forum I use, admittedly their problem was different however ACAS do offer telephone advice and they are (reportedly) easier to get on the phone than CAB as their lines aren't as busy (or maybe they have more lines I dunno but since the advice is free its gotta be worth a go)

http://www.acas.org.uk/rights/pay.html#11

Thats to the ACAS site specifically about deductions from wages.

Hope it helps and your friend gets sorted.

If you look at the links to the legislation given above you will see that there are circumstances where it can be perfectly legal and in particular when it is agreed in a written contract of employment.

Read the contract first and then, yes, seek further advice if necessary (or if there is no contract).

There are conditions that an employer of a retail worker must follow when making deductions (as agreed by contract).
Important ones include: a written demand for payment and a maximum of 10% from any one pay packet.

This (http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/pay/contracts-pl810b.htm) is the up-to-date DTI website referred to above and from which these notes are copied:

However, payments received by an employer from a retail worker in these circumstances are unlawful unless certain additional conditions are met. These conditions are:

- that the employer must, before receiving the first payment for any particular shortage or deficiency, let the worker know in writing the full amount that he owes;
- that the employer must on one of the worker's pay days make a written demand for payment;
- that a demand for payment (or the first in a series of demands) relating to a particular shortage or deficiency must be made no earlier than the first pay day after the day on which the employer informs the worker of the full amount owed (or, if the worker is informed on a pay day, no earlier than that day);
- that any such demand must not require the worker to pay more than 10 per cent of the gross amount of wages payable on that pay day; and
- that the payment (or payments) demanded on a pay day, added to any deductions made on the pay day because of shortages or deficiencies, must amount to no more 10 per cent of the gross amount of wages payable.

Yes you're right cgksheff, having read the ACAS stuff there do appear to be circumstances where it is legal for this to be done. I felt sure that the person concerned wouldn't be quering the deductions if they were aware they'd signed a contract agreeing to them. If they haven't signed a contract agreeing to this then it is illegal. Guess it all rests on whether the Op's friend read or received a contract. Either way I'd be getting advice onit.

Sorry, Musey, I wasn't directing my post at anyone in particular. When I wrote "If you read", I was being more general and, if anything, just trying to clarify the misunderstandings that can arise from earlier posters claiming absolute illegality.

....... and subsequent ones!

Its illegal.. is your mate in a union?
If not - joing the T&G.

Originally posted by cgksheff
Sorry, Musey, I wasn't directing my post at anyone in particular. When I wrote "If you read", I was being more general and, if anything, just trying to clarify the misunderstandings that can arise from earlier posters claiming absolute illegality.

....... and subsequent ones!

Mo worries cgksheff I didn't take it as being directed at me, I only found this forum a couple of days ago (hence my low no. of posts) and have been impressed with the no. of users, informative posts, people prepared to help others and the variety of topics etc etc.

I must admit when I made my first post I simply couldn't believe it was legal, I was involved in a similar type incident when I worked as a waitress and a group of 5 did a runner. My boss felt he could deduct the entire cost of their meal from my wages. CAB were very quick to tell me it was illegal for him to do so and there ensued a fair battle to get it back.

I hope the Op's friend does get this sorted out though, cos if they were unaware this could happen then it must have put a hole in their wages.

Thank you for the replies.

We've gone over the (very brief) contract, and there is absolutely no mention whatsoever of anything at all to do with theft or company policy that arises with stolen stock.

Originally posted by Agent Gypo
Thank you for the replies.

We've gone over the (very brief) contract, and there is absolutely no mention whatsoever of anything at all to do with theft or company policy that arises with stolen stock.

Then, as I am sure you are now aware, the deductions are illegal and should be repaid (with interest).

You friend is now faced with the problem of how much he wants the job and how much fun it would be working there after initiating external action against the boss.

They could go straight to the CAB and they would advise what legal steps to take.

Alternatively, however, they could copy the relevant pages of the law from the websites shown and, together with the other staff tell him that his actions are against the law and that they want repayment (with interest). Who knows? He might pay up.


The legal procedure is that you would have to make a claim to an Employment Tribunal.
The Employment Tribunal website with all you need to know about the process is here. (http://www.employmenttribunals.gov.uk) and their phone number for enquiries is: 0845 795 9775

The CAB will be able to advise you on representation and help with expenses.