Chip shop blues
Question
I work in the local chippy and at the end of my shift the other night the till was down £10. Our boss divided the £10 between those of us working that night and deducted the money from our wages. Is he allowed to do this?
Answer
When an employer takes money from your wages it could be classed as an unauthorised deduction from your salary so a claim for recovery can be made to the Employment Tribunal. However, a chip shop is classed as a retail outlet so special rules apply. This means that the employer can claim back missing monies from the workers.
The maximum they can claim from any worker at any one time is 10% of their gross earnings for that pay period. So if you earned £20 for the night they could only deduct a maximum of £2. However, if they can't recover the money in one hit, they can take up to another 10% each pay day until the full amount has been recovered.
Because of this it seems your boss was entitled to do what he did, but he should have provided a written explanation. If, however, you would like to find out more about this situation you can drop into your local Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) and talk it through in more detail.
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Updated: 09/02/2010
Question answered by CAB
