Chapter 16Employing labour■employee/pension fund trustees under the Pensions
Act 1995 who are allowed paid time off so that they may
perform their duties and undergo relevant training;
■where, in a redundancy situation, the employer is to
consult with worker representatives instead of, or as
well as, a trade union representative the elected worker
representatives are entitled to reasonable time off with
pay during normal working hours to carry out their
duties as representatives and to seek election;
■similar provisions apply also to employee safety
representatives;
■the ERA 1996 (as amended by the Teaching and
Higher Education Act 1998) gives employees aged 16
to 18 the right to take reasonable paid time off work
in order to study or train for a designated qualifica-
tion by a specified awarding body. These rights are
enforceable by way of complaint to an employment
tribunal and dismissal for asserting these rights is
automatically unfair, so that no minimum period of
service is required.
In all cases the right is to ‘reasonable’ time off in all
the circumstances of the case.
Itemised pay statements
Under the ERA 1996 itemised pay statements must be
provided for employees regardless of service, and whe-
ther they ask for them or not. It is an absolute right, said
the EAT in Coalesv John Woods and Co (Solicitors)
(1986). All workers are entitled to a statement, including
part-timers.
Under the Act the employee must receive a statement
at the time of or before receiving pay, showing gross
pay and take-home pay and the variable deductions, e.g.
income tax, which make up the difference between the
two figures. Details of how it is paid must also be given,
e.g. is it contained in the pay packet or has it been cred-
ited to a bank account?
Fixed deductions, e.g. savings or repayment of a season
ticket loan, need not be itemised every pay day. If the
employer gives the employee a separate statement set-
ting out the fixed deductions, this may simply be shown
as a lump sum in the weekly/monthly pay statement.
This fixed deduction statement must be updated in writ-
ing if it is changed and in any case it must be re-issued
every 12 months.
If the employer does not comply with the pay state-
ment requirements, the employee can complain to a
tribunal which will make a declaration of the law that
a statement should have been given and as to what it
should have included. The employer must comply with
this declaration. In addition, the tribunal may order the
employer to give back to the employee any deductions
which were made from the employee’s pay and which
were not notified to him during the 13 weeks before the
date of the application by the employee to the tribunal.
It is worth noting that the section is penal, i.e. in the
nature of a penalty, and so where, for example, an
employer has deducted tax and paid it over to HMRC
but has not given the employee a written statement, he
can be made to pay the employee the deductions made
up to 13 weeks, even though this means he has paid twice
(see Cambierov Aldo Zilli(1998)).
If the particulars are complete but the employee wishes
to question the accuracy of what has been deducted,
then this is a contractual matter which can be dealt with
by an employment tribunal:
■if the employment has ended; or
■if the employer’s action amounts to an unlawful
deduction from pay, as where the employee has not
consented to a deduction for alleged shortages in cash
received for sales.
Otherwise, the matter must be taken before a civil
court, e.g. the county court.Method of payment and deductions from pay
Under the ERA 1996 employees no longer have a right
to be paid in cash. The Truck Acts 1831–1940, which
used to give this right, are repealed. Payment may still,
of course, be made in cash, but an employer can if he
wishes pay the employee, for example, by cheque or by
crediting the employee’s bank account by credit trans-
fer. It should be noted, however, that if a worker was
paid in cash before 1987 when the repeal came into force
the method of payment may only be changed if the
worker agrees to a variation of the contract of service.
Deductions from pay are unlawful unless they are:
1 authorised by Act of Parliament, such as income tax
and national insurance deductions; or
2 contained in a written contract of employment or the
worker has previously signified in writing his agreement
or consent to the making of them. In Discount Tobacco
and Confectionery Ltdv Williamson(1993) the Employ-
ment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that deductions from
an employee’s pay in regard to stock shortages will be
legal only if they relate to losses that occurred after the479