Employee Rights
- To receive the entire amount of wages payable unless the employee has consented in writing to (or asked in writing for) a wage deduction (e.g. a contribution to a superannuation scheme), or the deduction is made in accordance with some statutory requirement (such as PAYE deductions or deductions under the Child Support or Student Loan Scheme Acts).
- To vary or withdraw any consent to a deduction by giving notice to the employer. (This does not, however, apply to a deduction agreed to in a current collective employment agreement, nor to a deduction made in terms of some statutory authority such as the Child Support Act or the Student Loan Scheme Act).
- To have wages paid in money, although employees of the Crown or a local authority may be paid by cheques made out to the individual employee. Other employees may give written consent to (or ask in writing for) payment by postal order, money order, specified (individual) cheque or direct credit. Any consent or request may be varied or withdrawn by notice in writing to the employer, unless contained in a current collective employment agreement.
- To recover, in the Employment Relations Authority, any deduction an employer was not entitled to make, e.g. if the deduction was not requested, or was made without consent or where request or consent was obtained by threat of dismissal or some other form of duress. Wages paid other than in money may also be recovered. Any claim must be made within six years of the date on which the cause of action arose. Wages may also be recovered under Section 131 of the Employment Relations Act 2000.
Employer Rights
- To recover from wages subsequently owing to an employee, any unavoidable overpayment (given the particular pay-system used) made for a period when wages were not by law payable because the employee was absent without authority, was on strike, has been locked out, or was suspended. To be able to recover, the employee must be notified in advance of the employer’s intention, not later than the next payday, and the overpayment recovered not later than two months after notice is given.
- A notice need not specify the amount of the overpayment but only the day on which it was made and why it happened. The same notice may be given to a group of employees but must specify that it applies only to those employees in the group who received an overpayment.
- Note: An employer may seek, under the Judicature Act 1908, to recover any wages paid by mistake. The money will be recoverable, in whole or in part, unless the court considers that it was received in good faith and the employee altered his or her position in reliance on it.
- To pay by postal order, money order or cheque, any wages owing to an employee absent for the time being from his or her proper or usual place of work.
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