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HR buddies

The Covent Garden HR Buddies is an initiative facilitated by Clarkslegal to offer the London HR community the opportunity to meet with like-minded peers, attend relevant seminars and workshops and boost your knowhow of the issues specific to this sector.
 
It’s free and open to anyone interested in HR. It sets its own agenda, so it can be purely social or facilitate presentations to help prevent HR problems for companies in the London area. So if you want to network face to face contact buddy@clarkslegal.com. Click here for further details about our next HR Buddies event.  

If, alternatively, you wish to network online with other HR professionals, then using the discussion forum below, is your ideal opportunity to do so.

Please feel free to post new queries or questions, and/or reply to ones already posted. All you have to do is register a few details, then you will be ready to post your thoughts.

You can post a new query by selecting the tab "new thread". To reply to a post, select that post and then choose the "reply" tab.
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  Discussions  Buddy's question time  cost of living ...
 cost of living increase.
 
cp
1 posts
Joined
12/21/2007
cost of living increase.
Posted: 21 Dec 07 12:17 PM

Is anyone able to tell me where i can find out more info on the obligations of the employer to increase wages with inflation please. After recently leaving my job (on good terms) the remaining employees got a back dated payment for the cost of living for the last year and they are adament that they do not need to pay it to me.
creynolds
115 posts
5th
Joined
12/12/2006
Re: cost of living increase.
Posted: 28 Dec 07 10:40 AM Modified By creynolds on 1/7/2008 2:15:02 PM)

Buddy says:  There is no statutory obligation for an employer to increase employees’ wages in line with inflation.  However, there may be a provision in your contract of employment which stipulates that the employer will increase wages in accordance with inflation and/or the cost of living.  If there is such a clause in the contract, then it is recommended that you seek individual legal advice as there could potentially be a breach of contract claim.  However, in the absence of such a contractual provision, it is unlikely that your employer is under any legal obligation to back date payment of your wages in line with inflation.

 

Employer information:  Employers are under an obligation to pay workers the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in accordance with the National Minimum Wage Act 1998.   This gives workers the right to a specified minimum hourly rate of pay, which is regularly updated by the government.  There are no exclusions for small employers from this obligation and any agreement by the worker to be paid less than the NMW will be void. 

 

Since 1 October 2007 these rates are: 

  • £5.52 an hour for workers aged 22 and over.
  • £4.60 an hour for 18-21 year olds
  • £3.40 an hour for 16 –17 years olds

If an employer fails to pay a worker the NMW, the worker may bring one of the following claims:

  • Unlawful deduction from wages in the employment tribunal under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Such claims will have to be brought within three months of the date of the last unlawful deduction (that is, failure to pay the NMW).
  • Breach of contract in the employment tribunal or the county court. Such claims can be brought in the courts up to six years after the breach in England and Wales (five years in Scotland) and up to three months after the end of employment (but no more than six, or five, years) after the breach in the Tribunal.

In all cases it will be presumed that the worker has not been paid the NMW unless the employer can prove to the contrary.

 

Further information on wages and the NMW can be found under the buddy section on Pay & Benefits.  Details can also be found on the DBERR website at www.berr.gov.uk/employment.

 
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