There were high profile cases in the past of exploitative employers making cynical deductions from their employees’ wages – but there are laws now designed to prevent this.
By default, the only legal deductions you can make are those authorised by statute, such as for PAYE and NI. Beyond this, you must get the employee’s agreement in writing for any deduction, every time.
This can complicate things if you want to make legitimate deductions, such as clawing back holiday pay or season ticket loans from a departing employee.
The solution is to write something into your employment contracts that authorises legitimate deductions such as these to be made. Many quality employers do precisely this.
In our experience few employers ever have an issue with this condition, provided it is clearly expressed and fairly applied.
If you would like to discuss this or any aspect of your employment terms and conditions, please get in touch.
Click here to enquire online or call 023 9298 1000
Sue is our Managing Director and Head of Employment Law. Praised for her combination of common sense and expert knowledge, she offers advice to commercial clients on all employment matters and has also handled complex cases for individual employees.
From defending claims for damages and allegations of breached restrictive covenants or franchise agreements, to helping a multi-national organisation achieve the favourable resolution of a claim from its former CEO, Sue has successfully represented clients in the civil courts and at employment tribunal.
Sue enjoys sharing her legal and HR knowledge with organisations in the fast-moving world of sport, particularly football. As an experienced member of Verisona Law’s Football and Sports Law team, Sue understands the issues that are specific to the industry and deals with the many legal elements involved in employment contracts for non-playing staff at a very senior level. She regularly gives advice and support to individuals in contractual negotiations and disputes with Clubs in the Premiership, Championship and lower divisions. She also provides employment and HR advice to Clubs.
Sue is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association, and is a specialist trained ADR workplace mediator.
Sue is recommended in the Legal 500 2019.
Client testimonials
"Sue was easy to deal with and offered all options available. Jane was in contact beforehand to tell me what information was needed and also Sue was prepared for our meeting. I cannot praise Sue and Jane enough and would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Sue and her team."
Mr B, February 2018
"I can thoroughly recommend Sue Ball who has provided me with very clear professional advice on a contractual settlement I needed assistance on. The advice was delivered in a very warm & friendly manner & I would have no hesitation in using her services in future."
Mr Hadadda
Sue qualified in 1995 with Gray Purdue and became a Partner there shortly afterwards. When Gray Purdue merged with another local firm in 2008 to form Verisona, Sue became Head of the Employment Law Team. Sue is also a member of Verisona’s Football & Sports Law team.
One of Sue's cases went to the House of Lords and is now regarded as an important test case (Neufeld -v- Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform).
Businesses
- Contracts of employment and staff handbooks
- Redundancy procedures
- Restructuring programmes
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- Employment tribunal claims
- Disciplinary and grievance processes
Sports and Football
- Contractual issues
- Service agreements
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Company directors
- Service agreements
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- Recognising the gender agenda for trans staff
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