Royal Mail workers are paid a penny
Saturday 31st December 2011, 9:44AM GMT.
A pay row between Royal Mail and temporary workers has intensified after staff waiting for Christmas wages had just 1p put into their bank accounts.
Hundreds of workers employed to tackle the Christmas rush have suffered after payroll problems delayed their wages.
The firm insists it has managed to pay most of its seasonal workers but staff, some of whom say they are owed hundreds of pounds, say they were stunned to find their accounts credited with just a penny.
The mix-up has affected staff at sorting offices in Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Stafford.
Royal Mail has apologised but said the “vast majority” of those issued 1p had been overpaid previously and it was a nominal fee to complete a transaction.
But furious workers today said they were out of pocket by hundreds of pounds.
One worker at the Sun Street depot in Wolverhampton, who did not wish to be named, said she had been expecting money owed to her from her first ever paypacket from November.
“I was supposed to be paid £152 but instead there was 1p,” she said. “I have worked there for four weeks and not once has my pay been right.”
Royal Mail spokesman Nick Martens said staff who had been overpaid were warned it would need to get the money back.
He said: “To recoup the amount owed, we need to complete a pay run and that requires a nominal payment in order to complete a transaction. We are sorry for any upset this has caused.”
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1p?….overpaid if you ask me! ONLY JOKING. Think it must’ve been due to a previous error as explained. Hope it all workded out okay.
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What a pantomime! Whilst an employer has the right to reclaim overpayments, a failure to pay wages on time can amount to an unlawful deduction. I hope the Royal Mail sort this out soon, or they’ll have their own seat on the naughty step at the Employment Tribunal if they have failed to pay on time.
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Don’t worry…… it’s in the post…
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i think this the biggest insult i have ever known if staff owe money to company take it out there wages bit by bit not one large sum and as for being payed 1p that just takes the pee i know theres been alot of things going on with the royal mail lately but thats no reason to let all the staff to suffer i say PAY THE STAFF oh happy new year to all
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Or the staff who were overpaid could have shown some moral fibre at the time of the over-payment and admitted to it?
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I really find this difficult to understand. A company the size of Royal Mail who take on extra workers every year at Christmas are so utterly incompetant that they can not pay their employees correctly for 3-4 weeks work.
Do their directors earning multi-million pound bonuses have the same problem? Somehow I doubt it.
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in years gone by all the recruitment was done by the local Jobcentres, no issues at all.
This year they use an agency. And guess what a total mess!
Just proves agencies are hopeless!
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I bet any money the head of Royal Mail and the managers all had their Christmas money paid OK.
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Another way of slowly getting rid of everything we once had no post no hospitals no hope well done camroon & co asset strippers
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I think Royal Mail should be fined… Peoples lives have suffered due to the mess up with the wages.. There is no communication and has for overpayments you need to get paid to get overpaid so cant quite get my head round that one they should pay compensation to every employee who has suffered to their own agency causing the problems its a disgrace. They are very quick in taking money back off you shame they aint as quick in paying it out on time!!!! Shame on Royal Mail
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Boring…far more important stories to cover. What is it with the post making news all the time…
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what a wonderful and country and world we live, where we cannot walk in someone else’s shoes for even a minute. some of those people worked sunday to sunday 12hrs per day and were short changed or not paid at all. their explanation is a complete lie the individuals who received 1p were never overpaid.
its the principle of the matter how dare royal mail; you have deprived single mom and dads,rob christmas from children and ruined the start of peoples new year.
it is news worthy especially when the government is pushing people into modern day slavery. sorry that is boring or funny to some. heartless souls. where is your humanity?
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