Lady Earning N59,000 Salary in Tears as Employer Deducts N53,000, Pays Only N6k
- A legal practitioner has stated that no employer has the right to deduct any amount from an employee’s agreed salary
- In a tweet, he disclosed how a lady lamented to him that her employer deducted N53k from her salary and paid her N6k
- Legit.ng reached out to a lawyer, Elisha Chika, who confirmed that it was not lawful to make such deduction from an employee's salary.
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A legal practitioner has narrated the plight of a lady whose employer deducted N53,000 from her salary and paid her a balance of N6000.
The man identified on X as @egi_nupe__ said that that amount was deducted from her salary because a customer’s money reversed.
Source: Getty Images
Lawyer insists that salary deduction is unlawful
Egi_nupe insisted that legally speaking, an employer has no right to deduct from an employee’s salary.
According to the lawyer, the only time an employee is allowed to legally deduct the salary of an employee for damages or harm done to his business is if there is a written consent of an authorised labour officer.
He added that they can only deduct if the proposed deduction is reasonable or in respect of injury or loss caused to the employer by the willful misconduct or neglect of the employee.
The lawyer stated that the law forbids an employer from deducting from an employee’s salary.
In his words:
“Yesterday, a lady lamented to me that her employer deducted 53k from her salary and paid her 6k for the month because a customer's money was reversed.
"Can an employer deduct from your salary? Legally speaking, generally, no employer has any right to deduct any amount from your agreed wages except deductions permitted by law, such as taxes, pension and other statutory deductions.
"For an for an employer to legally deduct the wage of an employee for damages or harm done to his business- the following must be done: The written consent of an authorized labour officer is required. The proposed deduction must be reasonable.
"The deduction can only be made in respect of injury or loss caused to the employer by the willful misconduct or neglect of the employee. Anything outside the above is illegal.
"It is important to note that the law forbids an employer from deducting wages of an employee for damages or loss resulting from the conduct of another employee or impose a fine for damages unconnected to the action of an employee.
"Where this happens, the employee can insist on being paid or engage a lawyer for proper legal advice.”
Legit.ng reached out to a lawyer, Elisha Chika, who confirmed that it was not lawful to make such deduction from an employee's salary.
"No this is bad. The problem is people abuse the law a lot in this country and do things anyhow. How can you leave a person with only N6k? No matter what happened between them, if you go through the lawful process, the money owed will have to be split and paid in different months if the employee is found guilty," he said.
Reactions as lady gets paid N6k salary
The comments section was filled with the reactions of Nigerians who shared their opinions.
@genybliss said:
“Employers that deduct employees for lateness nko. Can employees take up a legal case against the employer?”
@Oba_Swagger reacted:
“In a situation where the employee does not belong to any national union, what will happen?”
Onyedikachukwu said:
“The problem here is that, after the lawyer argues her case and she wins, she may be on her way out of job. And that's if her usual pay is even enough to cater for a lawsuit. People are slaving for others in this country just to be able to keep body and soul together.”
@FaventM said:
“If tellers of banks, bulk counters, come out to express their experiences U would have thousands of petitions to deal with on their behalf. They suffer this a lot & I think it is just unfair. Yes we have the shady ones but the innocent got caught up in the punishment more often.”
@fayomiphilip_A commented:
“If people should follow this up, there will be a lot of court cases.”
@BolajiRAdesina said:
“I think our laws are strong enough, the problem is enforcement and they're too expensive for a common man which constitute 80% of our population, this case could easily be decided by the industrial/ Magistrate court. With little resources can we guarantee a win for the employee?”
See the post below:
Nigerian lady gets fired by boss
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a young lady cried out after her boss fired her.
She shared a WhatsApp screenshot of her boss's unexpected message after giving him a chance in her life.
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Source: Legit.ng
