The Employment Relations Authority has upheld a claim for short paid wages after an employee was paid the wage subsidy amount during lock down instead of their normal wages.

The company received the wage subsidy and passed it on to its employee but got no agreement from the employee to the change in their pay rate.  This made the unilateral change of wages unlawful and the company was ordered to pay the employee the $4,300 difference plus interest.

If an employer cannot afford to pay its staff it needs to go through a proper consultation process and receive agreement to alter wage rates or a proper redundancy process to reduce its staff numbers.  Silence from an employee when paid the wrong amount is not consent to the change.

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