Woman receives less than R100 after employer deducted majority of her salary

• 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, equivalent to R680, from her salary and paid her N6k (R76)
• The lady said that the money was deducted from her salary because of a challenge she encountered during the job

A legal practitioner has narrated the plight of a lady whose employer deducted N53,000 (R654.60) from her salary and paid her a balance of less than R100.

The man identified on X as @egi_nupe__ said that that amount was deducted from her salary because a customer’s money was reversed.

A Lady got paid less than her monthly salary after the employer deducted money. Images:Mahmud Turkia,Pius Utomi Ekpei. Photos for illustration only. Source: UGC

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 written consent of an authorised labour officer.

He added that they can only deduct if the proposed deduction is reasonable or with respect to 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 R654 from her salary and paid her R76 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.”

See the post below:

Reactions as lady gets paid N6k

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?”

Legal expert advises domestic worker looking for salary increase

Meanwhile, Briefly News shared that a South African woman who works as a domestic worker feels she is not paid enough. She is afraid that she might lose her job if she asks her boss for a raise.

A Legal expert advised her to ask for the raise and her rights. She could also write a formal letter to the employer informing her of the statutory requirements and requesting that she abide by such requirements and implement back pay for outstanding salaries.