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Sheffield Wednesday staff members have been informed they won’t be paid in full by the club, as owner Dejphon Chansiri faces further financial setbacks.
Sheffield Wednesday‘s crisis deepens with the latest news coming out of the club.
The staff members and players are due to be paid on September 30th. But reports have revealed that the Sheffield Wednesday players have been told they won’t be paid on time for September.
And there are also reports that some of the club’s staff will not be paid in full for September either, after an email from the club to its staff members was revealed.
Sheffield Wednesday are set to face Leicester City in the Championship on Tuesday night.
Sheffield Wednesday staff members emailed about September pay
The Times relayed the email that the club’s staff members received ahead of payday. It read:
“With the September payday due tomorrow, we are sorry to say that once again full salaries will not be fulfilled on time. We completely understand your frustration on receiving this email and we can only be as transparent as the situation allows and based on the current information available.
“We can confirm that all staff will receive an initial payment of £1,000, with the outstanding balance to be paid at the earliest opportunity. As in previous months, there will be an emergency fund to best support immediate further payments to staff where possible.
“Please speak directly with your Line Manager with any requests and available funds will be distributed in a fair and balanced way.
“All staff will receive September salaries in full but unfortunately we are not in a position to confirm an exact date. We are all hoping for a positive update, which will be communicated to staff as soon as it is received.”
What does the law state?
Under UK law, staff members are protected by certain laws around being paid, and being paid in full.
Under Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996: “An employer shall not make a deduction from wages of a worker employed by him unless the deduction is required or authorised to be made by virtue of a statutory provision or a relevant provision of the worker’s contract, or the worker has previously signified in writing his agreement or consent to the making of the deduction.”
The term ‘relevant provision’ is key here. Per the same act: “‘Relevant provision’, in relation to a worker’s contract, means a provision of the contract comprised in one or more written terms of the contract of which the employer has given the worker a copy on an occasion prior to the employer making the deduction in question, or in one or more terms of the contract (whether express or implied and, if express, whether oral or in writing) the existence and effect, or combined effect, of which in relation to the worker the employer has notified to the worker in writing on such an occasion.”
Simply put, an employer can’t make deductions to an employee’s wage unless it is required to do so by law (so for tax or National Insurance for example), unless the employer/employee contract allows for such deductions to be taken, or unless the employee has given consent for this to be done.
There is nothing online to suggest that the Sheffield Wednesday staff members have given consent to these deductions, which would likely indicate a breach of Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
Another law to consider is the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 which ensures pay at or above the national minimum wage. Sheffield Wednesday’s email stating ‘an initial payment of £1,000’ suggests that this falls below the staff member’s pay, and likely below minimum wage depending on hours worked.
Can the Sheffield Wednesday staff members walk out?
Over the summer, several players walked out of Hillsborough after failing to be paid. Now, there are fresh fears of Sheffield Wednesday players walking out, which they are entitled to so if their wages are unpaid for two months or more.
For staff members, the situation is slightly different: the players can walk out and terminate their contracts with just cause after going unpaid for two months or more under FIFA and FA regulations, whereas non-footballing staff members are employees under HMRC law.
Staff members can technically walk out of their jobs as the club are in breach of contract. But doing so may mean that they are in breach of contract themselves. However, the club would unlikely succeed in penalising staff members who walk out because of the unpaid wages, and in Sheffield Wednesday’s case, several months of unpaid wages.
The situation at Hillsborough is a complex one and it only seems to be getting more so, with no end in sight for this current misery.