I have been working with my current company for 3 years as IT-Manager. The GM asked me to resign and I refused. Since then there have been cuts in my salary and now I have received my notice. Since 3 years I have the same working time and it was never an issue since I am in a managerial position. The cuts in salary are based on an attendance sheet and program that managers did not have to fill out or use and other managers got no cut despite the fact that they also did not sign in. Furthermore, hours were deducted for being ‘late’.

No warning letter was given to obey different working times or demanding me to sign in and out. Are the deductions correct? On another note. I have been asked to prepare a ‘handover’ to our finance department in which I have to show purchase from the time I was hired with the hint that if this material is not present, there will be deductions of salaries from me. Can they do this?

Name withheld

Answer: If your firm has office hours which it was not strictly implementing, it can’t be stopped from enforcing them. It has the right. And all employees are required to follow these rules. If you, however, feel the attitude of the administration is baised you can always file a report with the Labour Office in your area.

Talking about deductions, these can be done when penalty regulations are applied but these may not exceed a five-day wage for any month.
As far as the stock-taking is concerned, this is a normal procedure for all items to be ‘accounted for’ during handing/taking over. Now whether deductions are done all depends on the company policy.