ACAS/CONCILIATION UPDATE :

[Fiesta1996]

Possibly not an issue for most, but on the letter I received, it states.

Employees will have to have been employed by Royal Mail for the full qualifying period in order to receive a payment (whether one of the top up or back payments) but they do not have to be in employment at the date of payment

So, theoretically speaking, if a qualifying period is 6-months, lets say 1st Jan to 30th Jun, or 1st Jul to 31st Dec, you could begin employment with Royal Mail on the 2nd Jan, leave on the 30th of December, but because you havent been employed for either 'full' period, despite being there basically 12 months, you get nothing.

I'm not a lawyer, so not sure if thats how it should be interpreted, but if so...very sneaky.

[Dexydog]

Very good point.
The whole thing is worded extremely ambiguously.
You may decide not to go to tribunal and get bugger all because of the small print/interpretation.

[Woody Guthrie]

Very good point.
The whole thing is worded extremely ambiguously.
You may decide not to go to tribunal and get bugger all because of the small print/interpretation.

Or you might opt out and rely on the accuracy of Royal Mail’s overtime calculations

[Dexydog]

Another thing to consider.
My claim, along with many others, have sat with ACAS for nearly 2 years.
They were happy to let RM drag their heels while they "negotiated" with the union.
So how much longer would one have to wait until they saw any money through that route?
You might also argue that since all the calculations are to be done manually, how long is it going to take to process 100,000 individual claims that don't bother going through ACAS?
TBH I like the thought of an open claim giving them a headache- I just think they've got away with one otherwise.

[rubberbond]

As someone else pointed out you have a binary choice , without any detail of the agreement and you have to decide by the end of August. Why not give out details of what has been agreed with the letter.

[Woody Guthrie]

Royal Mail are now saying that the "target" is to have back payments sorted by November.

[yellowbelly]

I've received from my branch a sort of answers to FAQ's (it's from CWU HQ), think they're trying to
pushback on all the grief they're getting by the looks of it, thought these two particular quotes would be of interest,
the first one it looks like RM are relying on the legislation quoted to stop claims going back more than two years!
(and CWU seem to be tacitly agreeing with this as it's their briefing!). No wonder they've been dragging this out!

We have been submitting claims to the ET since around November 2018. Whilst the majority of these cases were settled
others were not for various reasons therefore some of these members have been waiting for payment from late 2018 or
early 2019. If we have two years of arrears I would assume these monies would be lost?

Settlements were being offered by Royal Mail Group in 2018 and up to about October 2019, so it is unclear why there would
still be many outstanding claims from this time. The agreement allows for two years back pay if the qualifying threshold is met
in each of the listed six monthly periods. The Government introduced regulations imposing a two-year limitation period on
most unlawful deductions from wages claims including holiday pay claims a couple of years ago. The legislation is called the
Deduction from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/3322) and applies to claims presented on or after 1stJuly 2015.
There is still some ongoing case law in Northern Ireland but this is far from complete.

If these members do not wish to settle, do they have to? Or would the collective agreement override their right to
pursue these payments (I understand there is a risk to this)?

The claims that are currently at the ET stage are all individual claims and each of these members will receive a letter once the
agreement has been endorsed. This will ask them how they would like to proceed and whether they now wish to withdraw their
claim for holiday pay. Back payments to individuals will be conditional upon them withdrawing the Employment Tribunal claim.
There will be a reasonable time-frame for members to return the forms stating their choice. The Union will then communicate
all of the responses to the Employment Tribunal by 16:00 on 3rd September 2021 and not provide legal assistance and support
forthe remainder.

Additionally my area rep has stated that not everyone will receive 'the letter' from CWU asking whether you want
to withdraw your claim - specifically this letter is to withdraw from a claim that got past ACAS and reached the ET stage.
If your claim didn't get past ACAS (to the ET) you won't get a letter from CWU. Don't know what your options are
if this is your situation...

[tdavies88]

Iv responded via email to withdraw after getting the letter. Hoping that payments are sorted quickly. I bore myself going on about this it’s been years.

[Thebigman]

Can someone please clarify something for me ? Do you need to have lodged a claim with ACAS to qualify for the backpay or will it be for every worker who meet the qualifying criteria regardless ?

[Dexydog]

Thank you for the update dexy, have edited the title to show more, thanks mate and good luck.

@Postman.
Could you please amend the title, it seems I was given the wrong information and RM is in fact NOT making individual offers
Title is misleading.
Thanks.

[Babble2412]

so what is going to happen now? Each case is different. I do average 15 hours + over time every week

[woofwoof]

so what is going to happen now? Each case is different. I do average 15 hours + over time every week

trupa@cwu.org email him after all he sent the paperwork out

[Babble2412]

Thanks,

I’m not in the union anymore, I did the case myself

[Dexydog]

Thanks,

I’m not in the union anymore, I did the case myself

You logged a case with ACAS?
If so you should have had an email from Weightmans solicitors by now (they are RM's solicitors), giving you details of agreement.
You should also have had an email from ACAS themselves, you only have until next Friday to tell them you want to keep your claim going, otherwise you get the agreement deal automatically.

[Babble2412]

yeah I received both emails last week and replied. I did read the agreement but if I’m honest it was quite confusing.