Ask the expert: Withholding pay

Martin Brewer and Esther Smith advise on whether you can withhold an employee's pay while you decide if an absence was unauthorised.

Withholding pay

We have an employee who was employed on a fixed-term contract. They suffered an injury and were absent from work for three weeks in total. The first week was self certified and the following two weeks were covered by medical certificates (two certificates, one for each week).

The employee says they posted the first medical certificate to office but it hasn't been received. The second was posted and the line manager confirmed that they had received it but that now appears to be missing. The employee has requested a duplicate of the first certificate. The absence was an inconvenience to the manager and communications have broken down between them. The employee says the manager was less than sympathetic to them and the employee has subsequently resigned. The line manager has asked payroll to withhold all this month's salary as we may decide the absence is unauthorised. I feel that is unfair as we have seen the second certificate but have mislaid it.