[Home] [Databases] [World Law] [Multidatabase Search] [Help] [Feedback]
	Statutes of Northern Ireland
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Statutes of Northern Ireland >> URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/legis/num_act/powai1970337.txt

[New search] [Help]

PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970

PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - LONG TITLE

An Act to remove certain restrictions imposed by the Truck Acts
(Northern Ireland) 1831 to 1940, and other enactments, with respect
to the payment of wages; and for purposes connected therewith.
[19th May 1970]
Request for payment of wages otherwise than in cash.

PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 1

1.(1) If an employed person requests his employer to pay his wages
in a way specified in the request, being one of the ways
authorised by this Act, and the employer agrees to that request,
nothing in the enactments mentioned in subsection (2) shall operate

(a)so as to render that request, or the employer's agreement
thereto, unlawful; or

(b)so as to render unlawful or invalid any payment of wages to
which the request applies if, at a time while the request and
agreement remain in force, the payment is made in the way specified
in the request and the requirements of section 2 are fulfilled in
relation thereto.

(2) The said enactments (in this Act referred to as "the specified
enactments") are

(a)sections 1 and 3 of the Truck Act 1831 (which render unlawful
and invalid any contract to pay, or payment of, wages to an
artificer otherwise than in the current coin of the realm); and

(b)section 1 of the Hosiery Manufacture (Wages) Act 1874 (which
requires all contracts for wages to which that Act applies to make
the wages payable in the current coin of the realm), and section 3
of that Act (which imposes penalties) except in so far as it
relates to deductions from wages.

(3) The following ways of payment are authorised by this Act, that
is to say,

(a)payment into an account at a bank, being an account standing in
the name of the person to whom the payment is due, or an account
standing in the name of that person jointly with one or more other
persons;

(b)payment by postal order;

(c)payment by money order;

(d)payment by cheque;

(e)payment by any document issued by a customer of a bank which,
though not a bill of exchange, is intended to enable a person to
obtain payment from that bank of the sum mentioned in the document.

(4) Any request made by an employed person as mentioned in
subsection (1) shall be made by notice in writing given to his
employer.

(5) An employer may signify his agreement to such a request either
by notice in writing given to the employed person or by paying the
wages in the way specified in the request.

(6) Any such request

(a)shall cease to have effect if, before the end of the period of
fourteen days beginning with the day on which the notice containing
the request is given, the employer gives to the employed person
notice in writing that he refuses the request; and

(b)in any other case, shall cease to have effect at the end of
that period unless before the end thereof the employer has signified
his agreement to the request as mentioned in subsection (5).

(7) A request under subsection (1) may be made in respect of part
of the wages of an employed person and, in relation to any such
request, any reference in this Act to a payment of wages shall be
construed as a reference to a payment of such part of the wages
as may be specified in the request.

PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 2
Requirements applicable to payments authorised by s.1.

2.(1) A request that any wages may be paid into an account at a
bank shall specify the bank and the branch thereof at which the
account is kept and the person or persons in whose name or names
the account stands; and a payment of wages in accordance with such
a request does not fulfil the requirements of this section unless
it is made into the account so specified.

(2) A payment of wages by cheque or by a document mentioned in
section 1(3)(e) does not fulfil the requirements of this section
unless the cheque or document is made payable to, or to the order
of, the person to whom the wages are due.

(3) A payment of wages in any of the ways authorised by this Act
does not fulfil the requirements of this section if, in calculating
the payment, any deduction from the gross amount of the wages is
made by reason that the payment is made in that way.

Subs.(4)(7) rep. by 1976 NI28 art.65(3) sch.6

PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 3
Cancellation of request or of employer's agreement.

3.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section

(a)an employed person who has made such a request as is mentioned
in section 1 may at any time cancel that request by notice in
writing given to his employer;

(b)an employer who has agreed to such a request may at any time
cancel his agreement thereto by notice in writing given to the
person who made the request.

(2) A notice under this section shall take effect at the end of
the period of four weeks beginning with the day on which the
notice is given.

(3) Without prejudice to the exercise of any power conferred by
subsection (1), where such a request and an employer's agreement
thereto are for the time being in force, the employer and the
employed person may at any time by agreement in writing cancel that
request and agreement as from such date as may be specified in the
agreement made under this subsection.

PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 4
Payment of wages otherwise than in cash in cases of absence.

4.(1) The provisions of this section shall have effect where, at
the time when an employed person's wages fall to be paid, he is
absent from the proper or usual place for the payment thereof, or
for the payment of so much thereof as is not covered by a request
and agreement under section 1, and no notice excluding him from the
operation of this section is in force at that time.

(2) If no part of those wages is covered by a request and
agreement under section 1, and either

(a)the employed person has duties in connection with his employment
which require him to be absent as mentioned in subsection (1), and
the employer has reasonable grounds for believing that he is absent
in order to carry out those duties, or

(b)the employer has reasonable grounds for believing that the
employed person's absence is on account of his being ill or having
sustained a personal injury,

(3) If part of the wages in question is covered by a request and
agreement under section 1, and the conditions mentioned in paragraph
(a) or paragraph (b) of subsection (2) are fulfilled, nothing in
the specified enactments shall operate so as to render unlawful or
invalid any payment of any part of those wages not covered by such
a request and agreement, if it is paid by postal order or money
order....

(4) If an employed person, by notice in writing given to his
employer, declares that he does not wish to have any of his wages
paid to him by postal order or money order, that notice

(a)shall remain in force until cancelled by the employed person by
a further notice in writing given to his employer, and

(b)while it remains in force, shall have effect for the purpose of
subsection (1) as a notice excluding him from the operation of this
section.

(5) For the purposes of this section wages, or part of wages,
shall be taken to be covered by a request and agreement under
section 1 if a request and agreement, as mentioned in that section,
are for the time being in force in respect of those wages or that
part thereof, as the case may be.

PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 5
Provisions as to notices and statements.

5.(1) Anything which, in accordance with any of the preceding
provisions of this Act, may be done by an employed person by
notice in writing given to his employer may be done by such a
notice given either by the employed person himself or by a person
authorised by him to act on his behalf; and anything which, in
accordance with section 3(3), may be done by agreement in writing
may be done by such an agreement made by the employer either with
the employed person himself or with a person so authorised.

(2) Any such notice as is mentioned in subsection (1), whether
given by or on behalf of an employed person,

(a)may be given by being delivered to the employer, or sent by
post addressed to him at the place of business where that person
is employed, or

(b)if arrangements in that behalf have been made by the employer,
may be given by being delivered to a person designated by the
employer in pursuance of the arrangements, or left for such person
at a place so designated, or sent by post to such a person at an
address so designated.

(3) Any notice or statement which by any provision of this Act is
authorised or required to be given by an employer to an employed
person may be given by being delivered to the employed person, or
left for him at his usual or last known place of residence, or
sent by post addressed to him at that place.

(4) For the purposes of this Act section 24(1) of the
Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 (which provides that the
service of a document authorised or required to be sent by post
may be effected by sending the document by registered post) shall
have effect as if the word "registering" were omitted therefrom.

(5) Any notice or statement which, in accordance with any provision
of section 24 of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 or
any provision of this section, is left for a person at a place or
address referred to in those provisions shall, unless the contrary
is proved, be presumed to have been received by him on the day on
which it was left there.

(6) Nothing in subsection (1) or subsection (2) shall be construed
as affecting the capacity of an employer to act by a servant or
agent for the purposes of any provision of this Act, including
either of those subsections.

PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 6
Supplementary provisions.

6.(1) Where in the case of any wages to which the Truck Act 1831
applies, a payment of the wages or part thereof is made in
circumstances falling within section 1(1) or section 4(2) or (3) of
this Act, section 4 of that Act (which confers a right of recovery
in respect of wages not actually paid in the current coin of the
realm) shall not confer any right of recovery in respect of so
much of those wages as has been paid in those circumstances, or as
represents a lawful deduction taken into account in calculating that
payment.

(2) For the purposes of section 9 of the Truck Act 1831 (whereby
it is an offence to enter into any contract or make any payment
thereby declared illegal)

(a)no such request and agreement as are mentioned in section 1(1);
and

(b)no payment falling within section 1(1)(b) or section 4(2) or (3),

(3) For the purposes of section 5 of the Hosiery Manufacture
(Wages) Act 1874 (which precludes any action or set-off for any
contract thereby declared illegal), no such request and agreement as
are mentioned in section 1(1) shall be treated as a contract
declared illegal by that Act.

(4) Subject to subsection (5), any amount paid or to be paid to a
person in any of the ways mentioned in section 1(3) (whether that
person is an employed person within the meaning of this Act or
not) shall for the purposes of section 13(1) of the Wages Councils
Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 (which relates to the computation of
remuneration) be treated as an amount obtained or to be obtained by
him in cash, and the provisions of Part II of that Act as to
payment of remuneration shall be construed accordingly.

(5) Nothing in subsection (4) shall affect the rights of any person
except in so far as they are rights conferred by Part II of the
Wages Councils Act (Northern Ireland) 1945.

(6) The following provisions shall have effect with respect to
payment by post, that is to say,

(a)a request under section 1 for payment by cheque or by a
document mentioned in section 1(3)(e) shall not, unless the request
expressly so provides, be taken to imply that cheques or such
documents in payment of the wages shall be sent by post;

(b)a request under that section for payment by money order or
postal order shall, unless the request otherwise expressly provides,
be taken to imply that money orders or postal orders in payment of
the wages shall be sent by post;

(c)in determining, for the purposes of that section, whether a
payment is made in the way specified in a request, it is
immaterial whether the payment is or is not sent by post;

(d)in the case of any payment sent by post, any requirement of
this Act that a statement relating thereto shall be given at or
before the time when the payment is made shall (if not complied
with apart from this paragraph) be treated as complied with if a
statement containing the requisite particulars is sent by post
together with the payment.

(7) Subject to the preceding provisions of this section nothing in
this Act

(a)shall render unlawful or invalid any agreement or payment which
apart from this Act is lawful and valid, or

(b)shall render lawful or valid any agreement or payment which,
apart from this Act, is unlawful or invalid otherwise than by
virtue of any of the specified enactments;

(8) Nothing in this Act shall operate so as to enable an employed
person to be required, by the terms or conditions of his employment
or otherwise, to make such a request as is mentioned in section 1,
or to refrain from cancelling such a request.

PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 7
Interpretation.

7.(1) In this Act

"account" includes both a current account and a deposit account
(whether described by that name or as a deposit or in any other
way);

"bank" includes a savings bank;

"branch", in relation to a bank, includes the head office of the
bank;

"employed person" (subject to subsection (2)) means any person who
is an artificer within the meaning of the Truck Acts (Northern
Ireland) 1831 to 1940, or of the Hosiery Manufacture (Wages) Act
1874;

"employer" (subject to subsection (2)) means any person who is an
employer within the meaning of the Truck Acts (Northern Ireland)
1831 to 1940, or of the Hosiery Manufacture (Wages) Act 1874;

"money order" means a money order issued by the Postmaster General
or the Post Office and "postal order" means a postal order so
issued;

"the specified enactments" has the meaning assigned to it by section
1(2);

"wages" (subject to subsection (2)) means any amount which
constitutes wages within the meaning of the Truck Acts (Northern
Ireland) 1831 to 1940, or of the Hosiery Manufacture (Wages) Act
1874

(2) Section 10 of the Truck Amendment Act 1887 (which applies the
provisions of the Truck Act 1831, and of that Act to certain
outworkers not directly employed) shall have effect for the purposes
of this Act as it has effect for the purposes of those Acts, and
references in this Act to employed persons, to employers and to
wages shall be construed accordingly.

Subs.(3) rep. by 1976 NI28 art.65(3) sch.6

(4) References in this Act to a deduction do not include a part
of an employed person's wages which is paid in any of the ways
authorised by this Act.

(5) In this section "savings bank" means any of the following, that
is to say,

(a)any trustee savings bank within the meaning of the Trustee
Savings Banks Act 1954;

(b)any organisation established (whether as a separate body or
otherwise) under a local or private Act, in pursuance of a
provision in that Act expressly describing it as a savings bank;

(c)any organisation formed in the United Kingdom (whether before or
after the passing of this Act) which does not fall within any of
the preceding paragraphs, but, being an organisation in the nature
of a bank, accepts deposits of money for the benefit of the
persons making the deposits, and, in the case of all deposits so
accepted,

(i)accumulates the produce of the deposits (so far as not withdrawn)
at compound interest, and

(ii)returns the deposits and produce to the depositors after
deducting any necessary expenses of management but without deriving
any benefit from the deposits or produce.

S.8 repeals 1743 c.8 (I); 1846 c.2

PAYMENT OF WAGES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 9
Short title.

9. This Act may be cited as the Payment of Wages Act (Northern
Ireland) 1970.

Schedule rep. by 1973 c.38 s.100 sch.28 Pt.II; 1976 NI28 art.65(3)
sch.6