I work in the dairy farming industry. last year I didnt have a written agreement in place only a verbal one, my employer didnt keep track of my hours of work I did and when I worked them out to give to employer $5000 dollars and so now have said I will work this calving season for no pay until such times as the overpaid hours are worked off. Am I souly responsible for this stuff up or should my employer have to bare some of the brunt. Our verbal agreement was that I would be given the same amount of money each week and work the equivlant hours for that amount, however I did express to my employer 3 or 4 times that I didn't want to end up owing them hours and they should stop my wages, they just said that it would all work itself out and not to worry???? They have now asked me to sign a statement saying I will work of those overpaid hours.
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This is pretty untidy on the part of the employer, and they have a statutory obligation to keep proper records of what hours you work. If a labour department inspector were to look at the records then they would possibly fine the employer. So there is indeed a joint responsibility and I think a compromise is definitely justified in this case.
Yes, you can renegotiate and refuse to sign anything because they caused the problen. You may still need to resolve the overpayment and working this off is a good idea, but you may be able to get a better deal.