When should I receive my salary? Get free advice!

Questioner

I am trying to find out when my employer is late with paying my wages. We have no special agreements in the contract. Let's take January as an example. If I worked all of January. Should I receive my January salary no later than 3 February or no later than 3 March? I have done some research on the internet and looked it up in the law book, but I have the idea that there are different interpretations of this law circulating here. This shouldn't be the case, should it?

Lawyer

Art. 7:625 BW is very clear in my opinion. In your example, the salary must be paid no later than 3 February 2018. If a CAO applies, it is often (even) earlier. If the employer is late in paying the wages, you can claim the statutory increase (art. 7:625 BW) and the statutory interest (art. 6:119 BW). You can claim this by e-mail or letter (keep a copy). If the employer still does not pay, I advise you to contact a specialized labor law attorney.

Questioner

Thanks for your response. I have read art. 7:625 that way too. However, I also see interpretations of this law that say that the employer has a month to pay. So that the salary due for Jan. must be in our account by 3 Mar. at the latest. Have you by any chance dealt with cases in which this has applied? We are dealing with a wage claim, for which a second letter has also been sent to the employer. We may want to file for bankruptcy. Only now we are faced with this issue because the employer, under pressure from our claims, has paid the outstanding wages of Jan. (without statutory increases, unfortunately) but not yet the (outstanding) wages of Feb. Now we have started to doubt whether we can take further steps based on the not yet paid wages of Feb. (filing bankruptcy petition). In case of your and my interpretation, the wages of Feb. are now 6 days late. In case of the other interpretation, our employer has until April 3 to pay. Thanks in advance for reading my question. If it is too extensive to answer this way, I fully understand.

Lawyer

There is a lot of sense on the internet, but also a lot of nonsense. My explanation has been interpreted that way by judges for at least 30 years. There can therefore be little discussion about it. For further advice you can contact my office (for a fee) or follow my advice from the previous response. Of course you can do it yourself, but remember: If you think it`s expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire an amateur, or in other words cheap is often expensive.

Questioner

super happy with answer!