Wages Act 1986

8General interpretation of Part I

(1)In this Part—

• " the 1978 Act" means the [1978 c. 44.] Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 ;

• " cash shortage " has the meaning given by section 2(2);

• " employer ", in relation to a worker, means the person by whom the worker is (or, where the employment has ceased, was) employed;

• "employment", in relation to a worker, means employment under his contract and " employed ", in relation to a worker, accordingly means employed under his contract;

• "gross amount", in relation to any wages payable to a worker, means the total amount of those wages before deductions of whatever nature ;

• " pay day ", " retail employment" and " retail transaction " have the meaning given by section 2(2);

• " statutory provision " means a provision contained in or having effect under any enactment;

• " stock deficiency " has the meaning given by section 2(2);

• " wages " shall be construed in accordance with section 7 ;

• " worker " means an individual who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, worked under) one of the contracts referred to in subsection (2), and any reference to a worker's contract shall be construed accordingly.

(2)Those contracts are—

(a)a contract of service ;

(b)a contract of apprenticeship ; and

(c)any other contract whereby the individual undertakes to do or perform personally any work or services for another party to the contract whose status is not by virtue of the contract that of a client or customer of any profession or business undertaking carried on by the individual,

in each case whether such a contract is express or implied and, if express, whether it is oral or in writing.

(3)Where the total amount of any wages that are paid on any occasion by an employer to any worker employed by him is less than the total amount of the wages that are properly payable by him to the worker on that occasion (after deductions) then, except in so far as the deficiency is attributable to an error of computation, the amount of the deficiency shall be treated for the purposes of this Part as a deduction made by the employer from the worker's wages on that occasion.

(4)In subsection (3) the reference to an error of computation is a reference to an error of any description on the part of the employer affecting the computation by him of the gross amount of the wages that are properly payable by him to the worker on that occasion.

(5)Any reference in this Part to an employer receiving a payment from a worker employed by him is a reference to his receiving such a payment in his capacity as the worker's employer.