Can I sue my employer for this....

gtz101

I have been employed by a company for 9 years. Its a 2nd job part time. No contract was ever formed though but have been working for them for 9 years. I work weekends only at this job. I just got a call from one of the managers YESTERDAY that they are cutting staff and my contract ends straight away so no more work now.

Can they do this legally just one days notice? What employment rights do I have here. Add to that I have been informed they were aware of this weeks ago (from another close colleague)

flashnazia

You are not working cash in hand are you? If so there is nothing you can do.

If not, then it looks as though you have been unfairly dismissed.

Not having a contract in writing is irrelavent (you may get an uplift in compensation for this-they are supposed to give you a contract within 8 weeks of starting)

Usually you have to write to them complaining about the dismissal but as they didn't use a procedure you are exempt from this.

But you will need to write a letter asking for you entitlement to notice (9 weeks if you have been there 9 whole years) and any untaken accrued holiday and unpaid wages (if any).

Send that. Wait 28 days (or for a response, whichever is sooner) then fill in an ET1 form to apply to employment tribunal ( you could even do it online)

Obviously, if they have gone bust it's a different story...Then you have to claim redundancy from the govt...

LittleVoice

gtz101 wrote: »

I have been employed by a company for 9 years. Its a 2nd job part time. No contract was ever formed though but have been working for them for 9 years. I work weekends only at this job. I just got a call from one of the managers YESTERDAY that they are cutting staff and my contract ends straight away so no more work now.

Can they do this legally just one days notice? What employment rights do I have here. Add to that I have been informed they were aware of this weeks ago (from another close colleague)

You could only claim anything if a contract had been formed and, as flashnazia suggests, you can have a contract without it being in writing.

If you were working legitmately then you were entitled to notice and should put in a claim for that pay and holiday pay. Did they pay holidays? If you were an employee you would have been entitled to paid holidays in proportion to the full-time entitlement.

If they refuse to pay you, you could file a claim with your local Employment Tribunal office.

flashnazia

I would suggest that, as s/he was working there for nine years, a contract is in place even if there isn't one on paper. Verbal agreement for you to work there is still binding.

LittleVoice

flashnazia wrote: »

I would suggest that, as s/he was working there for nine years, a contract is in place even if there isn't one on paper. Verbal agreement for you to work there is still binding.

Yes, I agree. I was taking up your point about the legitimate nature of the payment. Let's hope there were payslips to confirm things and that tax (and possibly NI if earning enough) have been paid.

fengirl_2

If you were offered work, turned up and worked and got paid, then a contract exists for UK employment law purposes. It looks as if your post has been made redundant in which case they should have given you a month's notice and redundancy pay. Contact ACAS.

gtz101

The company hasn't gone bust. They are just cutting staff. I used to get paid via BACS weekly.

Just want to clarify, legally what's the minimum notice period they must give if you have been working for say 9 years? Like I said, it was part time only and they didn't get me any written contact back in 2000. I never got paid for any holiday entitlements as they told me its for full time permanent staff only. Also with regards to payslips, I don't have any of them as I usually throw them away BUT I can prove payment through bank statement and of course P45 once it gets through my post. Is this Ok?

Also, am I entitled to redundancy pay?

Also, how do i prove I have been working since 2000? as I don't have wage slips since then? Does P45/60 show start date?

LittleVoice

As flashnazia said, you are entitled to nine weeks' notice if you have completed nine years. It is based on completed years of service - so if you are in your ninth year rather than having completed it, you would be due eight weeks' notice. If you started work in 2000 it sounds as though you are likely to have completed eight years, not nine. It depends which month you started.

As long as you were paying tax, the HMRC would know that you had been working for the employer for that length of time.

As a part-time employee you are still entitled to statutory redundancy pay. This depends on your age and how much you earn each week.

LittleVoice

A separate note about paid holidays.

They are absolutely wrong to say it is only full-time staff who get paid holidays. You have been entitled to 4 weeks holiday a year from when you started and this increased to 4.8 weeks as from 1 October 2007.

It is calculated in weeks precisely to deal with people who work part-time rather than just for full-time staff. So a full-time member of staff is entitled to 4.8 of their weeks (5 or 6 days) and you are entitled to 4.8 of your weeks (1 or 2 days). Find out what the full-time staff receive as their holiday entitlement and how many days a week they work and then you can work out what you are entitled to if they get more than the statutory minimum. You should count bank holidays if they don't work on bank holidays and get paid for them.

gtz101

Just one other point if I may ask: I have been told by someone that technically I might not be classed as an 'employee' by the employer (and they may find a way out of this) as I only worked occasionally there and not full time. He said to be paying tax and NI doesn't automatically mean I was an employee there.

So would I still be classed as employee?

sarahb

http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/redundancy/index.html


Statutory pay in lieu of notice will be one week's pay for each full week of your employment (subject to weekly £330 limit - although is probably not relevant if you are working weekends only !). Statutory redundancy entitlement as mentioned by others is age dependant (+ weekly limit as for pay in lieu) - see the link above for a ready reckoner.

I'd send them a letter by recorded delivery setting out what you believe is due to you (including any holiday pay) and give them a period of say 14 days to respond.