Employment law? Not sure.

emma_jane1987

Can anyone help me with this.

My boyfriend starts work at 7am and till 3:30pm. He has a half hour lunch break. He is paid £219 at the end of the week after tax and with this wage is an extra £50 added on to his wages for turning up all week if he has a day off sick he doesn’t get paid for that day and he doesn’t get the £50 because he didn’t turn up all week.

What has happened at his company is that a lot of people have been made redundant and they have said that now over time is now not paid, and can not be taken as time of in leu. So is he now working a 9 hour day with a half hour lunch break for the same amount of money? He never signed a contract at the beginning of his work and everything was made verbal verbal. Also from Sunday onwards they have said that he has to work the night shift for five days that starts at 7pm and finishes at 4am in the morning including the extra one hour over time and the half hour lunch break. He doesn’t own a car and it iss over an hour walk away. His manager has said that somebody else on the shift will give him a lift home but this has not been double checked with anyone and he doesn’t know anybody on this shift to ask them personally.

I’m just wondering a) can they do this about extra over time b) is he actually getting paid minimum wage c) is he getting the right amount of breaks.

He works for a glass processing company.

Uncertain

I'm not clear from your post if the £219 includes the £50 "bonus" or if this is extra.

Assuming he is over 22 the I think the min wage is £5.73 per hour.

It would seem to me that it must be close it the bonus is included in the £219.

Say he is off sick one day so works 4 days (32 hrs) that week. Unless his gross pay is more than £183.36 then he falls below the minimun wage.

What happens with holidays? If he is unwell could he ask for that day to be taken as holiday? The legal min holiday is (I'm fairly sure) 24 days per year rising to 28 next month.

I'm sure people more expert than me will know more.

-BA-

Unpaid overtime can only be implemented where a company has been forced to close down for a period of time and laid its staff off on full pay. This has happened a lot recently with the car plants shutting down for 4-6 weeks and then stating that once production restarts, staff will be expected to work unpaid overtime to pay off their debt.

I can't see how there is any other legal way that unpaid overtime can be enforced. This seems to be a clear case of a company bullying its staff and using the threat of job losses to screw and extra few hours out of them for no pay. I would consult the ACAS website for full clarification. Is your BF in a union?

His gross pay for a 40 hour week would appear to be £229. That would indicate to me that with only £10 available from the £219 you say he nets to pay for tax and NI, that he is being paid more than NMW. I could however be wrong and it would be more helpful to see what his gross wage is in case there are deductions such as pension (most likely not) or similar. Again I take it the £50 is on top of the £219.

With regard to his breaks, if he is doing repetitive or potentially hazardous work I would be extremely surprised at only a 30 mins break in the entire shift. If he is in the admin office then it would be appropriate.

emma_jane1987

After tax his pay slip says that he earned £219 that week and that includes his £50 “bonus” as well for working the whole week.

He is over 22 he is 24 years old.

His annual holiday entitlement is 15 days but he has xmas off as well as the company closes down which worked out this year 5 days off over xmas.

I’m not too sure what happens if his unwell and if he can take it as a holiday he never has time off sick so this hasn’t occurred yet.

I know with the credit crunch at the moment he should be lucky he has a job but I really don’t want to see him being taken the mick out of. His getting really depressed with his situation at the moment with a lot of other people I bet as well at them moment.

-BA-

Ahh the £219 includes the bonus? Actual tax liability isn't my strong point so the gross figures would really help as anyones salary or wage is usually displayed as the gross (before tax) amount.

Basically what would make it easier to see is:

£gross wage - £50 bonus = his wage

Then we can work out what his hourly rate is based on £5.73 per hour.

emma_jane1987

He has only been working for this company since last May and I’m sure I read on another post that he would have to be working a year to fully benefit from ACAS. He is not part of a union but may consider after this episode. The £50 is not on top of the £219 that he clears a week it is included in with his wages and that is what he is left with after tax and NI has been taken out. He does not have a pension due to not being able to afford to pay in to one every month and his company does not offer this benefit.

He works in the manual side of things and this includes lifting glass (very heavy) and operating machinery. And on a nine hour shift he only has 30 mins break. I personally don’t think this is enough and I’m not sure on the law side of things but he could really cause him self an injury especially with glass it could slice his arm off.

emma_jane1987

-BA- wrote: »

Ahh the £219 includes the bonus? Actual tax liability isn't my strong point so the gross figures would really help as anyones salary or wage is usually displayed as the gross (before tax) amount.

Basically what would make it easier to see is:

£gross wage - £50 bonus = his wage

Then we can work out what his hourly rate is based on £5.73 per hour.

thank you very much for your Help BA i will get the details off him tonight about it. I don't want to call ACAs if he their is no point.

taurusgb

Uncertain wrote: »

I'm not clear from your post if the £219 includes the £50 "bonus" or if this is extra.

Assuming he is over 22 the I think the min wage is £5.73 per hour.

It would seem to me that it must be close it the bonus is included in the £219.

Say he is off sick one day so works 4 days (32 hrs) that week. Unless his gross pay is more than £183.36 then he falls below the minimun wage.

What happens with holidays? If he is unwell could he ask for that day to be taken as holiday? The legal min holiday is (I'm fairly sure) 24 days per year rising to 28 next month.

I'm sure people more expert than me will know more.

You are correct - the legal minimum holidays are 24 days until April 1st 2009 then rising to 28 days, see
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1079422234

Also......There are three levels of minimum wage, and the rates from 1 October 2008 are:

• £5.73 per hour for workers aged 22 years and older
• A development rate of £4.77 per hour for workers aged 18-21 inclusive
• £3.53 per hour for all workers under the age of 18, who are no longer of compulsory school age

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nmw/ (sorry can't get that link to click but if you cut and paste it into your browser it does work)

Good Luck!

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Start with his payslip & tell people how many hours he gets paid for each week. IE 40hrs @ £6.00 then tell them the tax code on it..

-BA-

Don't forget the within that 24 days holiday employers can include bank holidays if they wish.