Self Employed and just been sacked!

judygarland

I wasn't sure how to word the heading for this.

My OH has been working for the same person for over a year, but paying his own tax and national insurance.

He received an email earlier on in the week saying that his services were no longer required and giving no real explanation. He has obviously done something to upset his employer but he is not answering his calls. This employer has been paying sporadically and quite often sends an email saying "don't come in tomorrow, awaiting funds and so would not be able to pay you".

He has been working for him an average of 3 days a week for over a year, as and when required.

My question is, do you have any employment rights? I'm sure I have read somewhere that if you work on a self employed basis for the same employer for over 6 months, you start to acquire some of the same rights as PAYE staff?

olly300

Firstly is he truly self-employed paying your own tax and NI doesn't mean you are truly self-employed. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/WorkingAndPayingTax/DG_4015975 (You need to remember in retail people have "zero hours contracts" which means that the employer retains them but only pays them when they work.)

Secondly if he is self-employed and there is not a contract in writing, or record of a contract via emails which states how the contract can be ended then there is nothing he can do unless he feels the contract was ended due to discrimination, or health and safety ground.

olly300

I forgot to say if it looks like he is employed then he needs to contact ACAS and find out about seeking unfair dismissal.

If he has a contract or any proof of how his services can be terminated, and the client has terminated his services in breach of the contract then he needs to find out how to do a claim in the small claims court. (Have a look at business link.)

If he was terminated due to discrimination, or on health and safety grounds he needs to contact ACAS.

judygarland

He has nothing in writing unfortunately. He is in the building trade which is a nightmare at the moment. Most of the people he used to work with or for, are now unemployed.

max2009

So does your husband invoice the company when his wages are due and they send him a cheque or pay cash ?At the end of the day your husband is providing a service to a company in the building trade on a self-employed basis and the company can just drop him anytime they wish.

olly300

judygarland wrote: »

He has nothing in writing unfortunately. He is in the building trade which is a nightmare at the moment. Most of the people he used to work with or for, are now unemployed.

Then he is probably a self-employed subcontractor and as such has a business contract which means he is supplying a service.

If the service is not required then he doesn't get paid and if the service is not needed any more then his contract ends. He has no employment rights in regards to unfair dismissal as he is not employed in the traditional sense of the word.

And as there is no business contract with any termination clauses he has no rights to receive notice so can be terminated at any time without any compensation.

The only employment rights he does have are those under the discrimination, and health and safety laws which cover all people working for a company regardless if they are employed, a temp, a contractor or subcontractor. As these don't apply in his case then he has no grounds for any legal action.

BTW the EU directive that the UK is going to have to enforce only covers temps, so even once this law is implemented he will not have the same rights as a temp.

If you are not working and earning over £95 a week then the best bet is for you both to sign on asap.

judygarland

Luckily, he was only working 2-3 days a week for him as he has other strings to his bow. It just means his income will reduce, but we will get by. It's just really annoying. The main reason he has been dropped is because he works for others and won't commit himself 100% to one builder. We would be really in the mire if he did do that.

Thanks for all your replies.

PlutoinCapricorn

Unfortunately, it is not possible to have the best of both worlds. I know that the building industry is a special case, but in general being self employed means that you do not get all kinds of things that employees take for granted.

I am self employed myself, and work on short term assignments for a variety of clients: I don't think that HMRC likes self employed people to make a regular committment to the same client over a long period of time. Self employed people must expect work to dry up from time to time, there is no guarantee and no protection.

I do hope that other work comes up for him.

sunderland1

The fact that he worked for him for over 12 months may give him some employment rights and protection.

Try the CAB or ACAS -their website is very good.

Good luck

judygarland

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

Unfortunately, it is not possible to have the best of both worlds. I know that the building industry is a special case, but in general being self employed means that you do not get all kinds of things that employees take for granted.

I am self employed myself, and work on short term assignments for a variety of clients: I don't think that HMRC likes self employed people to make a regular committment to the same client over a long period of time. Self employed people must expect work to dry up from time to time, there is no guarantee and no protection.

I do hope that other work comes up for him.

Luckily he was only reliant upon him for about 2-3 days per week as he is always reluctant to work exclusively for the same builder because this sort of thing happens. He also advertises his services in local papers which pays better anyway. We will get by but it's just really annoying.

I'm thinking that if the work did slow down and he had £10,000 or less annual income then we would be better off claming working families tax credits than going on the dole. I've been into the "entitled to" website, added my income and £10,000 annually and we would apparently get £100 per week!

Thanks for the reply.

judygarland

Alls well that ends well. He has now secured a job which starts in 2 weeks! Perhaps this is a good sign. A builder he was working for 18 months ago on a development of a large number of houses has sold 10 in the last couple of weeks. They are now starting up with the build of these 10. They have built virtually nothing since then.