Can Agency cut rate of pay?

ukmaria

Hi all, my chap came home last night and said that the employment agency he works for are cutting his (& all others on day shift) hourly rate by 25p, no discussion! Rumour has it they they are then going to be giving it to the new night shift! I know £40 a month doesnt sound alot but it was crap money to start with.

can they do this?

Or is it a simple case of cancelling his original contract and then reinstating him on the new lower rate? Any thoughts?

Dam Agencies !!! :mad:

1st thread so I hope I have posted in the right place

liney

He is a temp, therefore he can be finished without notice at any time. They can call him and say your job paying X has now ended because the company has decided to now pay Y: would you like to go back to the job tommorrow earning Y, or would you like to finish altogether?

The night shift are bound to be on more money than the day shift as they will get some form of shift allowence. The client company has probably decided that they need to introduce a night shift, have decided what shift premium to put on it, looked at the figure and thought it too high, so lowered the basic pay (your day shift rate) in order to make the night shift rate feasable.

System

When it happened where I work the choice was take a cut or 4 weeks notice. Choice was ours.

ukmaria

Ok.. so basically we just have to "put up n shut up" sounds about right!
It still stinks though.. especially when you hear how much its just cost the company to change its logo! (rant over)

bendix

Tell your chap to get a better job.

Simple. Problem solved.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

unfortunatley the agency state in the contract that they will py £XX per hour - usually minimum wage - so as long as his wage doesnt drop below minimum theres not alot you can do.

HOWEVER - one thing i woulkd check is: holidays. Temps have to work a % to get a holiday - and holiday pay is paid by the rate you are on so . . say if he was on £6.25 an hour - he should get that as holiday pay. BUT - if he already has 3 "holiday" days - will they get paid at the new rate or the old? technically i think they will push for the new rate so if he doesnt need them i would get them used sharpish

ukmaria

bendix wrote: »

Tell your chap to get a better job.

Simple. Problem solved.

Why didnt I think of that! :T well done!

ukmaria

mommyme wrote: »

unfortunatley the agency state in the contract that they will py £XX per hour - usually minimum wage - so as long as his wage doesnt drop below minimum theres not alot you can do.

HOWEVER - one thing i woulkd check is: holidays. Temps have to work a % to get a holiday - and holiday pay is paid by the rate you are on so . . say if he was on £6.25 an hour - he should get that as holiday pay. BUT - if he already has 3 "holiday" days - will they get paid at the new rate or the old? technically i think they will push for the new rate so if he doesnt need them i would get them used sharpish

Thats a good point, thanks for that. I will get him to book any asap.

CCFC_80

Yes agencies can do what they like as long as they are paying the minimum wage.. Most of them treat their temporary employees like s**m in todays economic climate. Their view is that people should be lucky to have a job !

sexki11en

I think you'll probably find that the agency have been instructed to do this by the employer. Agencies rarely have ANY control over what they pay the temp workers. Every single one of my clients tell me what I will pay the temp. If for no other reason than they must not earn more than the permanent staff which is fair enough.

SK x

anamenottaken

mommyme wrote: »

HOWEVER - one thing i woulkd check is: holidays. Temps have to work a % to get a holiday - and holiday pay is paid by the rate you are on so . . say if he was on £6.25 an hour - he should get that as holiday pay. BUT - if he already has 3 "holiday" days - will they get paid at the new rate or the old? technically i think they will push for the new rate so if he doesnt need them i would get them used sharpish

A temp's rate of pay for holidays is usually worked out over average hourly rate for previous 12 weeks of work. So if holiday is not taken immediately, the rate would progressively reduce until it reached the then current rate.