is this legal? question re pro rata pay

katiesmummy

my partner has been offered a job working in a hotel, during high season he would be expected to put in an awful lot of hours- probably around 60 a week, and during low season it may be as little as 20 hours a week. they want to pay him 10k pro-rata. now during high season because of the amount of hours he would be working this would put his wage below national minimum wage if you divide the wage by 52 and then by the amount of hours that he would do, whereas during low season it would work out at a very good hourly rate.

am i missing something, because i would think that its not legal to expect someone to work that many hours for that kind of pay, or does it work differently when there is a variation in hours during high/low season?

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

iamana1ias

I don't think pro-rata is the right term. That's usually for part time work!

Alternatively, if 40 hours is full time, then when he's working 60 hours he should be getting 1.5 times salary!

katiesmummy

iamana1ias wrote: »

I don't think pro-rata is the right term. That's usually for part time work!

Alternatively, if 40 hours is full time, then when he's working 60 hours he should be getting 1.5 times salary!

that's what i thought (sort of). this is working for a family member, his auntie, and i actually think she is offering him this salary because he is 'family' and therefore should be doing her a favour iyswim? he really wants to help her out because of the fact that she is family, but not at the expense of his own family. i suggested that he if he wants to take the job that he can accept this salary for a 40 hour week and anything over and above he will be paid by the hour- would that be reasonable do you think?

iamana1ias

katiesmummy wrote: »

that's what i thought (sort of). this is working for a family member, his auntie, and i actually think she is offering him this salary because he is 'family' and therefore should be doing her a favour iyswim? he really wants to help her out because of the fact that she is family, but not at the expense of his own family. i suggested that he if he wants to take the job that he can accept this salary for a 40 hour week and anything over and above he will be paid by the hour- would that be reasonable do you think?

Would be illegal - it's still below minimum wage at 40 hours per week. Would need to be £12.1k per annum to be compliant.

Sounds like a particularly bad idea - he's being lined up to be exploited because he's family. Nice.

Dave101t

its a salaried position, so the hours will be in the contract.

katiesmummy

iamana1ias wrote: »

Would be illegal - it's still below minimum wage at 40 hours per week. Would need to be £12.1k per annum to be compliant.

Sounds like a particularly bad idea - he's being lined up to be exploited because he's family. Nice.

i agree- i think this offer takes the p!ss to be honest- but her argument is that because he will only have to do around 20 hours during off season it will balance out- is there some legal standing in this argument? i have never worked this kind of job so i have no clue!

iamana1ias

katiesmummy wrote: »

i agree- i think this offer takes the p!ss to be honest- but her argument is that because he will only have to do around 20 hours during off season it will balance out- is there some legal standing in this argument? i have never worked this kind of job so i have no clue!

Too vague for my liking. Do high and low season class occur between specific dates?

Any reason she can't just pay him by the hour? That way during high season she's making more and can pay him more, and during low season her liability towards him is less.

What happens if there's no work during low season?

She'd also be breaking the Working Time Directive if he averages more than 48 hours per week over (I believe) any 14 week period.

I'd run a mile, family or no family. She's taking the p1ss.

tylerdurden_167

I could also forsee the situation of working 60 hour weeks then no longer being needed in the low season and having done all those extra hours and not even getting the chance for the 'easy' 20 hour weeks.

Not that I'm a cynic of course

Owain_Moneysaver

Is he guaranteed 60 hours per week in high season - and does he actually want to work that sort of hours?

I would suggest (if he takes it) agreeing an hourly rate, time+half over 40 hours, double time Sundays, and a guaranteed minimum number of hours per week, I think 25+ to be eligible for tax credits.