Help, partner's firm reducing wages by half!!

ams_h

Hiya,

Need some advice...

My partners came home from work Friday 9th Dec with a letter from his employer saying they are reducing his wages by half as of Monday 12th Dec. Meaning he will be going from just over £12 an hour to minimum wage of £6.08 an hour.

A little backround, he is a system designer / sales man for a Security Survalliance firm and in the commercial side of the buisness there are only 2 employees, him and a telesales. They have recently acquired a residential side of the buisness which is being rang by another person whom i believe is trying to take over the firm and get rid of the commercial side as he states the residential side will make thousands.

Anyway off subject, the telesales has had his wages reduced to minimum wage also but this means he will only be having a slight reduction of only £80 week.

The comapny was only re-opened in January this year as the previous company the director had was put in to liquidation. They have no contracts as they ones they were gievn were inconsistant.

My partner has worked for the director for over 10years in total. The letter he was given said that the reduction was due to lack of sales but only those 2 people have had their wages reduced, it also says that if he doesn't reach £25000 monthly target with a 25% profit margin by 27th Januray he will be self employeed.

Any advice will be greatful as we have only just moved house and im a little stressed as to how we are going to pay the bills.

Thanks

scheming_gypsy

From similar threads on here, what will probably happen is that they issue him with a new contract. If he agrees to it he's on minimum wage and if he doesn't then he's effectively resigned.

Sign it and look for another job is probably the only thing he can do.

bap98189

So it's a phoenix company which is less than 12 months old and is already running into cashflow problems. Face the reality, all the signs are there - the company is going bust. Your OH needs to start looking for another job sharpish.

SarEl

I agree. To be honest, the employer "can't do this" - but they have and by the time you take any legal action to stop them they will be gone. Assuming you aren't gone first (less than 12 months employment - no right to claim unfair dismissal). There's no point whatsoever in being unrealistic about it. Sometimes the writing on the wall is best paid attention to.

saintjammyswine

Not an expert on this (as many of you know!) but can they force him OH to "be self-employed" of they dont hit certain targets?

Surely this is dismissal?

zzzLazyDaisy

I agree, look for another job! The writing is on the wall with this one!

I don't really understand what you mean by 'they have no contracts as the ones they were given were inconsistent'. First everyone has a contract with their employer, even if it is not in writing (although the law says a written statement of employment particulars must be provided within two months of starting, there is no effective means of enforcing this).

Secondly, even an inconsistent contract is evidence of the terms that are not inconsistent - for example job title, salary etc.

One thing to be aware of - if he says nothing and simply continues to work, then he is deemed to have accepted the change by his actions. The legal way round this is to write to the employer stating that you do not accept this change to the terms and conditions and to that extent you are 'working under protest'. This preserves the right to later make a claim for unlawful deduction from wages/breach of contract. However, in the real world there is also a real risk that this may result in the employer dismissing him.