work docking hours without warning

zipwen1

hi i dont know if anyone can help but my partner's employer has been knocking off hours worked on his time sheet without telling him, and he never explains why it has been done.
he has to submit a time sheet every week and gets paid monthly
for the past three months hours have been knocked off, sometimes more than 20 hours with no explination.
he has also recently been told that he will only be getting 3 driving hours paid a day too (on mondays and fridays he has to drive 6-7 hours just to get home)
can they knock his hours down without letting him know

ohreally

What does his contract say?
His employer may be in breach of...
1. Unlawful Deduction of Wages
2. Breach of Contract
3. Failure to Consult
4. Employment Rights Act 1996

Need more information to coment.

zipwen1

i havent seen his contract i will go over it with him when he gets back tonight although it looks like he wont be back till 1 in the morning

zipwen1

havent got a contract apparently it is with work so will ask for a copy on monday.
i have found something that says

SITE ADDENDUM - OVERTIME AND TRAVEL TIME SCHEDULE
Monday to Friday standard rate
Saturday time and a quater
Sunday and public holidays time and a half

The directors reserve the right to review payments of overtime to meet operational requirements

Travel time will be paid at the discretion of the managers and will be at the rate of £8.00 per hour

what dose the overtime bit mean? dose it mean that they can decide not to pay you even if you have worked the overtime

and with the travel time do they have to inform you in advance that they will be reducing this?

thing is they got paid today and everyone of them has had their driving hours knocked down to 35 for the whole month when they do almost double this and it means that there wages are over £200 short.

also my partner hasent been paid his expences and they do this alot too. he has to put them in at the end of every week usually about £250-£300. the thing is we cant afford to wait two weeks to get them if the company dont pay them back in time as we have bills going out, can we do anything about this

Emmzi

Re: overtime, I take that to mean it has to be pre-approved ie they can't just say how much they're going to do, they have to ask a manager in advance.

For expenses they need to be paid within a 'reasonable' time, but that can be a month or so.

For the travel it really goes on 'custom and practice' - if they have ALWAYS been paid over several months, it forms part of the unwritten contract.

However proving all this is costly and causes problems at work.

I wonder if the driving hours is anything to do with the new road traffic directive? Where there are new laws restricting how many hours someone can drive. I think it comes in an April, but I'd google it and see. Basically if the company are breaking that law they really don't want ti down on paper anywhere!

1) Does he have a union rep?
2) Can he move company? I know i wouldn't want to work there if that is how he is being treated.

zipwen1

with regards to the over time they dont have to get permission if they have to work late to get the jobs done then they have to as it would cost the company a lot of money if they didnt get things done.
they dont have a union
and he could change companys but we have just bought a new house so he dosent want to be doing this at the moment
its just a massive pain in the you know what when you are expecting a certian wage and a few hundered has been taken off without your knowledge.

zipwen1

also could you post a link to the new laws you are talking about as i wouldnt know if ive found the right thing or not

jobbingmusician

I found this, which is probably relevant to what the previous poster is talking about. Is this helpful?

zipwen1

hi thanks but that dosent apply to my partner as he dosent drive for a living. he gets paid for the hours it takes to get to work or he used to until they decided to cut them.

CFC

The company does not have to automatically pay workers overtime from the look of that contract, no matter how unfair it may seem to be.

The company does not have to pay driving time - even as far as custom and practice goes, that will not overwrite the actual written contract. Usually if they are making a big change from long standing (ie years) custom and practice a company will consult as it is Best Practice (realistically, give you a month or two to get used to the idea then bring it in regardless). It may be worth your husband speaking to a number of other employees and then the employees approaching the management and saying that this is a change to custom and practice and can they consult first before enforcing the strict terms of the contract. You may gain a month or two's grace. Of course if they've only been paying out for a couple of months they will probably ignore it.

It sounds to me as if your husband should look for another job. Sudden changes tend to be the sign of a company that is in financial difficulties ie not healthy healthy healthy. Of course it might only be temporary.