Can my employer decide to make me work a month in hand after 1 year of employment???

nattybking

Hi

I have been working for my employer for a little over a year and he has announced that a solicitor has instructed him to make us all work a month in hand as we apparently didn't when we first started our employment.

He says we will have to wait until April 27th for our next payment, which is approximately 7 weeks without pay.

Is this legal, please can someone advise me?

Thanks :mad:

The_ICT_Engineer

How were you paid before?

Jarndyce

The_ICT_Engineer wrote: »

How were you paid before?

What difference does that make? Its a unilateral change to the contract and so is unlawful. Problem is, by the time you have been able to do anything about it, it will be too late. Unless you're in a union and can raise a dispute over the proposal, say.

macalacka

actually ICT engineer makes a valid point as a first step for this. Were you paid up front for any work you did in your first month of employment?

LadyMissA

they probably get paid for the month at the end of the month but now instead of being paid for March at the end they are having to work till the end of April for this meaning they have worked a month in hand. April pay will then be paid at the end of May.

McKneff

LadyMissA wrote: »

they probably get paid for the month at the end of the month but now instead of being paid for March at the end they are having to work till the end of April for this meaning they have worked a month in hand. April pay will then be paid at the end of May.

That's the way I read it.

I dont think it would be legal to be honest.

The solicitor sounds ficticious and the company sounds as if its having trouble with cash flow.

I'd be looking for a new job

Acc72

LadyMissA wrote: »

they probably get paid for the month at the end of the month but now instead of being paid for March at the end they are having to work till the end of April for this meaning they have worked a month in hand. April pay will then be paid at the end of May.

Wouldn't that be 2 months in hand ?

I would have thought that working from the 1-30 of a month and being paid on the 30th is working a month in hand.

Ps - to OP : when you say "announced" and "he says" is any of this in writing ?

I assume that you work for a small privately owned company - is there a Union ?

The_ICT_Engineer

The question was valid, So to define how the OP was being paid.

In some jobs you are paid in advance, in others at the end of each week or month. Some weekly payroll's are a week in arrears. Rarely have I come across people being paid upwards of two months in arrears.

As for the OP employer claiming a solicitor has instructed him, I suspect that it was his accountant and that the company may have cash-flow problems. By changing method of payment, He is saving a months pay-roil, So giving him some breathing room from the bank and his creditors.

LadyMissA

Acc72 wrote: »

Wouldn't that be 2 months in hand ?

I would have thought that working from the 1-30 of a month and being paid on the 30th is working a month in hand.

Ps - to OP : when you say "announced" and "he says" is any of this in writing ?

I assume that you work for a small privately owned company - is there a Union ?

no its a month as no one gets paid before they have worked but now they are telling them they have to work 2 months so if you started a job on the 1st of the month and got paid on the last day thats normal (any adjustements get made the following month) and if you start on the 1st of the month but do not get paid till the last day of the following month thats a month in hand. Meaning when you leave not only do they owe you for the work 1st of the month to the day you leave but the perious month that are you waiting for too.

Jarndyce

The_ICT_Engineer wrote: »

The question was valid, So to define how the OP was being paid.

In some jobs you are paid in advance, in others at the end of each week or month. Some weekly payroll's are a week in arrears. Rarely have I come across people being paid upwards of two months in arrears.

As for the OP employer claiming a solicitor has instructed him, I suspect that it was his accountant and that the company may have cash-flow problems. By changing method of payment, He is saving a months pay-roil, So giving him some breathing room from the bank and his creditors.

Yes but we all knew all of that without needing to know the answer to your question. His pay frequency is being changed and he is obviously having to wait a further 4-6 weeks before he is paid, so whether he is paid weekly or mnonthly now makes no odds to the answer to his question, which is that it is unlawful, but the remedies are ineffective.

I also agree that this advice is unlikely to have come from a solicitor, certainly not one that knows anything about employment law. This is a clear sign of a failing employer and if I worked for them I'd be looking elsewhere soonish.

McKneff

LadyMissA wrote: »

no its a month as no one gets paid before they have worked but now they are telling them they have to work 2 months so if you started a job on the 1st of the month and got paid on the last day thats normal (any adjustements get made the following month) and if you start on the 1st of the month but do not get paid till the last day of the following month thats a month in hand. Meaning when you leave not only do they owe you for the work 1st of the month to the day you leave but the perious month that are you waiting for too.

Exactly, spot on...........