contract of employment help

underlay_guru

Hello,

I'm joust wondering if anyone in the know can offer some advice for my mum, who is in a bit of a pickle regarding her hours of work.

Basically she has a verbal contract for 16 hours of work per week, however over the last couple of months or so her employer has only been giving her 8, 4 and sometimes only a couple of hours of work a week and only paying her for the hours she is working.

She really can't afford to work like this - not knowing whether she is going to get enough hours to work week by week - I then read somewhere that she is entitled to 16 hours of pay per week whether she works 16 hours or not......does anyone know if this is right?

To try and confirm her hours of work, she has also approached both her manager and area manager for a hard copy of her employment contract, however this has fallen on deaf ears with her employer....am I right in saying that her employer is legally obliged to provide a written copy of her contract on request?

I really don't know where to go from here to help her...she works for a well known organization but she simply can't afford to work and they just seem t be messing her around - she can't really afford legal advice either and she isn't in a union to back her up.


Any words of advice would be much appreciated.

KiKi

She has no legal right to a written contract.

She has a right to a written statement of particulars (hours, salary, place of work etc) within 8 weeks of starting a role.

For how long has she done 16 hours? Was this agreed when she started work? And how long has she worked there in total?

If she has evidence that her contract is 16 hours, then yes, they should pay her for that even if the work's not there. It's the 'evidence' bit that she needs to focus on - hence asking how long she's done 16 hours. If she can evidence it then dropping her hours and salary may well be considered a breach of contract, for which she has legal redress.

If it's a large organisation then HR should have a copy of her contract and she should insist on seeing that or the written statement of particulars which they have a legal obligation to have given her.

KiKi

underlay_guru

Hello...

She has worked for the employer for around three years, initially on a casual basis, but around a year to 18 months ago she was offered a permanent 16 hour contract by employer which she agreed to.

I'm aware that legally they do not have to give a written copy of a contract of employment, however they must provide a written copy of the particulars of their employment (agreed hours of work, rate of pay etc) .....every time this has been asked for it the request has been ignored - this has been requested to her immediate manager and also the area manager but still nothing.

I'm getting a bit worried because if they carry on doing this then there may he some weeks where she will get no hours...which equals zero pay!!! Any further advice would he much appreciated ...the last thing my mum wants to do is go above the area manager and complainto H.O as she feels like she may he rocking the boat.

Thanks

KiKi

I would write - formally - to HR, and say that she understands the situation to be this: on a perm contract, 16 hours per week, agreed verbally, with payslips for the last 18 months evidencing this.

She should state that her manager is not honouring this, including pay for 16 hours. She should specifically request a copy of the contract which her manager believes she is on (which is effectively a zero hours contract).

At the moment the difficulty is in proving that she's not still working as a casual. The payslip argument should help with this, but it depends how savvy the HR people are. Does she have the permanent *offer* in writing? On email?

I wouldn't bring the law into it just yet but focus on trying to resolve it informally. I suggest, if she can, that she actually goes to see the HR department in person to talk to someone rather than send emails or make phonecalls.

If she gets nowhere, she may have to go over the head of her manager, or put in a grievance. Only after that would I start bringing issues around breach of contract into it.

Having said all that, when you say she worked on a casual basis, what does this mean? Did she have a contract with them? Through an agency? It may be her word against theirs that she did go perm, and I don't know enough about the details she'd have to provide before the law would see it her way, I'm afraid.

However, people on the redundancy forum dot co dot uk will (if no-one else here can help).

KiKi

macalacka

Does your mum work in retail? Are you sure she isn't on a zero hour contract?