employer not paying tax/min wage/holidays

pc10

Bit of a rant here about my sons employer.

My son (22)has been employed by the same employer for almost 5 years now - initially as an apprentice.

He has been qualified in his trade now for almost a year.

1. He has received no recognition in his wage of being qualified (or for that matter any verbal recognition from his employer about this either but his employer is fully aware that he is now fully qualified)

2. He has never been paid for any holidays - either random days or builders holidays eg Christmas/Easter/summer

3. He has never received a payslip.

4. He leaves the house at 6.10am and drives for approx 12 miles where he then gets a lift from his employer, travelling another hour until they get to work. He is usually home again at 6.30pm. He works Monday to Friday. Each week he receives a cheque for £200. Usually he gets the cheque on a Friday - but sometimes his employer forgets to bring the cheque until Monday or Tuesday. My son asked about payment directly into bank and was told that it wasnt possible to do that.

5. For the last few years, my son has received a tax refund of £2/300. He has never received a P60. Today I got him to phone the tax office to see if there was a refund due for this year. The tax office have told him that they have figures which show he has not earned enough to have paid any tax :mad: their records show that his earning were less than approx £7500. This means that his employer is obviously not declaring all his earnings to HMRC.

6. If he was earning the minimum wage (which is well below the industry rate for a qualified tradesman) and based on a working week of 40 hours (although he works more than this) , he would earn more than £200 per week net. Therefore his employer is not paying him minimum wage.

This guy employs about 10 people. He has sacked people before at the drop of a hat.

I said at the beginning that this was a rant because I am at a loss as to what can be done without it having an impact on my sons work. We know he is lucky to have a job at all and eanring £200 per week is much better than earning benefits. But it is so disheartening and frustrating that this is happening! :mad:

rant over!:beer:

Notmyrealname

First of all, he is in the building trade. Is he an employee or classed as a subbie/self employed? Self employed in the building trade have tax and NI deducted at source...

Secondly, the fact he leaves home at 6.10am and gets back at 6.30pm is quite irrelevant. It is the amount of time he is on the job that counts. He may not start until 8am and be finishing at 5pm. As there are no legal rights to paid breaks, if he has an hour for lunch, 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon that is only 7.5hrs work per day or 37.5hrs a week.

Finally, your son is an adult capable of making his own decisions. If he doesn't like it he is free to apply for another job.

agrinnall

Unless what notmyrealname has posted has a bearing on the situation then I can only recommend two things: get another job, and report the employer to HMRC.

pc10

Hi

Thanks for the replies.

My son is a PAYE employee.

Of course he could just leave and find another job with a non fraudulent employer - however there arent that many around these days unfortunately!

And the problem with reporting him to HMRC, is that the company might cease trading or employees sacked.

So as I said - it was just a rant and there is no perfect solution at this time.

Notmyrealname

There never is a perfect solution...

agrinnall

pc10 wrote: »

Hi

Of course he could just leave and find another job with a non fraudulent employer - however there arent that many around these days unfortunately!

I beg to differ. Do you have any evidence to support that sweeping statement?

Hmm71

agrinnall wrote: »

I beg to differ. Do you have any evidence to support that sweeping statement?

I'm guessing pc10 means there aren't many other jobs around, not the non-fraudulent employers.

sho_me_da_money

Personally I think your son is being taken for a joker. The employer is clearly exploiting him. Realistically - if your son made the best shiny golden balls case in the world for a pay increase, is his employer likely to increase his rate to that, equivalent of a full-time qualified worker? No chance.

Time to move on and get a better paid job.

Judith_W

I Second looking for something else. His employer is taking him for a ride! I'm sure he could find somewhere else if he offered to work for less than the going rate (still more than what is being paid at the mo). Even part time work would probably give him more than £200

suited-aces

Notmyrealname wrote: »

First of all, he is in the building trade. Is he an employee or classed as a subbie/self employed? Self employed in the building trade have tax and NI deducted at source...

Secondly, the fact he leaves home at 6.10am and gets back at 6.30pm is quite irrelevant. It is the amount of time he is on the job that counts. He may not start until 8am and be finishing at 5pm. As there are no legal rights to paid breaks, if he has an hour for lunch, 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon that is only 7.5hrs work per day or 37.5hrs a week.

Finally, your son is an adult capable of making his own decisions. If he doesn't like it he is free to apply for another job.

Luckily others have had a more enlightened approach over the year with regards to employment rights.

pc10

Interesting replies!

Of course it is obvious that my son is being exploited - and if he could get another job he would have no hesitation in leaving immediately.

But there are no jobs in his trade nor any other jobs in this area. He would be better off financially and otherwise if he could get a job in a supermarket for example and even though it would be a pity if he didnt continue to work in the trade in which he is qualified at least maybe the exploitation and fraud would not be there!



He knows he is fortunate to have a job and his £200 weekly wage - and to leave it to go onto benefits, (which he probably wouldnt even get if he left!) would be madness.

So for now - carry on working and hoping