NMW: If I work a 1/2 hour shouldn't I be paid half my hourly rate?

indie_kid_2

Bit of background:

Where I work we have a clocking in/out system. I'm min. wage (21+ rate), on a zero-hours contract and paid weekly for the hours worked the previous week. The role I do is essentially 'work until the job is finished', so clocking out times and shift lengths vary day to day.

The system pays in quarter hour increments; on the hour, quarter past, half past etc so if I clock out at 5:15 - get paid for the quarter hour; clock out 5:14 and I don't. Hope I've explained that ok.

Anyway, problem is - part hours in the same pay week will add up properly to a whole hour but anything over this isn't converted - they pay a quarter hour as 0.15, half an hour as 0.3 etc.

Quick example:
Week 1 - I work two shifts at 4 and 1/2 hours each - this adds up to 9.0 hours - everything ok.
Week 2 - I work three shifts at 4 and a 1/2 hours each - this "adds up" to 13.3 hours and I'd be paid 13.3 x 6.19

In my (maths) book, half of something is zero point five, not zero point three. Or am I missing something here :-\

So, I guess my first question is - is this normal/standard practice with a clocking in system? Not worked with one before. I find it incredible there's not some algorithm in there that converts minutes to decimal, but maybe it's normal, that's the way it is and I just have to deal with it.

If this isn't normal, then my next question is - maybe min. wage doesn't apply to part-hours - does the legislation on min. wage only apply when working a whole hour?

The min. wage calculator on gov dot uk seems to suggest work are underpaying me, but I wanted to ask for some opinions/advice on this, see if anyone has encountered anything like it before. Thanks in advance

dancingfairy

to be honest I'm slightly baffled. You say 'in the same pay week' do you mean that you're effectivly losing the 'odd bits' from one week to the next?
My main thoughts on reading your post was that either someone, somewhere has got confused between minutes and decimalisation of an hour ie 30 mins is not .3 of an hour. It certainly doesn't make sense to me.
Have you asked if others have a similar issue or maybe a quick work with your line manager/superviser etc will clear things up?
df

orangeslimes

It sounds to be as if whoever is calculating your pay doesn't understand maths.

paddedjohn

Whoever is calculating the wages needs to go back to school. 15 minutes is not .15 of an hour its .25 and 30 mins is .5 of an hour.

ohreally

indie_kid wrote: »

they pay a quarter hour as 0.15, half an hour as 0.3 etc.

¼ hour is .25

Edit: others have already explained.

indie_kid_2

^I know, it's crazy! The payroll/accounts woman doesn't come across as particularly thick tho, so I can't work out if it's a genuine mistake or that's the way the software works it out and she hasn't noticed or if it's a deliberate fiddle to save them a wee bit of money.

dancingfairy wrote: »

to be honest I'm slightly baffled. You say 'in the same pay week' do you mean that you're effectivly losing the 'odd bits' from one week to the next?

Yep, losing odd bits of pay. It doesn't happen every week, because a lot of the time my hours happen to add up to a whole number. Pay week is Sunday - Saturday so if all my shifts in a week add up to X full hours by Saturday, then it's fine, my pay will be right. Occasionally tho, I'll be a bit over by the end of the week, say I work X and a half hours, then I'll be paid for X.3 hours instead of X.5 and I'm down 0.2 of an hour. Ok, it's only £1.20ish, so not loads, but it's the principle of the thing more than anything.

dancingfairy wrote: »

Have you asked if others have a similar issue or maybe a quick work with your line manager/superviser etc will clear things up?
df

I don't really know if it happens to anyone else (maybe it's just me)
I mentioned it to a colleague, who just shrugged and said "that's the way it's worked out". I asked my supervisor about it, who gave me a look like I had started spouting advanced mathematics at her and then preceded to rant about how they always get *her* hours wrong (wrong as in missing off whole shifts) so I was kind of shouted down really and I gave up.

indie_kid_2

Btw, thanks for replies so far. Glad to know *my* maths were right at least :-)

KateBob

Have you actually checked your final gross is wrong.

Some payroll systems can be set up to work in minutes instead of decimals.

It's also possible the member of staff responsible of the payroll has previously worked with one of these systems and hasn't realised the error.

indie_kid_2

Kate/Bob wrote: »

Have you actually checked your final gross is wrong.

Yes, first thing I checked tbh.

Say I worked 10 and 1\2 one week, it would show up on my payslip as -

basic rate - 10.3 - 6.19 - 63.76

63.76 = 10.3 times 6.19 so they are definitely using the point three as a decimal in the calculation.

clairec79

some places write/document it as 0.15 meaning 15 minutes and 0.30 meaning 30minutes. Check what the pay actually works out at

RichardD1970

clairec79 wrote: »

some places write/document it as 0.15 meaning 15 minutes and 0.30 meaning 30minutes. Check what the pay actually works out at

Did you read the post above yours?