not sure where to post but need help - not money saving related

ladyfalco

OH has worked for his shop for 10 years, hes never had a contract but hes is loyal and never had any trouble. 2 weeks ago he got a new job. His boss was on holiday at the time so he worked a week and then told him monday he was leaving the following monday so therefore worked 2 weeks notice.
He is due to be paid monday for a months wages which is £xxx and then hes owed 1 week lieu and 2 weeks holiday pay. His boss today cancelled it and said hes not getting it...any of it as he didnt work a month notice or tell him he got the job! He was in Dubai so He couldnt contact him!!!
what can we do? We are !!!!!!ed without his pay as the mortgage and everything will be due and OH wont be paid for a month after he starts his new job. Hes worked a full month now so its not like hes being paid for not working. We have been told maybe offer to take 2 weeks paid holiday and 2 weeks unpaid as notice so he still gets his money but i dunno if that will work! Help!!

jonesMUFCforever

Any Union representation?
If not CAB or look at ACAS 's website.

ladyfalco

its a small independant shop.

LittleVoice

You don't have to work for a big organisation to belong to a TU.

If he really has no written particulars and the shop cannot show that he ever received any - that is he never signed a piece of paper acknowledging receipt - then he would only need to give one week's notice.

You wrote that he "told him monday he was leaving the following monday so therefore worked 2 weeks notice". This looks like one week's notice to me, provided he actually worked on the second Monday. So he did give the required notice.

I assume he was expecting to be paid at the end of June, the end of next week. This should provide enough time to persuade his employer that he is actually due to be paid but I suggest you contact your bank to arrange an overdraft to tide you over if things aren't cleared in time.

Regarding the calculation of the payment itself, what is the "1 week lieu"? What is it in lieu of?

tosco12

Send the "boys" round

Xbigman

Your OH is entitled to be paid for work done. Not having a contract should not be a problem in this respect. The employer has the responsibility to issue a contract, its not the employee's responsibility. With ten years service there should be no argument about your OH being a long term employee or not.
Now proving that pay is due might be a problem. Does your OH still have their wage slips? Do they have a payment date on them? You need to show that money is owed. If you can do that then CAB will tell you how to go through the small claims court. As the ex boss is a shopkeeper it should be easy. If he doesn't pay you send the bailifs into his shop.

As for notice, I thought that if you were paid monthly you needed to give a months notice when leaving. If there is no contract that is how a court might judge it.
Speak to CAB about this. What your OH should have done is send a letter recorded delivery to his boss giving notice. That couldn't be argued with.
As it is I think he did not give enough notice. When this happened to me (1994) I was paid for hours worked but lost my entitlement to 8 days holiday pay accrued. Again, speak to CAB to confirm if this is still the law.
Regards


X

Ches

A contract of employment is all the legal things ie, Health & Safety, Working Time Directive, Discrimination etc and you don't need this in writing as its the law. What your hubby hasn't received is his Terms and Conditions of Employment which is part of his Contract and should be issued when you are first employed. The CAB should be able to help as should ACAS. As part of the Working Time Directive states the minimum holiday entitlements I cannot see that this can be withheld. Neither can payment for hours already worked. As far as the amount of notice is concerned as he has never had a copy of his Terms and Conditions I would think a weeks notice would be an acceptable assumption.

celtic_curl

I suggest you file an ET1 for an employment tribunal - but first you must go through the companies internal grievance procedure - if you fail to do this then you will lose at tribunal. There are statutory procedures which all employers must comply with - you can find these on the ACAS website. It doesn't cost anything to file for tribunal and you can represent yourself. This is definitely more appropriate than small claims court. You should file for 'unlawful deduction from wages'. You have a right to be accompanied to any internal hearing - this must be a suitably qualified / experienced person or a colleague. If you are not a Trade union member, ask around your friends and see if anyone is an accredited Trade union representative. They can accompany you as a favour but will not have the weight of the union behind them. However the most important thing is that you do take a witness and take accurate notes. Your employer cannot withold payment of outstanding holidays nor payment for hours worked.

As for the future, I strongly suggest you join a Trade union. so many people think they aren't relevant to them - until they need them. It's too late to join once you already need help as unions have qualifying periods and will not deal with pre-exisiting issues. You can join whatever union you want and do not need to tell your employer - you can pay your subs by DD. They are an invaluable resource and research shows that TU members have better working conditions and better outcomes in disputes than non members. It may seem like money you can't afford but can you afford not to?

good luck - PM me if you need more specific advice.

ladyfalco

we sent a letter to his old boss and gave him 28 days to respond, 2 days before the time was up he got a letter back with a cheque for £20 saynig thats all he is getting. We will be starting a tribunal. thanks for all your help