Is this legal?

kirsty100000

I had an interview for a company yesterday. The hours would be 9-5 Monday to Friday. They told me that pay would be £100 a week plus commission and during the 1st 4 weeks I would not earn commission as I'd be training.

I then asked after adding commission on what are the chances I would be earning more than my current job (£200 a week after tax for less hours at minimum wage) and was told it's passable.

To me this sounds like they're paying staff less than minimum wage and on the site I applied for the job on the salary was listed as 'Exceeds National Minimum Wage'. Is this legal?

Needless to say I won't be accepting any offer from them :P

Denning.

No its not legal, you employer has to ensure you are paid at least NMW for every hour worked. Doesn't matter if they want to refer to is 'commission' or what not, it still has to total NMW.

Report them to HMRC.

kirsty100000

Thanks I didn't think it was but wasn't sure if they could get away with it because of commission.

Annisele

They almost certainly will get away with it - but that's only because HMRC doesn't seem to have much appetite for prosecuting firms who break the NWM laws.

Doesn't make it legal or right, and you should certainly report them.

kirsty100000

yes he did say something about it being self employed. Are minimum wage laws different if you're self employed?

inmypocketnottheirs

Well if you're self employed and you haven't got the money to pay yourself the minimum wage, who is going to pay it??