Rights when you have no contract and work cash in hand

Faith177

One of the girls I work returned to work yesterday following an absence due to injury part of this was pre agreeded time off for holiday

She has now been told tonight they don't want her back with immediate effect as they need someone more flexible than her

She was taken on about 17ish months ago for sat & sun days but she done other shifts when asked (very rarely) with the understanding if she had to work her main job as long as she gave reasonable notice (a week) this would be ok

The last few months she has had to work every sat but has maintained her Sunday shifts until this past block

She has been told that she isn't flexible enough with her hours so has to go but they have never asked her about increasing them and had they she would have said yes

I don't think she has a leg to stand on as she has no contract and was paid cash in hand so other than her being on the rotas and her hours being logged there is no record of her.

However someone has said that because they have not given her sufficient notice and because of how long she has been there they should be doing things more formally not just ringing her up and telling her not to come back

Can anyone advise of where she stands she did tell the manager she would do any hours necessary and he said he would call back this evening but he hasn't

R_P_W

I guess she needs to consider whether she wants to shine a light on thus situation of getting paid cash in hand for what sounds like a second job? Assuming all the income has been declared?

Faith177

I don't think it has been declared about 6 or 7 of the people I work with are on the same set up (not me though)

bugslet

If it's not declared, then no-one has any rights, it's an ad hoc situation. If she wants to try and make something of it, then I suspect the Revenue will be interested in her and anyone else working for cash in hand and of course the company.

If you work for cash, then that's the deal, as an employee you are not working legally because you are not declaring your income, so you can't expect your employer ( and I use that word loosely) to start following the law to the nth degree.

I'm not being judgemental there, I've worked for reds myself many years ago when things were tight, but the deal was they gave me cash and I worked and neither of us had any formal expectations.

Takeaway_Addict

she has only been there 17 months......very few rights until 2 years.

TBagpuss

As Takeaway Addict says, because she has been working for less than 2 years the employer can end her contract for any reason, as long as it is not due to a protected characteristic such as gender or disability.

The cash in hand issue and the lack of a written contract /particulars of empkloyment are issues for the employer - HMRC may be interested in the cash-in-hand situation. In relation to the lack of particualars of employment, you friend would be entitled to take the employer to a tribunal but at most they might give her a couple of weeks pay as compensation.

Faith177

The 2 year thing was just what I said to her but as I said someone else thinks they know better and I just wanted to check in case I had miss-understood

sinizterguy

She can be fired for any reason with reasonable notice period as it is less than 2 years.

Whether a contract as signed, or not, there is an implied contract.

But if work schedules are set every week, there might not be a required notice period as her next weeks schedule is effectively no hours.

Of course she can play the HMRC card, but that is going affect her as well as the company.

Essentially, IMO, she is not going to get the job back no matter what she does. Whether she wants to be vindictive (with the risk that it will affect her as well) is the only choice left.

Faith177

That's what I was trying to tell her hopefully if I show her this she'll see what I was trying to explain thank you all