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Problems at work, advice needed
Saria
Posts: 96 Forumite
Hi everyone.
I am having some issues at my workplace which are really stressing me out, and I would like some advice from outsiders to see how I can deal with it. First, some background information:
The place I work at is a tiny company. It was started by my boss and his wife as they wanted to start working for themselves making digital videos. They started with freelancers but after a while they had to hire people (me!). I was hired a year ago and a few months after they hired a few more people. One of them has left and one of them has been fired, which means that now there is just me, an apprentice and a 19 year old guy (who is an acquaintance of my boss and his wife, so they know each other). So basically, a small company, with 3 employees and 1 boss (the wife is a boss as well but she stays at home with the kids).
Now we have been having some issues at work, mostly with the payment of our wages. For about 4 or 5 times this year now, payment has not happened as it should. We should be paid on the 17th, but quite often we did not receive it on that day or only received half of it, with the other half following a week or two after. Last month was the same, we got half of our pay a day or two after payday, but we are currently still waiting for the other half, while our next payday is only 10 days away.
The reason for non-payment seems to be that the company simply doesn't have any money available. We rely on the money from projects that come in, which means that when it is a slow month, our boss simply doesn't seem to have the money to pay us. We are not sure how to handle this situation, as we know they don't have the money and are probably struggling to pay their bills as well, but it is not fair on us to leave us without our wages. Whenever we ask when we are getting paid, he tells us he is waiting for payment from clients. But we never get told when we are getting paid, how much we are getting paid etc.
Which is another thing, for the entire year I have worked there, I have not received a single payslip. We keep asking every month, and they always say that they will talk to their accountant to get it sorted, but so far nothing has changed...
It is getting very frustrating to go into work when you have no money. I have some savings so I am currently fine paying my bills, but yeah... I know people will say to look for another job, but there doesn't seem to be anything going that is similar which I could do. I actually love the job itself as it is a creative job (I have a Masters in Illustration, which I can finally put to use after working in a crappy call center job for 2 years), hours are flexible and I sometimes get to work from home. Finding another job would be difficult; I could try freelancing but have no clue where to start (might have to start another thread for that heh).
Anyway, at the moment we are frustrated and unsure of what to do. The other two employees in work have asked me if maybe I could write an email to the boss about our lack of payment, but to be honest I don't really know what to put in it and how to write it. I don't really want to dig out legal terms and claim we will sue them as this would ruin the relationships at work (we all work very closely together) and might come back to bite us in the !!!!...
Sorry for the long thread, I think I had to get some stuff off my chest! Does anyone know what I could do or how I could write the issue out to my boss? I don't even know what options they have for paying us if they simply don't have the money though... :S
I am having some issues at my workplace which are really stressing me out, and I would like some advice from outsiders to see how I can deal with it. First, some background information:
The place I work at is a tiny company. It was started by my boss and his wife as they wanted to start working for themselves making digital videos. They started with freelancers but after a while they had to hire people (me!). I was hired a year ago and a few months after they hired a few more people. One of them has left and one of them has been fired, which means that now there is just me, an apprentice and a 19 year old guy (who is an acquaintance of my boss and his wife, so they know each other). So basically, a small company, with 3 employees and 1 boss (the wife is a boss as well but she stays at home with the kids).
Now we have been having some issues at work, mostly with the payment of our wages. For about 4 or 5 times this year now, payment has not happened as it should. We should be paid on the 17th, but quite often we did not receive it on that day or only received half of it, with the other half following a week or two after. Last month was the same, we got half of our pay a day or two after payday, but we are currently still waiting for the other half, while our next payday is only 10 days away.
The reason for non-payment seems to be that the company simply doesn't have any money available. We rely on the money from projects that come in, which means that when it is a slow month, our boss simply doesn't seem to have the money to pay us. We are not sure how to handle this situation, as we know they don't have the money and are probably struggling to pay their bills as well, but it is not fair on us to leave us without our wages. Whenever we ask when we are getting paid, he tells us he is waiting for payment from clients. But we never get told when we are getting paid, how much we are getting paid etc.
Which is another thing, for the entire year I have worked there, I have not received a single payslip. We keep asking every month, and they always say that they will talk to their accountant to get it sorted, but so far nothing has changed...
It is getting very frustrating to go into work when you have no money. I have some savings so I am currently fine paying my bills, but yeah... I know people will say to look for another job, but there doesn't seem to be anything going that is similar which I could do. I actually love the job itself as it is a creative job (I have a Masters in Illustration, which I can finally put to use after working in a crappy call center job for 2 years), hours are flexible and I sometimes get to work from home. Finding another job would be difficult; I could try freelancing but have no clue where to start (might have to start another thread for that heh).
Anyway, at the moment we are frustrated and unsure of what to do. The other two employees in work have asked me if maybe I could write an email to the boss about our lack of payment, but to be honest I don't really know what to put in it and how to write it. I don't really want to dig out legal terms and claim we will sue them as this would ruin the relationships at work (we all work very closely together) and might come back to bite us in the !!!!...
Sorry for the long thread, I think I had to get some stuff off my chest! Does anyone know what I could do or how I could write the issue out to my boss? I don't even know what options they have for paying us if they simply don't have the money though... :S
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Comments
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Not providing payslips is a big red flag to me: you are legally entitled to one. Are you being paid net or gross? I wonder whether they have registered with HMRC as an employer and are passing on the NI and income tax they should be deducting. Stringing you along like that is not a good sign. They should not be taking on people as employees if they can't afford to pay them.Who having known the diamond will concern himself with glass?
Rudyard Kipling0 -
Are they actually a limited company, or do they just have a trading name?Who having known the diamond will concern himself with glass?
Rudyard Kipling0 -
PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »Not providing payslips is a big red flag to me: you are legally entitled to one. Are you being paid net or gross? I wonder whether they have registered with HMRC as an employer and are passing on the NI and income tax they should be deducting. Stringing you along like that is not a good sign. They should not be taking on people as employees if they can't afford to pay them.
I'm pretty sure they are registered with HMRC, as I got a letter from HMRC two weeks ago saying my tax code has changed, and it did mention my employer. That should all be fine, they are just claiming it is the accountant whom is not providing them with the payslips. One of the other employees knows the accountant and has said that he is indeed not very good/slow.Do you make them too?
They are digitally drawn videos, so no !!!!!! or anything like that.PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »Are they actually a limited company, or do they just have a trading name?
I'm not sure what the difference is, but pretty sure it is a limited company.0 -
You may love your job but if you aren't being paid how are you going to pay the bills in the longer term. If you are living off your savings you are effectively subsidising your employer.
I think you need to take of the rose coloured spectacles and accept the reality - that the company is not viable and you need to find other employment where you will be paid.0 -
Did you get your P60 for 2014/15?Who having known the diamond will concern himself with glass?
Rudyard Kipling0 -
I'm not sure what the difference is, but pretty sure it is a limited company.
You should probably check exactly who is employing you. If you ever do need to sue, you need to make sure you sue the right person!
Usually you can find out what kind of business it is from the headed paper, or from the footers in email. The headed paper might say something like "John Smith, trading as Digital Videos". In that case, your employer is probably John Smith himself, as a sole trader.
You might be employed by a partnership. In that case, the headed paper might have a list of partners, eg John and Mary Smith. If it's a limited company, the headed paper should give the company number.
It's possible that you're employed by one legal entity and the client's contracts are with another, but if you don't have a written contract I think the headed paper is a reasonable place to start.0 -
Limited companies have limited liabilities for debts. Sole traders' assets are not protected in the same way.Who having known the diamond will concern himself with glass?
Rudyard Kipling0
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