Withholding wages?

Angry-Confused

Hi there,

I wonder whether anyone can advise me.

I work on a zero hours contract for an agency. I work as a support worker in an educational establishment, providing 1:1 support to students during lectures. I have worked in this role for the past academic year.

I have now been informed that, where the student does not attend the lecture, I won't receive payment for this contracted work until I see the student again to obtain a signature and a reason for their absence. In some cases, students miss several classes consecutively, so if a student misses three consecutive lectures, I won't be paid for fulfilling my part of the contract for three weeks.

I have been informed that I won't receive payment this week for work I have done last week, as I do not have signatures from the students who were absent.

Is this legal? Is it in breach of my employment contract?

I have asked my agency to send me an amended contract stating this change to my payment terms and conditions, but the agency have ignored me.

I would be grateful if anyone can offer advice. Thank you x

dawyldthing

I was told by acas that employers can do as they please apparently. It's rubbish.

The only other thing I can suggest is (when you say college I don't know if you mean 6th form or uni college) but if you have a work email if you ask them to cc you in if they have to email in to the tutor why they didn't turn up (I know we used to in uni) as then at least you'll have a written copy to show they didn't turn up.

Savvy_Sue

What is the mechanism for notifying you of the hours they wish you to work? Is it on a week by week basis, or have they given you hours for the term?

It is possible that that would make a difference to the answer.

If you're in a union, I'd ask them. If not, I'd join ...

top_drawer_2

Seriously! They're asking you to depend on students .... :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: who quite often place no value on your time anyway - after all, it's just notes / someone to sit with (!)

As someone in a position to have needed these services in the past, I can tell you the services that are offered to students are as equally poor as your working conditions - the only "winner" is the agency you work for as I can guarantee they are charging [STRIKE] doing nothing [/STRIKE] administration fees for the hours the student doesn't turn up.

From what I've been told by people who I dealt when I was at uni, better conditions are usually to be had in being employed directly by the uni / college.

Alternatively, look at finding students to employ you directly - this can have its own downsides in terms of stability, but it also means you will only deal with one or two severely disabled students as you will spend whole days with them. You could also look at residential / non-residential disabled colleges as they always need such people.

On the other hand, look into creating a get out plan and start putting it in to action sharpish before you are not painted into a corner - this type of work has long been eroded and undervalued and it simply won't exist in the near future and to top it off employment rights are non-existent for such unqualified workers.

You are not going to win this argument.