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Is this legal?

Fumblebee
Fumblebee Posts: 26 Forumite
Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
edited 13 April 2016 pm30 1:30PM in Employment, jobseeking & training
Hi all.

I work for a company which has a department of 5 people who answer the phone. They do this Mon-Fri 9.30-6.
They have recently been forced to work weekends on a rota too.

(Deleted as I am a wimp and afraid bosses may see this)

The 'first-line' for that week is paid an extra £30 per week for doing all this. The 'second-line' person is paid nothing extra.

They make minimum wage as it is and I am wondering if this is legal?

Sorry for the long post but it's a confusing situation which I feel needed explaining fully.
«1

Comments

  • If hourly paid and not being paid for the extra hours they are expected to work no it's not legal. They must be paid minimum wage.
  • tiger_eyes
    tiger_eyes Posts: 1,006 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    If I understand you correctly, on top of their normal workload, the first and second line people are doing:

    1.5 hours' overtime in the morning + 4 hours' overtime in the evening, so 5.5 hours' overtime per week day
    "all day" (presumably that 8am-10pm window) Saturday + Sunday, so 14 hours per day or 28 hours per weekend

    I make that 55 hours' overtime a week per employee - almost entirely unpaid! This sounds like a very, very expensive mistake by the employer. The unpaid wages they're accruing each month must be astronomical.
  • You are correct tiger eyes. I feel so bad for the employees, they don't know what to do. They don't have a union and the bosses won't pay them. I see them coming to work everyday looking knackered!
  • I should have mentioned - there is a clause in their contract which says they 'may be asked to work extra hours for no extra pay'
  • ElefantEd
    ElefantEd Posts: 1,214 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Fumblebee wrote: »
    I should have mentioned - there is a clause in their contract which says they 'may be asked to work extra hours for no extra pay'


    Obviously the employer can ask them to work extra hours for no pay.

    I know what my reply would be though!
  • TELLIT01
    TELLIT01 Posts: 17,484 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper PPI Party Pooper
    Fumblebee wrote: »
    I should have mentioned - there is a clause in their contract which says they 'may be asked to work extra hours for no extra pay'

    Is it legal to have a clause in a contract which may take the person to an hourly rate lower than the minimum wage / national living wage? I would suspect not.
  • tiger_eyes
    tiger_eyes Posts: 1,006 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    Fumblebee wrote: »
    You are correct tiger eyes. I feel so bad for the employees, they don't know what to do. They don't have a union and the bosses won't pay them. I see them coming to work everyday looking knackered!
    Fumblebee wrote: »
    I should have mentioned - there is a clause in their contract which says they 'may be asked to work extra hours for no extra pay'

    The employees need to call HMRC and/or ACAS urgently and possibly get a free half-hour consult with an employment solicitor. Assuming they are 25+, they are being underpaid by almost £400 per week while working this level of overtime. The contract clause is surely immaterial. This can't possibly be legal.
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    tiger_eyes wrote: »
    The employees need to call HMRC and/or ACAS urgently and possibly get a free half-hour consult with an employment solicitor. Assuming they are 25+, they are being underpaid by almost £400 per week while working this level of overtime. The contract clause is surely immaterial. This can't possibly be legal.

    You are right. It isn't. But if they don't know this already, it would have been very easy to find out - just as easy as it would have been to join a union. Unfortunately many people in these positions are not willing or able to lose their jobs over such things, or they wouldn't be doing it in the first place. This sort of thing still going on is appalling. But not uncommon. And the main reason it happens is because people are not in a position to fight it.

    OP, by all means make sure that they know their rights, but make sure that their employer knows nothing about it, and don't do anything to pressure them or report it yourself. If they want to do something about it, fine. But don't be responsible for people losing the job they have if that is what they need. Life isn't always simple. If this comes to light as a report, then they will be blamed whether they did it or not. And if they could work somewhere better, then they probably would be. It has to be their choice - no matter what we may think of the employer, it's their jobs on the line and not ours.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    edited 13 April 2016 am30 6:37AM
    https://www.gov.uk/pay-and-work-rights

    near the bottom links forms to send to HMRC about a min wage complaint

    Can be done by yourself or someone else

    I think there is an on-line version somewhere but finding it eludes me for now.
  • How many calls do they get in this time? If they are constantly on the phone, that's one thing. But if they get one call every three weeks, that's something else.
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