Am I in the wrong or my employer?

Confused.cl

I have been working at a fish and chip shop for 3 and a half years until recently when I got the boot because I'd been very poorly and in and out of hospital for the last 3 weeks and awaiting an operation now.
I'd been doing 16 hours a week, we never get payslips I get paid the same amount every week £108 we are paid in cash, my now old boss says I am on the books but I'm sceptical and think he may have been lying all these years. He always said if I ever needed any pay slips I could get them.
when I went in to work to speak to him about why he fired me he said he was going to sue me for not turning up to work, I did inform him I would be back in work for a long period of time as my illness is fairly serious.
we have no contract or anything so I really don't think he can do this but I'm looking for a new job ready for when I'm well enough to go back to work, I'm worried I could get in to trouble and have to pay lots of money back in fines and unpaid taxes and NI as I'm not sure he was paying them and deducting them. So I don't know if I can even claim anything from the government if I need to like ESA, as he refused to pay me sick pay (he paid me £60 when I went on holiday for a week a few months back)... Please help me??!!

HappyMJ

Confused.cl wrote: »

I have been working at a fish and chip shop for 3 and a half years until recently when I got the boot because I'd been very poorly and in and out of hospital for the last 3 weeks and awaiting an operation now.
I'd been doing 16 hours a week, we never get payslips I get paid the same amount every week £108 we are paid in cash, my now old boss says I am on the books but I'm sceptical and think he may have been lying all these years. He always said if I ever needed any pay slips I could get them.
when I went in to work to speak to him about why he fired me he said he was going to sue me for not turning up to work, I did inform him I would be back in work for a long period of time as my illness is fairly serious.
we have no contract or anything so I really don't think he can do this but I'm looking for a new job ready for when I'm well enough to go back to work, I'm worried I could get in to trouble and have to pay lots of money back in fines and unpaid taxes and NI as I'm not sure he was paying them and deducting them. So I don't know if I can even claim anything from the government if I need to like ESA, as he refused to pay me sick pay (he paid me £60 when I went on holiday for a week a few months back)... Please help me??!!

If he's not paying you sick pay then get your employer to fill out a SSP1 form so you can claim ESA. Get the ESA claim started in any case. If your income is low you can claim ESA whether or not you have made the required NI contributions.

If you're ill don't spend your time looking for work. You most probably won't be successful with a scheduled operation coming up.

There is no tax or NI to pay on wages of £108 per week so neither of you will be in trouble for that.

The lower earnings limit for NI is £112 per week so you probably have no contributions anyway.

Torry_Quine

If you've been employed for that long then yes he can fire you but there are proper legal ways to do this which it doesn't seem he followed. If you were sending in fit notes from your GP then you were entitled to either SSP or ESA.

Confused.cl

But surely he can't fire me for being ill and not fit for work,can he? Is that not some sort of discrimination or something? X

maninthestreet

Confused.cl wrote: »

But surely he can't fire me for being ill and not fit for work,can he? Is that not some sort of discrimination or something? X

He can, but has to follow the correct procedures to stay on the right side of the law.

HappyMJ

Confused.cl wrote: »

But surely he can't fire me for being ill and not fit for work,can he? Is that not some sort of discrimination or something? X

You're not fulfilling the terms of the contract so yes he can.

See - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/problems-at-work/employment-tribunals-from-29-july-2013/making-an-employment-tribunal-claim-is-it-worth-it/employment-tribunals-unfair-dismissal-claims/legal-tests/employment-tribunals-legal-tests-for-unfair-dismissal-claims-long-term-sickness/

And especially the costs link at the end.... Do you have a spare £1,200 to bring a claim?

Confused.cl

I didn't have a contract so how can he sue me? I didn't leave the job he fired me?

HappyMJ

Confused.cl wrote: »

I didn't have a contract so how can he sue me? I didn't leave the job he fired me?

You had a verbal contract. You were required to turn up to work at a certain time and carry out duties as required. He won't be suing you...you would be bringing an unfair dismissal claim against your employer. You've got to pay £1,200 for that. As you may get ESA the costs of the claim outweigh the benefit of the action so it's not worth bringing any action at all. As you weren't paid £112 a week or more you're not entitled to SSP which could have paid up to £88.45 per week so winning would achieve nothing. You may as well just go on to ESA and get some money coming in. If you're under 25 that's £57.90 per week.