Being paid less than minimum wage

takman

sortofwinning wrote: »

My basic salary gross, before all deductions, is 1204 per month. My contract says that my hours of work are "9am to 5pm with a one hour lunch break each day". I'm currently getting my brother to check my calculations. He's a banker and won't be long in telling me if I've made a mistake.

That's 35 hours a week there is no way they are going to pay your for an hours lunch break each day!.

So your on £14488 a year.

So divide that by 52 (weeks in a year) and then by 35 (hours you work a week).

That means your on £7.94 an hour which is more than minimum wage so no problem there!.

Plus if someone is on 2k less a year that is an hourly rate of £6.84 an hour which is above minimum wage for someone aged 21 - 24.

Alice_Walker

Does the contract state you are being paid for 40 hours?

Are you free to do as you choose in your lunch break, can you leave the building? If so, you should not assume they are paid, you're not working during that time.

[Deleted User]

I'm glad someone has alluded to age.

https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates

https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage/worker-disputes-over-minimum-wage

sortofwinning

I'm over 25 (considerably) so I was expecting 7.20 ph but my calculations were working out at under 7 ph.


My brother has got back to me and told me that I am actually supposed to deduct weekends and holidays. I had been dividing my salary by 52 weeks in a year, but he has said it has to be:


working days = 365 - 104 - 8 - 23 = 1840 * 8 = 1840 hrs / yr


where 104 is weekends, 8 was his guess at public holidays that we get, and 23 was the approx. no of holidays I got last year ( it was a lot less this year as I was off quite a lot last year). I had just been dividing my yearly salary by 52 and then by 40.


Feeling a bit of a halfwit but I had no idea things were worked out like that. I used a website to check my calculations and came up with the same figure I got with a calculator.


Glad I had the tiny bit of common sense to check first before I steamrolled in.


Thanks for your help everyone!!!

takman

sortofwinning wrote: »

I'm over 25 (considerably) so I was expecting 7.20 ph but my calculations were working out at under 7 ph.


My brother has got back to me and told me that I am actually supposed to deduct weekends and holidays. I had been dividing my salary by 52 weeks in a year, but he has said it has to be:


working days = 365 - 104 - 8 - 23 = 1840 * 8 = 1840 hrs / yr


where 104 is weekends, 8 was his guess at public holidays that we get, and 23 was the approx. no of holidays I got last year ( it was a lot less this year as I was off quite a lot last year). I had just been dividing my yearly salary by 52 and then by 40.


Feeling a bit of a halfwit but I had no idea things were worked out like that. I used a website to check my calculations and came up with the same figure I got with a calculator.


Glad I had the tiny bit of common sense to check first before I steamrolled in.


Thanks for your help everyone!!!

That makes no sense at all!. You don't need to deduct holidays because you just take holiday off work and your paid your normal wage for them.

All you need to do is the way i said it.

You get £1204 a month which is £14,488 a year.

You work 9 - 5, Monday to Friday. But you get 1 hour a day for lunch. You will not be paid for lunch!.
So this means you take away 1 hour each day as unpaid.
This then means your paid for 35 hours a week.

So you take your £14,488 a year. Divide that by 52 (weeks in a year) then divide that by 35 (hours paid a week)

This then means you are on an hourly wage of £7.94. Which is more than minimum wage.


Using the method above is the only way to work out your hourly rate. If you use your brothers method that means you are not paid for any holiday you take during the year, which would be illegal.

When you go into work tomorrow if you go and ask if your lunch hour is paid i can guarantee they will say it is not and that means your paid for 35 hours per week as per my calculation.

Alice_Walker

sortofwinning wrote: »

I'm currently getting my brother to check my calculations. He's a banker and won't be long in telling me if I've made a mistake.

Who can't do a basic calculation? :eek:

takman's calculation is correct, and their explanation far less convoluted.

sortofwinning

Earns a six figure salary Alice Walker, I'd say he can calculate just fine

sortofwinning

Thanks Takman. I actually tried asking a junior manager today if we were paid for lunch and she said that yes, we got paid for lunch and breaks. Only thing is, I wouldn't guarantee that what she said is definitely right as she is only junior, but the problem is I wouldn't take it further up the chain for reasons too long and complicated to go into. So I really don't know who is right and who is wrong, but both yourself and my brother have told me that I'm earning above the minimum wage and that's the main thing.

Alice_Walker

sortofwinning wrote: »

Earns a six figure salary Alice Walker, I'd say he can calculate just fine

You're not suggesting his explanation is correct? :eek:

agrinnall

sortofwinning wrote: »

Earns a six figure salary Alice Walker, I'd say he can calculate just fine

Maybe he can but what he's saying in this instance is nonsense. You can believe it or not, but if you challenge your pay rate you'll end up at best with egg on your face and at worst with no job. Perhaps your highly-paid brother can subsidise you if you do lose your job.