Employment Issues - Advice Needed!

smj43

I am posting on behalf of a family member who is having issues with a new job he has started. The job in question is as a bus driver for a large national company. He started with no bus driving experience and was trained by them to acquire his licence. Since he has qualified this is where the problems started...

1. When he applied for the job it clearly stated a training salary would be paid which would then rise to 25k-30k once qualified. Since he passed his test and started driving full time, they have only been paying him under £10 per hour which is significantly less than the rate he believed he had signed up for.
2. They have not provided any contract of employment.
3. They regularly change his shift patterns without asking. An example would be when he was rota'd to start at 10am and they called him the evening before to say he needed to be in at 7am. When he refused, he was told it would be recorded as an absence.
4. He has turned up for work at his required start time only to be told they don't need him and been made to wait 2-3 hours on the premises and start his shift at a later time unpaid.
5. He has been told to clock off mid shift and wait up to 2 hours unpaid before starting again.
6. They do not tell him what shifts he is working until sometimes up to 1 days notice.

I would like some advice for him as he is not sure what to do. He cannot leave the company as he is 'locked in' for 2 years and if he leaves he will owe them a few thousand in training costs. He has tried to raise these issues with management but they have done their best to ignore him and keep telling him no manager is available to see him.

What can he do? I'm sure much of this is illegal??

lincroft1710

Very little if anything is "illegal". Poor management possibly. Is there anything in writing stating the salary when "qualified", even the job advert?

Masomnia

First step really is to get a contract. Legally they should provide this.

A lot of what you've posted may well be legal and above board if it is provided for in his contract.

You say he is tied in because of the training fees, but they can only claw this back if it is specifically set down in writing, so they may well have shot themselves in the foot there.

Savvy_Sue

If he hasn't yet joined a union, he should do so. If others are in the union, he should talk to them. If others are being treated the same way, then it's definitely going to be easier to resolve as a group rather than as individuals.

Undervalued

Masomnia wrote: »

First step really is to get a contract. Legally they should provide this.

A lot of what you've posted may well be legal and above board if it is provided for in his contract.

You say he is tied in because of the training fees, but they can only claw this back if it is specifically set down in writing, so they may well have shot themselves in the foot there.

Legally they should provide a statement of the main particulars of employment within eight weeks of starting. However there is no useful legal redress if they don't. A "contract" exists regardless established by turning up, working and getting paid. It also incorporates any terms offered by the employer, the firms normal conditions of employment etc. Verbal is just as valid but obviously harder to prove in the event of a dispute.

Masomnia

Sorry yes I meant written contract. It'll be very difficult to challenge anything without particulars in writing as you say.