Issues at work re salary

Rubik

Hello,

I originally posted this in the Relationships and family board and have been advised to post it here.

I would welcome any advice on my situation

I started a new job in February last year for a company which is an incubator company sitting within the parent company.

The business hasn't generated the forecasted income and business the directors and investors thought it would and the incubator company is now on the verge of collapse


In February this year I was presented with either taking a temporary £10k per year paycut (with the outstanding pay to be paid back to me once the business was generating income) or unemployment. I took the paycut. There is nothing in writing about either the pay cut or the agreement to pay back the salary debt. All I have is my contract stating that my salary will be £xx and payslips showing that I've actually been paid £yyy. The business is still not generating much income, and I am not able to do the role I was employed to do simply because there isn't the work coming in. Instead I spend my working days trying to find things to do (write blogs, social media marketing, SEO tweeks etc) just to try to fill my days. I am bored beyond belief. To clarify, there has never been any disciplinary issues, my time keeping is exceptional (am always at work early) and I have demonstrated a flexibility towards my role.

Yesterday I was called into a one to one meeting with the director and was told that my temporary paycut was now permanent and that he wasn't prepared to be legally liable for any further debt from that day onwards. He set out what debts the company has (other then the debt owed to me,. The other debts are down to the directors decisions alone). He also told me that if I requested the debt owed to me it would bankrupt the company. I'm very angry he has placed that on my shoulders and cut my contracted salary without discussion or prior notice. My job remains far from secure and I am concerned that one day I will be told that I'm out of a job with no notice period and no chance of ever seeing my back pay. I also feel that he is engineering a constructive dismissal.

The total back pay owed is £8,333 (before tax and NI). I would happily take £5k in cash on Monday and leave that day.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

Thank you.

chesky

Rubik, I just replied to you on the other board, if you can nip back there for a couple of minutes...

Undervalued

Rubik wrote: »

Hello,

I originally posted this in the Relationships and family board and have been advised to post it here.

I would welcome any advice on my situation

I started a new job in February last year for a company which is an incubator company sitting within the parent company.

The business hasn't generated the forecasted income and business the directors and investors thought it would and the incubator company is now on the verge of collapse


In February this year I was presented with either taking a temporary £10k per year paycut (with the outstanding pay to be paid back to me once the business was generating income) or unemployment. I took the paycut. There is nothing in writing about either the pay cut or the agreement to pay back the salary debt. All I have is my contract stating that my salary will be £xx and payslips showing that I've actually been paid £yyy. The business is still not generating much income, and I am not able to do the role I was employed to do simply because there isn't the work coming in. Instead I spend my working days trying to find things to do (write blogs, social media marketing, SEO tweeks etc) just to try to fill my days. I am bored beyond belief. To clarify, there has never been any disciplinary issues, my time keeping is exceptional (am always at work early) and I have demonstrated a flexibility towards my role.

Yesterday I was called into a one to one meeting with the director and was told that my temporary paycut was now permanent and that he wasn't prepared to be legally liable for any further debt from that day onwards. He set out what debts the company has (other then the debt owed to me,. The other debts are down to the directors decisions alone). He also told me that if I requested the debt owed to me it would bankrupt the company. I'm very angry he has placed that on my shoulders and cut my contracted salary without discussion or prior notice. My job remains far from secure and I am concerned that one day I will be told that I'm out of a job with no notice period and no chance of ever seeing my back pay. I also feel that he is engineering a constructive dismissal.

The total back pay owed is £8,333 (before tax and NI). I would happily take £5k in cash on Monday and leave that day.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

Thank you.

With less than two years service you can be dismissed for no reason at all just by giving you notice (1 week unless your contract specifies more). So any question of "constructive dismissal" is irrelevant.

So they can just say to you "either you agree to these new terms or here is your notice" and there is nothing whatever you can do about it.

You can insist on the contracted rate of pay for the notice period (and any outstanding holiday) but that is about it I'm afraid.

You can obviously sue for any backpay that is owing providing there is still a company to sue and it has enough assets. You would need to convince the court, on the balance of probabilities, that there was an agreement and that you are owed the money. That may not be easy without some paperwork despite verbal contracts being just as binding.

Sorry.

Rubik

Thank you very much, Undervalued, your insight is really helpful.