Employment rights

Pink23_8

My employer has created a freelance employment contract and will discontinued with my PAYE contract once the furlough scheme ends. My PAYE contract will end and I will be working as self employed with no redundancy pay out. I had to sign this alternative contract otherwise I will have nothing. Is this legal and can my employer do this? I have worked for this employer for 10 years.

[Deleted User]

 Pretty sure not after 10ys employment  what do others think? 

General_Grant

PDeleted_User_8 said:

My employer has created a freelance employment contract and will discontinued with my PAYE contract once the furlough scheme ends. My PAYE contract will end and I will be working as self employed with no redundancy pay out. I had to sign this alternative contract otherwise I will have nothing. Is this legal and can my employer do this? I have worked for this employer for 10 years.

Will you be doing the same work, essentially the same job but your employer is ducking out of their responsibilities?
What have they put in the contract to increase your rate of pay?
How does this "alternative contract" describe itself?  A contract for services?

Pink23_8

Yes its described as a contract for service doing exactly the same thing and has increased hourly rate just above the minimum working wage. So once the furlough scheme ends this contract would start immediately.

Tyton01

I hear lots of comments about employers trying to get out of paying redundancy they want people to take unpaid leave instead, then they change people’s contracts to suit them it’s just a joke no protection for employees .Your  like just a number who can be messed about. Something needs to change as people can’t live like this .When this all ends  need better protection for employees and to be treated fairly.

General_Grant

PDeleted_User_8 said:

Yes its described as a contract for service doing exactly the same thing and has increased hourly rate just above the minimum working wage. So once the furlough scheme ends this contract would start immediately.

As it is actually the same job it would be hard for them to convince anyone (including HMRC) that you would be self-employed in the future.  You could maybe continue working and, when it suited you, take up employment elsewhere and then claim they had not paid you holidays (or SSP if ever appropriate) and that the money they had paid you had been paid nett of income tax and employee NI.  They would then be responsible for paying this over to HMRC.

If the pay is only just above the National Living Wage then I would expect it doesn't cover anything near their savings regarding pension contributions and holiday pay.  

If you are not in a Union then you should get some professional advice - or at least start with ACAS.

thebrexitunicorn

Why don’t you give the Acas helpline a call.    If an employer suddenly declares an employee (doing his/her usual job) to be self employed in order to cut costs it’s unlikely to be lawful.   Also, if the employer is saying that your existing role is ending then that’s a redundancy situation.  I don’t know what your new contract says, but it’s unlikely to remove your redundancy rights or change your employment status (in law) regardless of what is written. 

Thrugelmir

Has this all been put in writing to you? 

General_Grant

Thrugelmir said:

Has this all been put in writing to you? 

Well they've been given a contract which they have signed.

Thrugelmir

General_Grant said:

Thrugelmir said:

Has this all been put in writing to you? 

Well they've been given a contract which they have signed.

I was thinking of the broader discussions. 

Pink23_8

thebrexitunicorn said:

Why don’t you give the Acas helpline a call.    If an employer suddenly declares an employee (doing his/her usual job) to be self employed in order to cut costs it’s unlikely to be lawful.   Also, if the employer is saying that your existing role is ending then that’s a redundancy situation.  I don’t know what your new contract says, but it’s unlikely to remove your redundancy rights or change your employment status (in law) regardless of what is written. 

I have contacted Acas and they advised me to pursue this further but my worry is if I do this while I'm still PAYE I may loose my job. I think its best to wait.  When my PAYE contract ends the self employment contract is exactly the same and I would be doing more as half the staff have left as they find it difficult to work with this employer. I do too but I have a mortgage and family to support. The employer told all of us in an email that in order to accept the self employment contract that we would have to wave our redundancy rights and we left we had to say yes as how would we survive? The thing is, my employer hasn't actually put that statement in the actual contract that we signed. Its just a freelance employment contract. The fact that its not in any paper work that was signed, my question would be, do I still have a case to get 10years of redundancy pay and would the email that I answered be valid at all?