Zero Hours questions/problems

snowqueen555

xx

Thanks

Sandtree

snowqueen555 said:
Is it fair for zero hours staff to get paid less for doing the same role? Everything in the job title is the same.

In our office people with the title "project manager" earn between £40,000 and £90,000 and thats ignoring the contractors. 

Incomes are personal and its not uncommon for two people with the same title to get different salaries, particularly once you get off the front line. 


Given on a zero hour contract you can refuse any shift it somewhat makes sense to have holiday paid in advance, in my head anyway, Your second role however doesn't seem to be paying sufficient to cover both NMW and holiday

General_Grant

Sandtree said:

snowqueen555 said:
Is it fair for zero hours staff to get paid less for doing the same role? Everything in the job title is the same.

In our office people with the title "project manager" earn between £40,000 and £90,000 and thats ignoring the contractors. 

Incomes are personal and its not uncommon for two people with the same title to get different salaries, particularly once you get off the front line. 


Given on a zero hour contract you can refuse any shift it somewhat makes sense to have holiday paid in advance, in my head anyway, Your second role however doesn't seem to be paying sufficient to cover both NMW and holiday

Having the same title is not the same as having the same job, the latter being the situation of the OP.

And there is serious doubt whether it is lawful to what is known as "rolling up holiday pay with basic pay" which is why Job 1 is being administered correctly in itemising the holiday pay.  Depending on how long Job 2 lasts, the OP may prefer to see what happens and then claim holiday pay when they leave.

Sandtree

General_Grant said:
Having the same title is not the same as having the same job, the latter being the situation of the OP.

They have the same job, roll description, employee grade etc. The 30 or so people with the job are along the whole spectrum of the pay scale and there obviously are not 30 different jobs.

All do the same job of managing projects and whilst there may be some correlation that a large project tends to go to the higher paid its not a fixed rule, indeed just this week two medium projects have gone to the least paid in the team rather than a middle of the road chaps who also had capacity because they had more background in the subject matter. Similarly the biggest ongoing project is managed by a £60k chap.

It may be ideal to think that everyone gets paid the same amount for doing the same job but its not the reality. Engagement mechanism, experience, qualifications, previous employers etc can all influence how much someone is willing to pay you -v- the next person who'll be doing the identical job.  A lot can also come down to negotiation.

yksi

Awkward. "Same job description" isn't, to my knowledge, a protected characteristic that would allow you to challenge it based on discrimination. (Happy to be corrected if someone can do so with a source.)

Are you in a union? This would be a good time to join one if it's available.

Unfortunately it has always been the case that a company can add temporary staff on a different pay rate for the needs of the business and as far as I'm aware they aren't entitled to be paid equally with anyone else on the staff.

Your second job I would say jury is still out. I would assume you have not yet received your first pay advice and you might find that holiday accrual is actually listed on there, which will either become payable on exit, or holidays given later on. Like others said if it were me I would keep quiet, collect all the pay slips and then hit them for it when you leave.

TBagpuss

snowqueen555 said:

I have started 2 zero hour jobs on the side within the social care sector.

Job 1) The pay is £9 per hour, I am paid my holiday rather than given it using the standard 12.06% (so £1.09 on top of this). So that pay is a statutory right and does not form part of my pay, they even pay it in a separate category and say you should save this money for annual leave.

The full time staff get paid £9.60 for the same job and accrue normal holiday. Is it fair for zero hours staff to get paid less for doing the same role? Everything in the job title is the same.


Job 2) I get paid £9.69 per hour but get given no holiday. I have just started so don't want to kick up a fuss but will eventually bring it up.

Is it even worth me bringing this up? Am I just being entitled?

Thanks

Job 1 - No, it's not fair, but it's perfectly legal. It would be illegal to pay different rates for the same work where the reason for the difference was because of a protected characteristic, e.g. age, gender, disability, race, sexuality etc.

Job 2 - it may not be right if what they are saying s that the £9.69 effectively includes holiday pay - however, as you have only just started it would probably make sense to wait a little and see - you may find that the way they work it out has been poorly explained - I think what Job 1 is doing re: holiday pay is correct .

As yksi says, joining a union if you are not already a member would be a good idea (and then if you do find, a few months don the line, hat they are not making the right calculations etc for holidays, you can ask for their help)