Employer cannot find my right to work

JatieKatie

Hi all,

I've worked for my company for two years and sent in my right to work (UK passport) when I joined, all was well.

In my time during, I've had a legal name change. 

Today I received an email from company saying they cannot find my right to work and I need to send them another copy.

I've explained to them about my name change and that they probably need to check under my old name. They told me that there is no such person.

Typically yesterday I sent away for a passport in my new name, sending along documents including...my old passport.

I don't have an ID card, I do have a copy of a UK birth certificate, but it is in my old name and I can get a copy of my National Insurance Letter but that is in my new name.

I've been told that without right to work I will effectively be suspended without pay (Zero hour contract) until I can provide it.

Since a passport can take 6-8 weeks (especially with the checking of documents for a name change) what are my rights?

I don't have the funds to survive with no work for 6-8 weeks and can't claim benefits without photo ID (passport as I don't drive)

Sandtree

What is your basis for a change of name? Do you not have a copy of that so you can add it as a third document to explain the difference in names?

Obviously things get more complex if you changed your name on getting married but chose a new name that neither of you previously had. 

General_Grant

JatieKatie said:

Hi all,

I've worked for my company for two years and sent in my right to work (UK passport) when I joined, all was well.

In my time during, I've had a legal name change. 

Today I received an email from company saying they cannot find my right to work and I need to send them another copy.

I've explained to them about my name change and that they probably need to check under my old name. They told me that there is no such person.

Typically yesterday I sent away for a passport in my new name, sending along documents including...my old passport.

I don't have an ID card, I do have a copy of a UK birth certificate, but it is in my old name and I can get a copy of my National Insurance Letter but that is in my new name.

I've been told that without right to work I will effectively be suspended without pay (Zero hour contract) until I can provide it.

Since a passport can take 6-8 weeks (especially with the checking of documents for a name change) what are my rights?

I don't have the funds to survive with no work for 6-8 weeks and can't claim benefits without photo ID (passport as I don't drive)

Did they pay you under your "old" name when you first began working for them and now use your "new" name?

Do they not hold any paper personnel files?  Do you suddenly appear in their records with your new name but no recruitment documents in the old one?

A driving licence wouldn't prove your right to work - it is ID but not right to work.  Having an NI number also doesn't prove a right to work.

If they remain difficult, you could put in a Subject Access Request for copies of all the documents they do hold on you.  That might flush out something from the past.

Jillanddy

I suspect there may not be an answer to this predicament. On a zero hours contract they are not obliged to offer you any work, at any time, for any reason. So you do not have a right to work / be paid. You aren't being suspended without pay - you are simply not being offered any work until you prove your right to work in the UK. It is worrying that they appear to have lost / misplaced personal data, but without that information on file they are legally unable to employ you. They are perhaps being extraordinarily vigilant (I wonder if there is a reason they are re-checking, because although employers should do regular checks they often don't!), but from their perspective, regardless of their own possibly carelessness, they asked to see your document and you have conveniently sent it away! I'm sure that you are telling the truth, but they are obliged by law to only believe what they see. In their shoes, I might feel the need to put you at the bottom of the pile for checks and deal with it in a few weeks if I could, but they aren't required to. That said, people change their names all the time - getting married being the common one. My understanding was that you need your birth certificate and an official document proving your NI number - not that your name on the two documents had to be the same, because for many, many people, that won't be the case. 

General_Grant

Employers are not forced by law to keep right to work documentation but if it were found that the person did not in fact have that right they could then be fined for not having evidence of the care they had taken.

Jillanddy

General_Grant said:

Employers are not forced by law to keep right to work documentation but if it were found that the person did not in fact have that right they could then be fined for not having evidence of the care they had taken.

Yes - and I was wondering if someone is checking them for that evidence, because it seems unusual to be fussing about it right now unless there is a reason for that. In my experience the sorts of employers who have lots of zero hour workers are exactly the sorts of employers who get checked up on.

MalMonroe

This is very weird because employers have to check all employees BEFORE they are employed. And you've now been there over two years. As per this government advice to employers - 

https://www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work  - which starts off by saying "You must check that a job applicant is allowed to work for you in the UK before you employ them." Now they are saying that there's no such person? Sounds to me like they are trying to get away with putting you on suspension without pay. Are they going through a bad financial patch?

[Is there any chance you can try to get another job that isn't on a zero contract?]  

In the meantime, you could contact acas and ask for their advice, here's a link -

https://www.acas.org.uk/zero-hours-contracts

Phone - Acas helpline 0300 123 1100

You DO have rights, even on a zero hours contract. And your employer cannot now, after two years, turn around and demand proof of your right to work in the UK when it was accepted at the start of your employment. Name change or no name change. They're also acting very unreasonably if they won't even wait for your passport to be returned. 

Please do phone acas and discuss this. If you have changed your name, it must have been done officially, don't you have ANY record of that at all? I think your employer is trying to get rid of you. How can they say you don't exist?!

elsien

MalMonroe said:

This is very weird because employers have to check all employees BEFORE they are employed. And you've now been there over two years. As per this government advice to employers - 

https://www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work  - which starts off by saying "You must check that a job applicant is allowed to work for you in the UK before you employ them." Now they are saying that there's no such person? Sounds to me like they are trying to get away with putting you on suspension without pay. Are they going through a bad financial patch?

[Is there any chance you can try to get another job that isn't on a zero contract?]  

In the meantime, you could contact acas and ask for their advice, here's a link -

https://www.acas.org.uk/zero-hours-contracts

Phone - Acas helpline 0300 123 1100

You DO have rights, even on a zero hours contract. And your employer cannot now, after two years, turn around and demand proof of your right to work in the UK when it was accepted at the start of your employment. Name change or no name change. They're also acting very unreasonably if they won't even wait for your passport to be returned. 

Please do phone acas and discuss this. If you have changed your name, it must have been done officially, don't you have ANY record of that at all? I think your employer is trying to get rid of you. How can they say you don't exist?!

OP is not suspended. They are not being offered any work until the issue is resolved. Which on a zero hour contract the employer is perfectly entitled to do, no explanation needed. 

General_Grant

MalMonroe said:

This is very weird because employers have to check all employees BEFORE they are employed. And you've now been there over two years. As per this government advice to employers - 

https://www.gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work  - which starts off by saying "You must check that a job applicant is allowed to work for you in the UK before you employ them." Now they are saying that there's no such person? Sounds to me like they are trying to get away with putting you on suspension without pay. Are they going through a bad financial patch?

[Is there any chance you can try to get another job that isn't on a zero contract?]  

In the meantime, you could contact acas and ask for their advice, here's a link -

https://www.acas.org.uk/zero-hours-contracts

Phone - Acas helpline 0300 123 1100

You DO have rights, even on a zero hours contract. And your employer cannot now, after two years, turn around and demand proof of your right to work in the UK when it was accepted at the start of your employment. Name change or no name change. They're also acting very unreasonably if they won't even wait for your passport to be returned. 

Please do phone acas and discuss this. If you have changed your name, it must have been done officially, don't you have ANY record of that at all? I think your employer is trying to get rid of you. How can they say you don't exist?!

It's true that employers have to establish the right to work before employing someone but they can most certainly seek proof two or ten or more years later.  Having the right to work on 1 January 2021 for instance does not mean one still has the right to work on 1 September - it depends on the reasons for having that right on 1 January.

Jillanddy

This is very weird because employers have to check all employees BEFORE they are employed.

Yes they do. And employers who take the issue seriously and follow the entire guidance do periodic follow up checks at intervals. So nothing weird at all. Re-checking that you have the appropriate paperwork and can evidence your checks is a sign of a responsible employer, or, at least, one who has no wish to incur the fines associated with not being able to prove you've done the checks properly.

your employer cannot now, after two years, turn around and demand proof of your right to work in the UK when it was accepted at the start of your employment.

Yes, they can. They have. And they are allowed to. Whether it is reasonable or not is not relevant. They are not obliged to offer the OP any work, and they are choosing not to do so until they have that evidence. And ACAS will say no different.

Savvy_Sue

I have been googling around RtW checks, and I'm wondering if it's possible to check a passport without you having it in your possession? Probably too much to hope that your employer is one of those involved in the pilot Document Checking Service or that it's now live for all, but ... https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2020/11/16/the-document-checking-service-trialling-online-passport-validity-checks/

However, do you have a previously expired passport? This seems to suggest that that would be enough, provided you've got a straightforward link to the name you're now using. Or, that link between your birth name and your NINo.