Unfair employer

maxmycardagain

Paying us the NMW, which we accept but then paying only for hours they THINK the work should be done in, want to pay us 2.5hrs for 3.5hrs work, actual pay therefore less than the NMW

is this an ACAS issue?

Marcon

maxmycardagain said:

Paying us the NMW, which we accept but then paying only for hours they THINK the work should be done in, want to pay us 2.5hrs for 3.5hrs work, actual pay therefore less than the NMW

is this an ACAS issue?

Could be, or HMRC: https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage/worker-disputes-over-minimum-wage

Savvy_Sue

Or a union: could be worth you all (or many of you) joining, strength in numbers and all that!

Hoenir

Do you work contracted hours or are you paid for piece work? 

LightFlare

Hoenir said:

Do you work contracted hours or are you paid for piece work? 

Indeed - it reads as though they are being paid for a piece of work which if it takes 2.5hrs to complete will work out at NMW.
However, for whatever reason, it’s taking 3.5hrs to complete - effectively taking it below NMW.

Way more details required in order to offer any meaningful advice

maxmycardagain

LightFlare said:

Hoenir said:

Do you work contracted hours or are you paid for piece work? 

Indeed - it reads as though they are being paid for a piece of work which if it takes 2.5hrs to complete will work out at NMW.
However, for whatever reason, it’s taking 3.5hrs to complete - effectively taking it below NMW.

Way more details required in order to offer any meaningful advice

 Yes, we are on a zero hours contract, work gets offered, the firm calculates how long the job should take and want to pay fewer hours than the jobe in fact takes

ACAS have pointed me to the HMRC NMW unit 

theoretica

Yes, they need to either pay for the hours the job takes, or accept you walking away after the hours they pay for and leaving the job unfinished.

There are certain cases where an employer can pay for work done, not hours, but there are lots of rules around that too. https://www.gov.uk/minimum-wage-different-types-work/paid-per-task-or-piece-of-work-done

DullGreyGuy

Assuming you are an employee then it's a NMW issue and so HMRC is who you raise the issues to if you want it to all be super formal. You can speak to ACAS as an alternative if you dont want to go full guns blazing. 

If you are self employed and they are simply offering £22.88 for a job to be done because they estimate it will be 2hrs and thats what you get if its a 1hr job or a 4 hr job then that wouldn't be an issue because NMW doesn't apply to self employed and fixed pricing and the supplier deciding if it works for them or not is perfectly legitimate.