temping agency witholding money

purplekim

Hi

I started to temp for an agency in Jan - on the first day their systems went down and basically we sat around for 5 and half hours doing nothing. The man in charge of the training stated to all of us that we would get paid for this as it wasnt our fault.

There are no timesheets as the agency dealt directly with the company, and I was told this on my first day.

Now a month later the agency are refusing to pay and the company have said he had no right to say that and unless a senior manager said that we would not get paid. there were about 30 of us and it now surfaces that no-one is being paid for that day.

Also they have deducted an extra hour from the week I worked which when I questioned I was told that if I started an hour early its my problem. Everyone started at the same time and they received the correct pay.

My agency is completely incompetent and the lady in charge refuses to even give me the time and dates I am being paid for. It was too much trouble to go through the sheets and if I wanted that information I should go in and do it myself. The trouble is I am now working and to do that would mean I lose out on pay (still temping with the same agency at a different company).

Also regards to holiday pay they say it is included in the rate they pay me, so I have no idea what is holiday pay and what is my standard rate of pay.

Can anyone help with this? I am thinking of taking it up with employment tribunal - if it applies.

Angry and fustrated.

Aesop

ooooh, this is awful, I dont know if ACAS can assist you with advice, worth giving them a call?
i temped for an agency once and did 3 days boring work, they told us we would be moved around and not keep doing the same work but we werent so I left the job. the agency told me i wouldnt be paid, but they did pay me,under employment law they had to pay me for the days worked.

good luck in getting paid.

LittleVoice

PK

What written particulars do you have of your contractual arrangement with the agency? If you have been working for them since January you should have something in writing - although they have two months from the start of your first assignment in which to provide these - so they may not be breaking the law if they have not done so so far.

The written particulars must include information about holiday pay. Including holiday pay in the hourly rate (rolled up holiday pay) is supposed no longer to be allowed - but it is a grey area where it is possible to get away with it - but nevertheless it must be notified to you. For a temp agency it would be likely to be expressed as a percentage - to allow for different rates for different assignments.

I'm sure the agency should be able to hold the employer liable to pay everyone for their time on the first day. If there was no work available (or in this case no training being provided) then you should have been sent home. If you weren't, you should be paid. However, if there are no timesheets, how do you prove you were there? Do you have anything in writing from the employer organisation or the agency acknowledging that you were there even though they say they will not pay?

You are entitled by law to be provided with a payslip detailing the method of calculation of your pay. For an agency worker this clearly means that it must detail the number of hours for which you are being paid (and which week/month) and the rate of pay as well as the deductions made for tax and NI. Insist you get these. If you don't you can take your case to an ET.

Conor_3

purplekim wrote: »

Also regards to holiday pay they say it is included in the rate they pay me, so I have no idea what is holiday pay and what is my standard rate of pay.

"Rolling Up" holiday pay into the hourly rate was deemed illegal in a test case at the Eurpoean Court of Justice in the last couple of years.DTI amended the rules in the last few months so that statutory holiday pay must be paid at the time the holiday is taken. They cannot roll it up into your pay and even under the old rules, they had to clearly state what the amount was.

http://www.berr.gov.uk/employment/employment-legislation/working-time-regs/rolled-up/page29030.html

Following a European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgment on 16 March 2006 and more recent judgments in UK courts, (1) Rolled-Up Holiday Pay (RHP) is considered unlawful and payment for statutory annual leave should be made at the time when leave is taken.
(1) Robinson-Steele v PD Retail Services, Clarke v Frank Staddon Ltd, Caulfield & Others v Hanson Clay Products Ltd (formerly Marshalls Clay Products Ltd), 16 March 2006

It's really simple to solve this. Write to them requesting under the Data Protection Act, all information they have on you and enclose a £10 cheque which is the maximum a company can charge for this. They have to provide copies of everything which will include time keeping records. Remond them that failure to do this within 40 calendar days will result in you reporting them to the Data Protection Registrar at which point the DPR will fine them.

Using this information, calculate what you're owed, adding 10% on top of what the total gross figure for your total employment there as holiday pay. Armed with all the proof you need, tell them what they owe you and if they don't pay, you'll take legal action to recover it, either by Employment Tribuneral or County Court and that if you have to go these routes, not only will you be claiming what you're owed but compensation for the time and costs incurred in doing so.

liney

Inform them you are contacting the REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation) who are the governing body for employment agencies and will be putting in a formal complaint on two accounts: Firstly that have not been paid for hours you worked, and secondly that you have not been paid holiday pay in a transparent fashion.

Then contact ACAS... then if you really have no joy, contact the local newspaper, especially if you know the other people have not been paid either.

LittleVoice

Unfortunately, not all employment businesses are members of REC. It is a voluntary thing whether an agency joins or not. It is really just a trade association.

liney

That's true, but i have come across few that aren't members.

If they are a complaint would be logged for all to see.

cazziebo

Little voice is spot on. REC represent agencies so would not expect much joy from them. Also, REC changed their membership fee structure a few years ago to be based on turnover rather than profit. This meant that agencies whose main business is the supply of temps paid so much more. These agencies left in droves so it isn't that representative any more - imho.

The government has a department who specifically oversee the conduct of employment agencies. See here

http://www.berr.gov.uk/employment/employment-agencies/index.html

If you were to make a complaint to them, if nothing else they will probably schedule an audit of the agency, and that will scare them. They look at recording of hours worked, ID checking, everything, and an agency would have to be completely squeaky clean to pass completely.

It's unlikely you would have recourse to a tribunal although acas (https://www.acas.org.uk) may be able to advise you.

purplekim

Hi all

Ok I got a result and maybe not the one i wanted, but in terms of working under legal law they will now do it.

I called ACAS and they said you completely have a case, and so i wrote to the director requesting they send me contract, timesheets and info on holiday pay.

Well I got a call first thing this morning to say she had the letter and would be responding by the end of this week.

Result is:

I'll get paid for the training day.

All the requested info will be sent to me.

And finally the holiday pay, well she acknowledged that it had been bought to her attention this week and she was looking into it. Came back and told me that I would now have to accept a lower rate of pay for this week, as they had to deduct the holiday pay from my hourly wage (this is the correct way to do it, I checked it with other reputable agencies).
So I gained pay and lost it - not sure if I lose out in the long run, but i change agencies tomorrow so that fine.

Unfortunately people working at the old place have today been informed that they have to take a paycut. I can see how they gained - advertising 6.50 an hour would not encourage a lot of people to apply and their turnover at this company is high.

I will be speaking to ACAS tomorrow and find out if they can change the rate of pay after you have worked, which may be another thing altogether.

But clearly they are running around covering their backs.

Thanks for all your support and if anyone else has any problems with companies witholding pay I would say fight for it, all it took was 1 letter.

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