Incorrect Wages and Fuel Pay

That's a point, is she a normal type employee or is it an agency type thing where she's technically self employed but they handle everything to do with her pay?

I have seen those sorts of holiday schemes before with contract workers when going through umbrella companies.
 
carers get screwed like this all the time, there are some really bad people to work for in the care sector so she needs to be careful. The holiday pay thing is illegal and they should be paying her in lieu of holiday entitlement like they do with bank (zero hour) workers
 
I'm not so sure on the claims that they can't do that with holiday pay.

I was working for a very large corporation last year and they did something that sounds very much like that. Each payslip you would see that you had accumulated holiday pay, along with the current total. Everybody working was on a contract or freelance and it didn't run for more than a year and a half, in which time, actually taking holidays was difficult, but that was understood beforehand. The annoying aspect to it was that they likely could be making profit from interest on the holiday pay while it sat in the bank, until it was paid out when the contracts ended. Given that this company takes their legal aspects very seriously and has an entire department of lawyers, I can't see that they would be breaking employment law.

Ultimately in the case of the OP, there must be somebody you talk to, or a manager or somebody who can help fight your corner and get a response?
 
MrMoonX said:
The holiday pay thing is illegal and they should be paying her in lieu of holiday entitlement like they do with bank (zero hour) workers
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Nope, the only time an employer can do that is when an employee leaves and has an amount of outstanding, accrued leave.

Edit:
Nexus, they are at the very least pushing their luck. Fixed term workers are entitled to the same annual leave rights as permanent workers. Should the contract be less than 12 months then the amount of leave is pro rata. Employers can tell employees when to take their leave or when not to in almost any way they see fit, however such instruction cannot have the effect of making it impossible to take their leave at all. So they couldn't legitimately say "this is an 18 month contract, you will accrue holiday leave but you arent allowed to take it. We will pay you it instead". None of that applies if you are genuinely self-employed.
 
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malfunkshun said:
Nope, the only time an employer can do that is when an employee leaves and has an amount of outstanding, accrued leave.

Edit:
Nexus, they are at the very least pushing their luck. Fixed term workers are entitled to the same annual leave rights as permanent workers. Should the contract be less than 12 months then the amount of leave is pro rata. Employers can tell employees when to take their leave or when not to in almost any way they see fit, however such instruction cannot have the effect of making it impossible to take their leave at all.
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You could take holiday, they weren't stopping that.
However, towards the end of the project when the deadline approaches its crazy busy and thats what you were hired for. Its pretty much a given that if you are hired, you aren't going to ask to take a load of holiday.
 
malfunkshun said:
Nope, the only time an employer can do that is when an employee leaves and has an amount of outstanding, accrued leave.

Edit:
Nexus, they are at the very least pushing their luck. Fixed term workers are entitled to the same annual leave rights as permanent workers. Should the contract be less than 12 months then the amount of leave is pro rata. Employers can tell employees when to take their leave or when not to in almost any way they see fit, however such instruction cannot have the effect of making it impossible to take their leave at all. So they couldn't legitimately say "this is an 18 month contract, you will accrue holiday leave but you arent allowed to take it. We will pay you it instead". None of that applies if you are genuinely self-employed.
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when ive worked various bank jobs in health and social care you usually get an hourly rate plus X amount in lieu of annual leave
 
I know that Macdonalds do this exact system with all of there hourly paid employees. The system works becuase if you work part time or full time you earn the same amount of holiday pay regardless of the hours you work. There was a thread about this a while back. At Macdonalds I believe it was 7.5% of you wages was added as an addition to you normal hourly rate to your `holiday pay` so you accrued this pay through out the year and could request 2 weeks `holiday pay` if you wanted 2 weeks off. The percentage that is accrued is carefully worked out so that you would only ever accrue the minimum amount of holiday pay you would legally be entitled to, of course the more you work the more holiday pay you earn so I would often work 14 or 15 days striaght if I new I was taking some time off so that I didnt have to take so much of my holiday pay out this was common practise where I worked.

As for the job I would have left ages ago and have learned from the experience. I would add up all the monies owed and wright them a letter asking for any monies currently owned to be paid and take it from there if they didnt pay.
 
UPDATE

She has only been working there 4 weeks so hasn't been putting up with it for long.

She has been into the office today to discuss this.

She was meant to be working today but has refused to based on the grounds that she hasn't been paid correctly and cannot afford to put another tank of petrol in.

I'm not sure if we were right in doing this or not but she really can't afford to.

They have basically threatened to raise a POVA (Protection of Vunerable Adults) against her if she doesn't do her shift tomorrow. If this was to go ahead then she wouldn't be able to work in care again, which she loves doing.

I've told her to speak to CAB today if she can and get their advice.

If she doesn't work tomorrow she has the risk of this POVA, if she does she is out of pocket again.

Either way she doesn't want to continue working there any longer.
 
Surely it won't go through if you have the evidence that they are in breach of contract.

Call in sick?

What did they say about her pay when she spoke to them?
 
Craigus said:
Surely it won't go through if you have the evidence that they are in breach of contract.

Call in sick?

What did they say about her pay when she spoke to them?
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Well we have a few pay slips which show incorrect pay, that's it really. They would put this down to a mistake.

I've suggested she calls in sick, they can't raise a POVA for this but I'm guessing they'd tell a bunch of lies.

They have said they will rectify her pay but the fuel for this week was a system glitch. It's bull though, what about the last two weeks?!
 
If she now wants to quit, if she hands in her notice, surely they can't issue such a threat. Though of course she would have to work any notice period required, but could then go to tribunal to get what she should have been paid.

It seems silly though that they are going threatening her with whatever this POVA is, yet they don't have anybody who will discuss her contract and pay problems?
 
Nexus said:
If she now wants to quit, if she hands in her notice, surely they can't issue such a threat. Though of course she would have to work any notice period required, but could then go to tribunal to get what she should have been paid.

It seems silly though that they are going threatening her with whatever this POVA is, yet they don't have anybody who will discuss her contract and pay problems?
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This. Spot on.

Hand in her notice, tell her employer that she will be seeking legal aid to get what she deserves, and work out her notice period.

Have a look in her contract, I doubt the notice period is a month if she has only been there four weeks.

Doesn't seem like the kind of place I would want to work anyway.
 
They were quick to act when she refused to go in. Also quick to reply when mentioned their breach of contract.

She has to give a weeks notice so will have to work tomorrow. I'll give her money for fuel but it's besides the point. They are taking the mick!

I think she might just be better sucking it up and doing the shift tomorrow, then handing her notice in.
 
Technically they are using blackmail to get her to work.

I've a feeling she will work tomorrow and they will still go down the POVA route.
 
Employers have a duty to ensure pay is correct. Advise in writing of any and every problem, or perceived problem.

I would start with the immediate most pressing issue, a shortage of reimbursement.
You must know who she has spoken to today. Assuming they are not a complete pleb and of some standing then email that person. Her contract is likely to have been signed by someone relatively senior in HR or company, cc that person.

Spell out clearly what the issues are, x miles driven, reimbursement should be y, actually paid was z. Then give them 3 working days to ensure that the amount is in her bank account to correct the total of z.

Then deal with any other issues about holiday pay etc
 
She is going down the ACAS route.

Apparently we have a right to refuse work if pay issues are not resolved. They are also, illegally, using Blackmail to try and get her to work tomorrow.

They are stepping way out of line and she isn't going to bow down to their demands.
 
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