Monthly hours paid below minimum wage due to salary being averaged out over the year.

[Puzzled]

Hi

Hopefully you guys will know the answer to this as I couldn't help and I can't find what I'm looking for on google either.

Friend of mine has been at a new job for a couple of months now, only a minimum wage job with fixed hours and occasional overtime. He asked me to look at his payslip as when he divided the hours worked that month by the amount he was paid it brought the hourly rate below minimum wage (before any deductions).

When he asked about it they told him that his pay is averaged out over the 12 months but that doesn't sound right to me for a minimum wage job, surely he should be paid for hours worked at the minimum legal rate?

He doesn't plan on being there for 12 months either so when he leaves I'm guessing they'll need to make up the difference but from what he's told me I highly doubt they will.

So question is, can a minimum wage job be averaged out over 12 months meaning some months will fall below the legal minimum pay rate for hours worked?

Annoyingly they haven't given him any sort of written contract (or workplace pension, thought that was a legal requirement now) and he didn't agree to anything verbally either.

Thanks

 

[Puzzled]

From what I gather its that the pay is based on the average days in a month rather than the actual days.

So he worked 35 hours in July but his pay is actually about £20 short (bringing his hourly pay below minimum wage) as his wage wasn't based on a 31 day month but an averaged month. His wage slip doesn't break down the hours worked, just that months pay figure minus tax, NI etc but when you divide his pay before deductions by the hours worked it doesn't meet the minimum wage.

Doesn't seem right to me, it should be a very simple wage. X set hours at £7.83 plus whatever overtime is worked, I don't see why they would need to average anything out and I've told him to get a straight answer from his boss on how exactly his pay is worked out.