Reporting illegal practice of employer? How?

This had been (and hopefully will be) the shortest employment of my life.
Basically, I found myself a job at this Chinese resteraunt about a week ago. The pay, is ridiculous, £3.50, But since im only back home for another 2 - 3 weeks and I left the whole job hunting thing terriblly late, I took it.

My job is as a waiter, which I havnt got much experiance in, thus another reason for me not minding the below national minimum wages. But the crap thing is, the owners are right bastards. The business is not good and they try to blame us, and they seem to have an attitude of "we're paying you so we own you." And there is no contract, no fixed working hours each week etc. But again, Im not there to cause trouble, I jus wanna work, get my money and go home. As simple as that.

But the bummer came the day before yesterday. They had told me like 4 days ago they wanted me to work from 2 - 5 (pm) and then from 6 - 10 on that day (I mean how tight is that, even cutting ur dinner break out, but i didnt think much about that, I mean it a job after all rite?) So, i put aside all my plans and turn up, work till 5, it was quite busy to start with, but then got alot quieter. Seeing that the place was quiet, the owner tells me that I dont have to come back at 6, i could come back another day.

I was really confused, so i ask him why. And she says thats cos there wasnt may ppl there.
I mean if the working time has been agreed, then for god sakes stick to it! So ppl working for ya can atleast have a clue about how long they're gonna work for!
So I said this isnt ok, I put aside my plans for a day out, to come here, and jus break the agreement like that?
She was like" Ur a part time, and this is the rules."

Ive not worked at a resteraunt b4, so are they allowed to playwith their employees like that?! So we have to be on demand to work wenever, and if the business slows down for even 5 minutes, they can send us home?

So Im now thinking of reporting them, for the under minimum pay thing, the lack of a contract, and the lack of ANY health and safety training wot so ever.

Anyone know the routes to take wen making a report of this kind?

Thanx in advance.

Reply 20

AT82

Already I can see breaches of the national minimum wage law and a possible breach of tax law.

Even if they have said you are self employed your employer still has to pay your tax because you are not self employed :smile:

The first thing I would do is reported them to the national mimimum wage people.

Reply 21

Dr. Blazed

16

paymaster

I'm sorry mate, but your advice isn't right here. An employment contract is assumed if you agree to turn up for work, and if the employer pays you. It doesn't have to be written to be 'legally actionable'. The contract will be a mix of statutory rights (those given by law) and rights derived from 'custom and practice' (the established practice of an organisation - if something's always done the same way by a company, that will deemed part of the contract). I will admit that 'custom and practice' is difficult to prove, which is why a written statement is preferable (and a legal requirement after two month's work).

To the original poster, as this is only a very temporary job, you might not want to bother. Your road for recourse is through the Employment Tribunal.

The easy option is to ring the National Minimum Wage helpline, and make a complaint over your pay. 0845 6000 678. (This is assuming you're 18 or over, and therefore should legally have a wage over your current amount).

If you want to go down the tribunal road, ring ACAS (the employment advisory body) on 08457 47 47 47 .

And don't forget, this isn't just about you - it's about your current colleagues and everyone else who earns under the minimum wage in this country. It's vital that you do everything you can to stamp out unfair employment practices.

Reply 22

icedout

1

If I've learned one thing in life, it's that you don't mess with Triads. Cut your losses and run.

Reporting illegal practice of employer? How?

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