To think that at my workplace we should all be employed not self employed?

[ALittleTwee]

I work in a sales environment.

All of the sales staff are self employed (yes, I am registered with HMRC and do my tax returns etc), which has suited me as we can work hours that suit us, ie I do school hours 3 days per week. We are paid commission only.

Our boss has now decided that we are all going to be given fixed hours each week from the beginning of February. So some of the staff, that do mostly 6+ hours per day have been told that they are to do Monday-Friday 9-6. I have been told that I have to do Monday-Friday from 9.30-3, which tbh does not suit me as I don't want to work 5 days per week as I have other things that I need to do on those days off.

I just think it's a bit cheeky, given that we are all self employed, that our boss is trying to act as an employer but avoiding all the responsibility, eg we get no holiday pay, basic pay, sick pay, etc. Plus from the research I've done in the past, it's also illegal for him to dictate our working hours?

depends what you want to do really, several options
A. Put up with it
B. Speak to your boss, explain that you don't want to change your hours and that you feel you are employed according to HMRC guidelines
C. Report him to HMRC
D. Get another job

He may " fire" you but if youbhave been there for over 2 years and you can successfully argue you are employed you have certain rights. A isn't really an option though as HMRC may well catch up with you both at some point and B and C will be messy and time consuming. I would go with C but sales jobs that are parent friendly can be hard to find.

Sorry, meant I would go with D

He's blatantky trying to flout the law & deprive you of basic employment rights such as minimum wage, sick & holiday pay, employers NI contributions & workplace pension contributions.

How many people are there in this situation?
How profitable do you think the company is?
How easy would it be to find a different job if doing something led to dismissal?

You could just report anonymously to HMRC. When they get around to investigating (which might be a while) he will be fined and forced to do it properly in future.

Or you could work out how much you are all owed in sick pay, holiday pay and pension contributions and start a class action to sue the company for the lost money.

Or do nothing and suck it up because you're too scared of the uncertainty if you rock the boat.

I think I'd go for option 1. Your boss obviously hopes you will choose 3.

If you report to HMRC then they may investigate you, it means you can't work until their investigation is finished.

My DH is a consultant and has insurance against this in case he gets investigated in breach of IR35 regulations.

It sounds like you are a "disguised employee" and will be even more so if they put these changes in place.

You can as a pp has said take the employer to tribunal claiming you are an employee and claim what is outstanding in employee benefits but I would probably suggest if you want to remain self employed you back out now!