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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

employer treats me like a slave, witholding salary

106 replies

Lushlolly91 · 01/09/2016 19:34

I work long hours , I am caring, always on time, genuinely care for my clients.
I am a care assistant.

I was initially to be paid on the 18th of each month.
then it was moved to the 26th of each month.
Then it was to be the last working day of the month.

I am still waiting for my complete pay for august (248 hours)

Last month my pay was either late or simply given in dribs and drabs.
I had to borrow money to pay my rent (I live alone)

My employer makes excuses
"i haven't been paid by the council
"i didn't know other employees haven't been paid"

I am living hand to mouth as it is, I am in despair for the last two days, desperate for full payment of my hard earned salary, yet it is not forthcoming.

I must ensure my car Insurance isn't cancelled as I need my car for visiting my clients.

Last month I was forced to ask my nan who is a pensioner to lend me the funds as my rent was due but I hadn't received my full wages, yet again.

Needless to say I am on Zero hours contract, I just don't know what I can do to keep my head above water.

No one cares.

My Employer doesn't care.
He drives his status car around yet his workforce are in despair.

I feel like just giving up.

But I battled through a dysfunctional childhood, to be the mature Independent person I am today.

But AIBU in believing/expecting my Employer to pay my salary on a regular basis each month?

OP posts:
HeCantBeSerious · 09/09/2016 21:19

Wouldn't be admissible at court or tribunal though. You have a strong enough case just on missing wages though.

mimishimmi · 10/09/2016 04:58

I'd reply back to him that I would tell new employer he had not been paying you... he's trying to scare you off but he probably has a reputation in the industry for being an underhanded jerk.

43percentburnt · 10/09/2016 07:10

Sorry about your situation I really hope you get it resolved.

I have a relative whose social worker keeps trying to get them to use an agency at £16 an hour (the council pay this not the relative). Their spouse has refused due to the poor treatment of staff and lack of consistency with agency worker. They feel it's morally wrong to use an agency. Plus last time they used one the relative ended up in hospital after their visit! They have advertised for a direct payment worker (council pay them less).

Try and get a direct payment client - these agencies are exploitative scum. I know certain occupations have a bad reputation (estate agents/bankers etc) but I think care agency owners are the worst and their clients are the most vulnerable, yet people rarely talk about it.

43percentburnt · 10/09/2016 07:17

Op did you manage to record him? I would repost in Legal and see if anyone advises.

Good luck I really hope it gets resolved.

footballmum · 10/09/2016 07:28

OP what did ACAS say? Have you started the Early Conciliation process for an unlawful deduction from wages claim? They will liaise direct with him and try and secure payment from him. If not you can start proceedings in an Employment Tribunal. It will cost £160 to issue your claim but if you're not earning or on a low wage you can apply for a remission of those fees.

Sorry I may have missed it in your posts but have you been working for him for more than 2 years? If so I would formally resign in writing saying why you are doing so and also pursue a claim for constructive dismissal.

Please please don't do any more work for him. Im sorry that vulnerable people may suffer but that's his responsibility not yours.

Ignore the threats about you not being able to work elsewhere. It's total poppycock. Any new employer will understand why you left an employer that didn't pay you and followed a legal process to recover what was rightfully yours.

LuluJakey1 · 10/09/2016 08:19

You should also contact the council and let them know. They will put pressure on the company to pay you. They will be concerned that the company they have given the tender to are putting their clents at risk of having no carers.

Floss881 · 10/09/2016 08:40

Funnily enough, I also have a problem with my employer deliberately withholding my salary... Damn zero hours contracts! To make matters worse, they're a billion£ housing developer and come up with the most spurious excuses not to pay me every month... They know that I don't have to work because my Husband is a high earner and they hope that I'll just forget to pester them for it. I'm now on my second month without pay and starting to raid my savings account to cover the cost of going into work... Where they don't pay me... Madness!
I feel your pain!

footballmum · 10/09/2016 10:13

Why do you keep working for them Floss?!

dowhatnow · 10/09/2016 10:36

Yes speak to your new employer now and take copies of the correspondence. Don't wait until he gets his side in first.

Original poster
Lushlolly91 · 20/09/2016 09:38

footballmum, I have a new job ready to go to, but the problem is I am still waiting for my dbs.
I have been told there is an 18 week backlog.
I have managed to get 3 days work this week in a local factory, but I am getting deeper and deeper in debt.

I am taking advice from acas, but the day to day worries are making me lose sleep.
also I submitted my petrol claim last week, but have been told I am not eligible as I haven't paid enough tax, that amounts to £800 which would have at least paid some rent/utilities.
I am falling apart, drowning in o/d.

  • it's ironic, I have a job to go to.
  • I want to work to support myself, but at each corner I find myself blocked somehow.

I have been searching for any job at all, driving/delivery/shop etc, but it is now I need something to tide me over until my dbs comes back.

OP posts:
JaneAustinAllegro · 20/09/2016 09:47

I cannot advise you strongly enough to issue a statutory demand TODAY. Do it NOW before someone else does and they take priority for his attention and money. I waited on something like this because I didn't want to rock the boat and there were threats about how it would look to other employers / in the industry. When the company went into administration, none of the employees or consultants got a single penny - there were agencies owed hundreds of thousands. The directors got off scott free.
Be the first in there to do this and you stand a better chance of being paid. The threats to tell other companies about you are groundless and you have written proof of your past performance anyway. YOu can go independent and take control alternatively.
Act now or you won't see that £800 - please do it today - you can get CAB help to do so. www.gov.uk/statutory-demands/overview

Original poster
Lushlolly91 · 20/09/2016 10:02

Also I haven't been paid a penny for august worked.

I was banking on getting my petrol allowance to help pay rent etc.

thank you for your advice re statutory demand, i'm looking at it now.

OP posts:
Original poster
Lushlolly91 · 23/09/2016 15:12

I am looking into the statutory demand, I will go to the library.

Also to add insult to injury, a few months ago, I was wrongly accused of not having a current television licence.

Although I was able to provide date, amount paid I was still fined until I could prove I did indeed have a licence.

Two instalments were taken from my wages (zero hours)which would be reimbursed when I could prove my "innocence".

I subsequently attended court, and was found I did actually have an up to date Licence.
The court ordered the fine to be reimbursed .

However it transpires that even though the two instalments had been deducted from my wages, my employer hadn't paid in to the court.

The court says they will email my employers, cc to me, in order that the outstanding amount should be returned to me.

This is the employer who still owes me wages, refuses to communicate, and basically leaving me with an overdraft and not able to feed myself (luckily I have friends)

On the advice of acas, I sent a written recorded letter to the employer, who hasn't even the decency to acknowledge receipt of the letter.
I am a hair breaths away from naming and shaming this "caring" company.
I feel the world is against me!

OP posts:
redexpat · 23/09/2016 15:31

You keep on. Could your new employer use you in a role that doesnt need a dbs? Failing that, please register with temp agencies. Call them every day to see ifthey have aything.

Honestly there really should be more protectionfor people like you from employers like them.

AdaLovelacesCat · 23/09/2016 15:37

honestly OP just fine another job.
If he cannot pay you then he is in deep shit and will be going bust before long, regardless of the car he drives.

AdaLovelacesCat · 23/09/2016 15:37

*find

AdaLovelacesCat · 23/09/2016 15:40

as for the TV licence story.....i find that hard to believe.
The BBC does not have the right to take money from your bank account or wages, it would have to go to court first.

SecretPeanut · 23/09/2016 15:45

I would be inclined to go to the council again. They hate any kind of bad publicity, sit on their doorstep and when they don't listen threaten to go to the local paper, exposing both the local authority and the employer.

SecretPeanut · 23/09/2016 15:50

I'm a bit confused about the TV licence. How is your employer involved with this? Did the BBC seek payment of the licence through your employer??

Original poster
Lushlolly91 · 23/09/2016 15:59

BBC have nothing to do with it, someone had said that I lived at there address as they didn't have a to licence they to licence people sent letter to her which she ignored, it went to court in March with obviously I wasn't aware of , until detachment of earning was made!

OP posts:
Montalf · 23/09/2016 16:06

OP you are not being unreasonable to expect to be paid for your work, your employer wouldn't pay you for not working so why should you work without pay?
Yes you enjoy it and yes care work is a vocation in my opinion and as so you don't want to leave the clients you have built a relationship with, which in my view shows the type of person you are given your current circumstances.
I can understand why you might want your nan, or why your nan would want to get involved because you are so upset and stressed by this situation, but do try and deal with it a little at a time by yourself, because you will feel so much better for having done it yourself, it will improve your self confidence that is being shattered by being in this situation.
As others have said speak to ACAS and citizens advice (try email if calling them is an issue due to phone bills or using credit and having no cash - I have been there)
Above all please don't give up, you are not in the wrong to want what you have earned and no one deserves crap to be the keyword of their life. This will pass, everything does, and you will see that you got through it and learned some valuable lessons about life from it.
Lastly, look for another job that will hopefully give you as much joy as this one as well as a regularly paid salary.
I hope that things start looking up for you.

Original poster
Lushlolly91 · 23/09/2016 17:46

thank you.
yes, I have applied and been offered a new job, but they are waiting for the checks to come through, the due start is October 3rd, but until then I am stumped.
I have contacted all the relevant agencies, and as suggested by acas have written a letter to my "employer" stating all the facts, as yet not received a reply.

I was told that I wasn't being dismissed, simply wouldn't been offered any more hours, so pretty much the same as being dismissed.

re the TV licence as explained a detachment of earnings was made via the court, but my "employer" didn't send the money his company took from my wages!

OP posts:
AdaLovelacesCat · 23/09/2016 17:52

strange about the TV licence , I would have thought if you did not plead guilty by post, nor turn up at court, then you would also have been summonsed for contempt of court.

Original poster
Lushlolly91 · 24/09/2016 10:32

not strange at all!
I was in another house, but when the licencing people turned up, they refused to believe it wasn't MY house.

I found out weeks later that in fact they had sent repeated letters to the actual house owner but they had been ignored.

that was why eventually I made a sworn statement to the court that not only did I have my own licence, with reference etc, but my home address was totally different to the house concerned.

So, thus the detachment of earnings was incorrectly made, also the fact that my employer whilst he took the "fine" from my earnings, but failed to actually pay it into the court!
So, the court informed me yesterday that it isn't their problem I will have to sort it with my employer for return of the "fine" though this is the employer who owes me wages.

OP posts:
AdaLovelacesCat · 24/09/2016 11:43

I dont even know why you are here.
If all this is true, then obviously, find a new job Confused
It is not rocket science