To ask what is so bad about zero hour contracts

[Idontlikecheesecake]

I know there’s a lot of controversy about them and the government want to get rid of them, but they’ve always worked for me. Ive always had contracted hours and then had a zero hours contract as an extra. They paid weekly so they helped me budget with monthly pay. I could do an extra shift i wanted to, and i didnt have to if i didnt want to. Last year i walked out of a job, and the zero hours contract i had was the only thing that kept me going until i started new employment 3 months later.

I get that they don’t have pensions, many don’t pay holiday and some places don’t offer enough hours (that was why I registered with a few agencies). But surely a contract that says you may get some work in line with your availability is better than nothing at all?

I think there is. The changes that have been made so far were because of the publicity surrounding Zero Hours and some court cases that also resulted in changes. I think we can write to MPs and papers if we are on the receiving end of bad treatment and join a union (your company doesn't have to know) to safeguard yourself and who may be in a position to take bad or illegal treatment further for you. The more something is in the public eye, the higher chance there is for a campaign of change.

If a current ZO is illegal, report it, take it to a union if possible.

You are also entitled to statutory maternity pay

Not if they “have no more hours for you” when you get pregnant. Because then you won’t accrue any eligibility for SMP.

Also ZHC will quite often falsely regard the employee as self employed in order to get out of being eligible for sick pay etc.

It's come to something, when even teachers are put on ZHC

At least they still get paid something. Loads of public sector jobs have been moved into the voluntary sector. I really don't know why some people still think that this country is in any way a good place to live.

I think we can write to MPs and papers if we are on the receiving end of bad treatment and join a union (your company doesn't have to know) to safeguard yourself and who may be in a position to take bad or illegal treatment further for you.

But many people on ZHC don't know their rights, and don't understand what they can do. They also won't be able to afford to take employers to tribunals, and I bet loads don't even know who their MP is, because they're "not interested in politics".

A lot of reforms in the Victorian times, came about because powerful philanthropists pushed for them. We could do with some again.

I was on was one as a carer and it worked most of the time. Where it fell down was when I rang in genuinely ill with something I knew would only need one day off and they then scrapped all my calls for that week as per ‘company policy’. That was crap as I didn’t need to be off that long and there was no sick pay. Also when I left, for the last month I hardly got given any calls, like they were punishing me for leaving. There was no real flexibility though as we had two set days off a week and my rota could change as I was working with new calls coming through or being cancelled.

Also ZHC will quite often falsely regard the employee as self employed in order to get out of being eligible for sick pay etc

DD is registered as self employed. Because she has several sources of income this means she is paid gross and can put any travel expenses, uniform, etc against tax.