10 Years and Nothing!!

[GreatBigHooAndToodaloo]

I don’t even know what my AIBU is. My head is spinning. I’ve name changed for this because it could be outing.

I’m furious. My DH has worked for the same man for 10 years. He is a highly skilled tradesman (engineer) His bastard boss refused to take him on as an employee even though he wears the uniform, drives a sign written vehicle, works set hours and doesn’t do any other private work. He is essentially an employee without any of the benefits. The bastard boss hides behind the CIS scheme so that he can get all the benefits of having an employee without the faff. My DH hasn’t had a single day of paid holiday or sick leave for nearly 10 years.

Bastard boss comes to the house after work on Friday and announces that he is closing the company and moving overseas in a weeks time. One week!

He has also made it clear that there will be no redundancy pay. He got the work vehicle evaluated and has said my DH can buy it from him. He showed the evaluation to my DH. He is refusing to give him any discount on it. Not a single penny. I’m furious and heartbroken. I don’t know what we’re going to do.

Does anyone have any advice? Is there anything we can actually do? Ten years of loyalty. Ten years!

[bluelavender]

Best of luck with the new business; and what a horrid way to be treated.

Your local authority may have schemes designed to support new businesses in the area. These can include grants, training and other types of support

[wanttomarryamillionaire]

Wow what a disgusting piece of shit his boss is! Hopefully karma will catch up with him during his new life abroad!

[SchrodingersImmigrant]

He was a worker and needs pegal advice and sue boss's arse to oblivion

[SchrodingersImmigrant]

Legal

[GreatBigHooAndToodaloo]

@WallaceinAnderland you’d be surprised to learn that this isn’t all that uncommon. Pimlico Plumbing did this to their staff for years before someone turned around and sued them. It’s pretty standard in the industry unfortunately. It needs to change.

His taxes are paid by the company through CIS (construction industry scheme). They deduct tax and pay it directly to HMRC on his behalf. We pay his national insurance monthly via direct debit.

[SchrodingersImmigrant]

Look up pimlico plumbers case
(Funny how I never mention it and than it comes up twice in 24 hours😁)

[SchrodingersImmigrant]

Oh x posted

[deste]

I thought if you worked for a company for more than two years that you got the benefits as if you were employed, ie holiday pay. It may have changed but I’m sure someone will know.

[HopeHappy]

I wouldn't normally recommend corporate sabotage, but if your DH goes in to a company office, I'd see if there was a way to pinch the client database. If it doesn't exist, there may be a record of sale invoices raised, work diaries of contacts, etc.

If your DH has a diary/timesheet of work done in the last few years, this would possibly help him remember all the clients he's worked for and can contact.

If you have any doubts that the company was incorrectly applying the CIS scheme, I'd consider contacting HMRC "naively" to ask if there's any chance that he's due redundancy.

If they think he's applied the CIS scheme wrong and he should have been an employee, they'll go after the company. Your DH is in the clear as it's the "employer's" responsibility to ensure their staff are taxed correctly.

Hopefully in a year's time you'll be looking back on this and thinking that bastard boss inadvertently did you a massive favour!

[user1471528245]

@GeorgiaGirl52

Make a list of all the clients your husband has serviced.
Buy the truck.
Contact all the clients and let them know he is now in business for himself.
He may find he is better off owning/operating his own business.

Exactly this, if the company the customers used has gone, who will they get to do the work, the same engineer they always used, the only difference is the money goes straight to your husband instead

[BarbaraofSeville]

Problem is that if they guy is moving abroad, he might be out of reach of the UK tax authorities.

Best thing your DH can do is carry on doing this work himself and hope he makes a success of it on his own terms.

[LarryTheLurker]

Try not to get angry, that is entirely natural but won't help.

This sounds to me like a clear case of what is termed 'bogus self employment' which has been recognised as a problem for some time.

As has been sugested above, straight to ACAS.

[Neondisco]

This is awful. This man is a cunt. No idea why you'd let this continue for 10 years though. Especially as it sounds like his skills would mean he could gain other work.

I'm not sure what you can do now. But it sounds like he might meet the criteria for being employed.

[gotalottolose]

It sounds like your husband was very much an employee of this firm for years. He may be able to claim back holiday pay and other benefits he missed out on. I’d honestly look at getting a good lawyer and see if it’s possible to sue the slimy boss (I don’t know if him moving abroad would complicate things).

[Whycangirlsbesonasty]

HMRC would likely view your husband as an employee (he wore their uniform and drove their van, was very much held out to be an employee) and would go after the past owner for employer NICs. I would certainly take legal advice. You could get a lot of compensation for lack of holiday pay etc, and the previous owner would be charged employers nic going back years.

[Notaroadrunner]

@GeorgiaGirl52

Make a list of all the clients your husband has serviced.
Buy the truck.
Contact all the clients and let them know he is now in business for himself.
He may find he is better off owning/operating his own business.

This. Your Dh was self employed. Same thing happened Dh over 10 years ago. He didn't do extra work, just did work for the one company who had previously employed him, then told him they were dropping him as an employee but he could set up as self employed and do the same work. He did that for a while until they once again dropped the contract. However this time Dh had other contacts. He's now been running his own business for 10 years so it worked out ok. It was a massive shock at the time though.

Good to hear you're on the ball and that clients are happy to continue with Dh at the helm. He will need to get his head round all the tax and admin work associated with his own business. Will you be helping out? I work for Dh doing accounts. It doesn't take up much time for me now, but took a while to navigate as neither of us have a business background.

[DingDongDenny]

Tell him you'll pay for the van once his redundancy is sorted out

[BarbaraofSeville]

One thing that he might be eligible for would be statutory redundancy pay, which is payable when a company goes bust and I believe is payable by the government rather than the previous employer, but obviously this is complicated by the bogus self employment issue.

I really sympathise OP, this sort of shit is endemic in the building trade and similar. A lot of the time, it's almost impossible to get a permanent employed job with a salary and basic employment rights like paid leave.

Maybe this the area HMRC should look at now they've cracked down on IT consultant type roles .

[emilylily]

Totally appalling behaviour from his boss. I'm so sorry OP.

I hope he has a legal case for arguing that he was an employee- perhaps seek legal advice quickly?

[BarbaraofSeville]

@DingDongDenny

Tell him you'll pay for the van once his redundancy is sorted out

Tell him you'll take the van (and any appropriate tools) for nothing or a token sum like £1 in lieu of redundancy.

[BoredZelda]

his earnings excluded him from the SEISS grants.

He must have done pretty well in previous years?

[VestaTilley]

Pretty sure this is illegal. Your DH has been completely exploited, I’m so sorry.

The Uber ruling recently may benefit your husband.

Can you afford a solicitor? Write to your MP maybe? This is one of the worst cases of employer exploitation I’ve ever come across.

Is your husband in a union? Trade unions call this “false self employment”. I do hope you can get help, and justice.

If you can’t afford a solicitor then Google your local pro bono (free) law centre. Someone there may help you.

[GintyMcGinty]

Whilst it's clearly all illegal - no holiday pay, sick pay, redundancy - if the guy is leaving the country in a week then trying to pursue him legally is totally pointless.

How awful for you. I'm not surprised you are raging.

[ramamamadingdong]

I'm no expert but you might want to google 'IR35' which is about companies not formally employing people who are working as employees would be.

[PeoplePleasingWayTooMuch]

I would definitely get advice from Citizen's Advice - he might be due backdated pay of holiday pay.

I'm a freelance and quite often if I've been working for the same company coming up for a year, they will not renew my contract to make sure I have at least a two week break as I believe if you are working for the same company for longer than one year you automatically count as employed in the eyes of the law (even if your contract says otherwise).

Sorry can't help with specifics but DEFINITELY get advice and definitely fight the unscrupulous bastard!! Ideally asap (today) if he's moving overseas in case you need to do something before he goes...