Is my employer scamming my pay ?

[NeneValleyGirl]

If I take a half day during the quiet periods when they send people home, it shows on my payslip as having worked 3.45 hours even though I’ve actually worked 4 full hours with no break.

I am only paid for 3.45

I have been working 15 minutes for free on a dozen occasions this year when they’ve sent people home because it’s quiet.

Here’s what HR replied:
“Colleagues are paid on a 7.5 hours basis per day which means that whether a break is taken or not, half days are always 3.45 hours”

Anyone else have experience of this?
I’m contracted 37.5 week on a full time contract with one half hour unpaid break. Paid weekly. Warehousing.

If you’re contracted to work 37.5 hours a week then they should be paying you for 37.5 hours a week even if they don’t have any work for you to do.

Yes they are taking the piss. For a start as the previous poster mentioned, if you are contracted for 37.5 hours then they need to pay you for 37.5 hours, assuming you are available of course.

But even if you do agree to take unpaid leave for half a day here and there, they need to pay the hours you work. If their system can only deal with half days and they want to pay for 3hr 45 then you should only be working the 3hr 45.

Thanks so far. I’m going to ask my union to confirm this is how it’s done.
Its a bummer because I’m one of those staff that always works 5 minutes past my contracted time anyway so they already get unpaid work out of me on top of this (insert a frustrated face emoji).

Are you on minimum wage? If so and you are not being paid for all the hours that you work then they are breaking the law. Get advice from your union.

I'm struggling to see how they can send you home anywhere. Do you have a choice for you stay or go?
And if you do take a half day, then make sure you leave after 3.45hrs not 4hrs...

Yes, that is not on.

They should either be allowing you to take a 15 min break or paying you the full 4 hours.

However they can only send you home early unpaid if you have a zero hours contract (and even then I'm not sure about the legality of deciding that after you have begun the working day) or if they have provision for short time working. (They usually have to write to you and get your agreements and it's meant to be a short term measure to help prevent redundancies.

My son should check this too - he is full time PAYE (delivery driver) but they are often offered days off when times are quiet and he always takes the time off as he likes the time off even though you lose pay.

I think in your case Xenia it might make a difference that he is offered the time off. He can accept or reject.

It sounds like the OP is being sent home unpaid.

If a half-day for you is 3.45 hours then you finish 3.45 hours after you start.
I work 9-5 with an hour unpaid break. If I take a half-day, I start at 9 and leave at 12.30.

Firstly, if you are contracted to work 37.5 hours then you should be paid for that unless you agree to lose the time. I'm willing to bet this is not optional.

Secondly, if you are working for 4 hours you should be paid for 4 hours. What HR are saying is utter nonsense.

They are totally ripping you off. Interesting that HR is using the language “colleagues” to try to conjure some sort of idyllic culture with no hierarchy when you’re being fucked over.

Speak to your Union or ACAS urgently, you are being denied your contractual pay

I think they're also scamming you with the 45mins and a bit of confusion.

As they said, you are contracted at 7.5hrs a day, therefore you should be paid at 3.75, not 3.45! Just double check they're not underpaying you even more with this decimal deceit! So check it is 3 and 3/4 of your hourly rate and not 3.45/under 3 and a half.

I think everyone is getting this wrong!

You are pays for 3 hours 45 minutes, the 15 minute break is unpaid.

If you take a half day, HR are correct - you get paid 3 hours 45 minutes, not 4 hours, if the above is correct.

However you've confused me as you are saying you have worked 4 hours without a break. That seems like a separate issue - but if so, you should take your break.

Back the original point, generally lunch breaks are unpaid, and tea breaks are paid but this depends on contractual arrangements.

And as to if you are contracted to work 37.5 hours, that's what you should be paid. Of course.

But if it's 'my working hours are 9 - 530 - ie 8.5 hours' then you don't get paid 42.5 hours, you get that less unpaid breaks, ie typically 37.5 hours.

So it may be that HR are correct but it hadn't been well communicated.

3:45 is indeed half 7:30, so half a day. It's correct. Why are you staying for 4h? Just leave after 3:45 and that's that.

I assume here 3 45 = 3 hours 45 minutes, not 3.45.

3 hours 45 minutes = 3.75 hours.

Yes, earrings, however if the company have said "your days are 7.5 hrs so half is 3.45hrs" and the payslip states 3.45hrs, it's possible she's being paid for under 3 and a Half hours, when she should be paid 3.75.

This is exactly my point, and what I said in my post, she needs to check that when they stat 3.45, they're actually paying 3.75.

My understanding is that they can certainly ask you if you'd like to leave early but up to you to accept or not.
It may be the case that it's a computer deducting the breaks but I'm sure it can be overridden by a manager/hr. It happened at my last place we couldn't remove a break so adjusted the time to say they left/arrived 15 minutes after they did therefore the hours actually worked were correct.

I assume OP is talking about 3 hours 45 minutes, so that part is actually correct. However, she should make sure to actually take that extra 15 minutes either as a coffee break or by leaving earlier. All that's assuming the half days are taken voluntarily, otherwise she should just stay put and insist on full pay.

Yes if I take a half day holiday I finish 12.46 after starting at 9.

Normal days it would be 9-5.30 with an hour at say 1-2.

If I work the afternoon I should start 1.45 not 2pm

But check 3.46 means 3 and 3/4 of an hours pay.

To answer a few questions:

We only have one break per 8 hour shift which is half an hour unpaid strictly after 6pm.

No, it isn’t minimum wage, it is well above that. Warehouse work is pretty well paid.

A half day means working from 2-6pm. We are not allowed to stop working and clock out at 5.45pm, nor are we entitled to a break for the last 15 minutes, because break times are strictly from 6pm.

If I clock out at 5.45pm, it will deduct 15 minutes from my pay.

Whatever the issue with it is, having asked my fellow workers, they’re all a bit Meh about it and just shrugged their shoulders, so maybe it’s down to the Im social managers on shift for not informing us we can actually leave at 5.45

*individual managers that should say. Not I’m social. Typo. Because the managers probably aren’t social at all

What time do you start work at?

We only have one break per 8 hour shift which is half an hour unpaid strictly after 6pm.

So this sounds correct - in an 8 hour shift you are entitled to 30 minutes break: you are entitled to this break after 6 hours working.

I assume you work 2 - 10 or something?

The break thing is fine. The issue is that a full day is actually 8 hours, minus the half hour break. So they are treating a half day as 4 hours minus a 15 minute break, but they don't let you have the 15 minute break. They either need to pay you those 15 minutes, or let you have a break (or leave early / start late).