Never work for friends...

[Donut22]

Can anyone help me with my dilemma, so my friend has a business and I work for her has an employee. We work over the weekends and because we both have family we split this she does one week I do the other etc. A few weeks back she asked me to cover her shift which I did.. BUT I didn't get paid for it.... I let it go has this job has helped me out so much! She has got a lot going on running her business her mum is really unwell normal life stuff on top too. Which brings me to this weekend she's just asked me to cover which I'm happy to do BUT I think I should get paid for it? How can I word it back to her that it's fine I'll work and I know u have a lot going on but I want paying to! Or aibu for thinking of money when she has an ill parent.

Of course you should be paid. Letting it go last time she didn’t pay you for covering was a big mistake, you’ll just have to tell her bluntly.

YANBU
You work = payment

Just bring it up that you didn’t get paid last time. You’re not doing it for fun and you wouldn’t do it for free if it wasn’t a friend’s business. It’s your time you’re giving up, tell her.

Can you confirm I'll be paid please as this didn't happen last time I covered.

Could you ask if you're swapping it for another day or doing an extra unpaid day like last time?

Just say would you like me to take the weekends off that I'm owed or would you rather pay me for them? I'm sure it won't be an issue.

I agree

Say, yes, you'll cover but you've got two days now in hand to take, would she prefer to pay for them rather than you take time off as she's got do much on.

Also depending on your rate, not paying might have breached NMW rules.

Just ask her if it's paid or not, say something like, "can I just check if this is paid overtime, as it didn't go into my paycheck last time? I know you've got a lot going on, and I want to help out, but I can't really do extra hours if it's unpaid."

I can understand you don't want to be difficult as they're your friend but if it is unpaid she needs to be upfront about the fact she is asking for a favour, which is not paid. Otherwise, she's taking advantage of you and not being a good friend, regardless of what else she has going on.

It may be that she just forgot come payroll or something, given everything else she's dealing with, and hopefully she'll do the decent thing and pay you for last time, confirm it is indeed paid, apologise for the oversight and thank you for helping her out.

If not, may well be time to look for another job.

Gosh I need to stand up for myself don't I! It's the fact she's asked me to cover then wrote a very long message why she can't do it shes so stressed worried etc I feel so bad having to ask about money 😔 I also don't want to give up another Saturday for free either! If she wasn't my friend I wouldn't think twice!

I’d ask her do you want to work these weekends back for me or pay me for them? It doesn’t need to be awkward she owes you time or money

Chat GPT says;

“Of course, I’m willing to cover the weekend again for you. Before we proceed, can we please discuss the payment arrangement this time to ensure everything is clear and agreed upon?” This way, you address the concern while maintaining a supportive and understanding tone.

Yanbu

This and the most important words being "this time".

Sorry... this is not about being friends.... this is business... any other EMPLOYEE would be getting paid... you are an EMPLOYEE when you are at work.
So you need to be paid.. for the last time AND this time.. if you CHOOSE to help out your BOSS

‘Hi, happy to cover once I’m paid for last time-think you forgot. Obviously this weekend is paid, right?’

If you do want to work this weekend, I'd message "I'm happy to do your weekend again, just to remind you - you haven't paid me for the last one I did for you yet, so please could you send the cash over when you get a sec? Thanks!"

And never lend them money in fact don't ever lend anything

Don't do it.
Don't do sny more unpaid work.
Judt say sorry Im not available.
She needs to find another way to run her business without relying on only you.
It's doing her a favour in the end. She will have to shore up her staffing