To expect to be paid in December

[NigellaThornberry]

I started a new job on the 2nd of December and its a 0 hours contract where I will likely work 2 days a week, plus a bit extra over Christmas. At the interview I was told pay was monthly, but the contract states "pay is monthly in arrears and you will be paid into your bank account on the last working day of the month for hours worked in the previous month".
Surely they arnt expecting me to wait until the end of January to be paid, or are they?!
AIBU to expect to be paid in December, flr work done in December, which is what has usually been the case in other hospitality roles?

It makes sense. Payroll cutoff for a month end pay run is usually the middle of the month, so at the end of December they won’t be able to pay you for the whole of December because at the time of running the payroll they won’t know how many hours you would have worked. It’s possible that they might pay you at the end of December for the time worked in between your date of joining and the payroll cutoff, but I would think unlikely, as that would basically mean every month the payroll is being done based on hours people have worked between each mid-month payroll cutoff date rather than calendar monthly.

Perhaps you could request an advance for your December pay, if you need the money before Christmas?

@honoldbrist it’s different if you’re salaried because you get paid a set amount each month based on whatever your contracted weekly hours are, so as long as you’ve started your job before the payroll cutoff date for that month then you can get paid for the full month. This person is on a zero hours contract so will need to submit timesheets and be paid for the actual hours they have worked. There’s no way the payroll people can know mid-way through the month how many hours to pay them for through to the end of the month - they need to wait until the end of the month to get the timesheets submitted and calculations done for the next month’s payroll, the cutoff for which will be about 2 weeks later

They didn’t lie in the interview when they told you the next payday was end of December - it is, just not for you. It’s quite possible that the person interviewing you wasn’t aware of the nuances of the payroll process and mistakenly assumed that you would indeed be paid in the December run. I used to work in an in-house recruitment team and I’m pretty sure the majority of my interviewers/hiring managers wouldn’t know and would probably make the same assumption

There’s no reason a zero hours employee couldn’t be paid for a portion of the hours worked in December (up to a cut off) at the end of December and the rest in January if the employer chose to - they are just choosing to make employees wait.

Agree, this should be illegal.
🤯
wtf has it come to that employers can take the absolute piss like this. Salary bank role should take a few days. There is no excuse whatsoever in this day and age, and historically no one would have tried this stunt - workers got paid in cash at end of week at one time NOT that long ago.

look for new job asap and don’t work for such piss takers

2 weeks in advance 2 weeks in arrears is good practice on monthly notice periods, for those on weekly notice period then paid the week after a full month worked or notice finishes.

if you multiply that extra 3 weeks salary they’re sitting on in their bank for all employees that’s a hell of a lot of interest. or they’ve got massive cash flow issues or debts they’re paying which your salary is subsiding for that extra 3 weeks.

this isn’t about they can’t do it, it’s about there’s money to be made/saved by doing it at your expense

I work in a business where some workers are hourly paid and overtime is settled for the previous month the month after, similar to yours.

Payroll cut-off for us is 8 December, so if this was one of our employees I'd ask for a portion. As a one-off exceptional item I'd ask them to pay you for two weeks work, and ask your manager to approve.

How on earth do people manage 7/8 weeks with no pay then? It simply wouldn’t be possible for me.

Also, at the end of the 7/8 weeks you still only get 1 months pay, so how are you supposed to catch up? 1 months pay wouldn’t cover 2 months outgoings in my world.

The only way I can see this being feasible is if you are earning double your monthly outgoings each month. I’ve never been in that position and don’t know anyone who is!

I’ve worked a week in hand in years gone by and that creates problems, never mind a month. Sounds like more punishment for those earning low pay.

this isn’t about they can’t do it, it’s about there’s money to be made/saved by doing it at your expense
^this

What sector is the job in? For example, in care homes it is standard to be paid end of November for last week (up to 10 days) in October + 3 weeks in November.
surely your better option is to ask your employer? No one here will know any details about your employer and their set up.

I dealt with timesheets in my last job, if on an hourly paid contract with a total hour number to be worked over a set time period, you had to get the form signed by the manager to me for sign off by the 10th, to be paid on the 27th. So if you started on the 1st, you'd get hours up to the 10th in December, then 11th Dec to 10th Jan in Jan etc.

If you were on a 16 hour contract (so an fte number, say 0.45 fte) though, you'd not go through me as HR would have issued the contract and payroll would process for the whole month to be paid on the 27th.

But that was science research so the hours weren't necessarily regular each week for some projects.

Basically it was down to quitting ability. If you had a contract with a set number of hours, there was a notice period so they would pay the month, if on a zero hours one where you could leave when you.liked, why would they do that?

I put my timesheets in by the 7th of month b for the hours worked in month a, and am paid at the end of month b
So yes I would expect to be paid in January for December's hours.

I don’t think it does? It means they will get paid the end of the following month?

Pretty standard in contracted jobs to have to wait 6 weeks /2 months for pay. Its one of the problems of starting a new job..

Zero hours, often through agencies may pay weekly, but still I'm arrears, but 2 weeks is alot better than 2 months.
Well done for trying to work your way out of a sticky financial situation, sometimes the planets just don't align to help you.

I have a 0 hour contract.
So everything I work/earn between (for example) December 1st and 31st December gets paid to me on the 22nd January.
All overtime and 0 hour shifts need to be authorised by management before being paid. So from the end of the month it gives the mangers around 2 weeks to agree you worked those shifts.
It's crap for the first month but it evens out eventually.

(I took the job as a foot in the door in an industry I had no previous experience in).

Unfortunately, this is how my job worked in the care sector for 0 hour contracts. I did this for 4 years. So I think this is more common than people realise.

wont your wages from your old job carry you through December?

God that's piss poor.
Can't they do an advance of wages for this month to be deducted next month? I mean lots of people wouldn't even be able to get to work with no pay for 8 weeks?

You could try asking accounts for a pay advance

sounds pretty clear (and normal) that yes you will be paid end of Jan to me. But not sure why you are asking mumsnet rather than your employer?!

We pay monthly in arrears and if you join before the monthly payroll cut off, you'd be paid for the month. So if you'd joined you'd have got paid for 2/31sts of December, at the end of December.

It's really rough making you wait till the end of Jan!

You normally work a month in hand meaning you won't get paid until January

I would assume "monthly in arrears" to mean that you'd be paid at the end of december - but I do mostly work with monthly salary based payrolls.

if it's timesheet based, what date do you submit timesheets - or is it all online? Will take some time to calculate and approve payroll.

Best thing is to ask - and if it is being paid at the end of January, they may have an option to give you a new starter loan, that will be deducted from your first payroll payment.