Seeking Employment law advice please!

[Lifeisconfusing]

Hi there I was wondering if any of you guys could help me with a situation regarding my DH work please?

DH started his new job at the beginning of March Working in a 4 star hotel! he was promised mileage allowance, £20 food allowance per day plus accommodation (staying on site at the hotel) his work is approx 134miles away.

In March he got paid his mileage and normal salary. At the beginning of lockdown his boss (the owner of the company) decided to reduce his pay by 20% ( he wasn’t furloughed) he was still required to work his 40 hours!! The owner also took away the mileage allowance, this was all done without any form of coraspondance my dh was told by the owners PA that his wage would be reduced going forward. My Dh wasn’t happy but he’s a decent man and understands it was a tough time and didn’t want to walk out on a job (very hard working and proud) he tried to communicate with the owner as the months went on to ask when he will be getting his normal contractual pay? Each time the owner would fob him off and say he was busy!! My DH knows that the business is doing very well and feels the owner has just used the Covid situation as a good excuse to reduce costs! The owner is a millionaire and he doesn’t give a dam about respecting loyal trustworthy staff he simply thinks that because he has the money and power he can treat people this way.

Last week because the hotel was so busy with the eat out to help out the owner told my dh that he could no longer have a meal allowance of £20 and he would have to sort his own food out ( he went down the road to another restaurant and paid for his own food all week.

My dh has finally found a job working locally and has a start date in September his boss says he has to give a full months notice my dh asked if he could do 2 weeks plus two weeks holiday? This was declined and he has been advised he has to work it or he is in breach of contract!! (How ironic of him to say that when he has unlawfully breached by reducing my dh pay and taking away everything else bit by bit! My dh spoke with him today and tried to come up with a solution but the owner was verbally insulting towards him saying things like : (I don’t know how your in management with you childish behaviour spitting your dummy out because you can’t have food!!!

This of course wasn’t the reason but it was the icing on the cake!! My dh wants to take this further to try and recover the money he has lost.

The owner is completely unreasonable he’s a bad communicator and he likes to sit on the throne making everyone around him miserable!! What’s your thoughts? Thanks a lot for reading

Did your husband have a signed contract from his employer? I would recommend he speak to ACAS & to CAB. ACAS will be able to answer if your husband has been treated unfairly from an employment law stance. So pleased your husband has a new job, good for him as this employer sounds like a toad. Good luck OP

Thankyou for your reply. Yes he has a signed contract x

Unless he set out his objections in writing, the courts are likely to take the view that your husband accepted the salary reduction and removal of the mileage allowance by continuing to work. I doubt he can recover those. He may be on stronger ground with the meal allowance provided he objects in writing immediately, but even here it may be too late depending on the details. He really needs to consult a lawyer who specialises in employment law to find out whether he has a case for recovering any of the money he has lost.

If his terms of employment say he must give one his employer one month's notice he will indeed be in breach of contract if he gives less. In theory he could be held liable for any increase in his employer's costs caused as a direct result of him not working his notice. However, any increased costs are likely to be minimal and the courts are very reluctant to back employers in this situation. So it is unlikely he will have any problems if he leaves without serving out his notice other than the fact that he is unlikely to get a good reference from this employer. If there is nothing about notice in your husband's terms of employment, statutory notice applies which means he only needs to give one week's notice.

Your husband's employer does not have to allow him to take his outstanding holiday during his notice period. However, if they don't, they must pay his holiday pay when he leaves. If they don't allow him to take his holiday and fail to pay his holiday pay he can definitely recover that.

@prh47bridge Thankyou it does say in his contract 1 calendar month notice after 3 month probation. He didn’t want to loose his job so he went along with the pay cut thinking it would be temp but it’s been months and the boss won’t even discuss changing it (totally taking advantage of the situation.

In that case he will be in breach of contract if he leaves with less than 1 months' notice, but it is highly unlikely he would face any consequences other than the fact he won't get a good reference from his current employer.