Employee leaving work early and not meeting minimum contract hours

[Rustyfeet]

Hi all,
I wouldn't normally ask for advice on here but at this time of year all offices are closing!

We have an employee salaried to work a minimum of 40 hours a week. I went to do payroll for our weekly paid staff today and I added said employees hours up and seen that they are working 7 hours less a week.

I queried this and she point blank ignored this and was talking about something else in the message. She is supposed to be the manager of the place (hospitality) and sets up the rotas. I have now gone and collected all past rotas and she has done this for the last 3 weeks since moving from 0 hours to a salary. I worked with her to make the salary work and even agreed to pay a little more as she wants to apply for a mortgage as long as she worked the 40 hours minium.

Where do I stand legally regarding her pay? I have checked online but it all seems to be from an emplpyee point of view.

Tia

I know... no spirit of goodwill in some of these posters!
OP has taken on board the advice and is planning on tackling it !

Triggered much?

If you had looked through my posts on the thread at hand, you'd see I gave useful advice.

But yeh, go ahead and name call because you self project. 👍

5 of my posts to the OP in a thread of almost 100 posts and I am trolling.

LOL

Give it a rest @HelplessSoul the op asked for advice, admitted she didn’t know much about HR, has taken the advice on board and is Acting on it.

@Rustyfeet I wasn’t implying you were a bad boss, but that there are many shit bosses in hospitality as I’m sure you realise. My dd2 is working for a restaurant at the moment that is owned and run by a lovely couple. But my dd1 worked for a big chain and was treated illegally badly. But because she only had 18 months’ service she had little or no redress, even with union backing.

I may be incorrect but if she hasn't signed the contract and returned then you don't need to give 4 weeks notice and can just give her 0 hours as per previous contract?

We use a company called Peninsula to do our HR. We have around 20 staff and it costs us around £270 + VAT per month. They're there to answer any queries and give guidance on how to handle a situation.

They will also (for a cost of around £1,000 + VAT) do any actual disciplinary hearings themselves. We have used this service and it's really helpful. No-one likes having to deal with disciplinary matters, especially when you consider yourself to be a "nice" boss.

It comes with the extra comfort that they deal with everything correctly and protect you from any future claims for wrongful/unfair dismissal. They will also write an employee handbook that sets out your business' policies and expectations. This is then useful as there will be a set disciplinary process to follow.

Ultimately they are in breach of their employment contract and would be considered misconduct for unacceptable behaviour.

ACAS guidance on disciplinary procedures are here - www.acas.org.uk/disciplinary-procedure-step-by-step

Re the unsigned new contract - the fact that she verbally accepted the new hours and has, in theory, been doing them, it is an indication that she has accepted the terms, even if it's not signed - https://www.peninsulagrouplimited.com/resource-hub/employment-contract/not-signing/

It's common in hospitality because of the ever changing needs the business has. Especially at this time of year.
I'll be averaging 45-55 over December, but Jan I'll be 35-40. My contract is 40 hours and salaried, and I'm expected to work that and stay longer/start earlier to the needs of the business, and cover staff shortages.

We get toil for full shifts, for starting earlier or finishing later then there's an unofficial agreement (as in nothing in the contract) that on other days when it's quiet and you're not needed, you can go earlier. It balances itself out, but for it to work you need staff and employers who don't take the piss, payroll keep a track of it and so do I so I know where I am. They'll tell you you've racked up x hours from the timesheet and tell you to take it back where possible, or you'll get a full shift off if it's crept up, I quite often get an extra day off in January from the hour here and hour there in December.
But they could, I guess, take me to task if I don't work my 40 hours in quieter times, but all that would mean is I'd work to rule up to my 40 hours when it's busy.

If she's not been in the job long enough to build up over hours and she's not digging in during the busiest times, especially as she has another job, then she's not going to cut it imo, she sounds like she's let being promoted go to her head, and is taking a lend of being in charge of rota's and planning her own hours.

Hope you manage to get rid, it's people like that who piss off other staff and make service poorer in the industry.

You are incorrect. An employment contract does not have to be signed to be valid.

I agree with this post, we used Peninsula in the last small business I worked for and they were fantastic.

If she's not signed the contract she's surely not under the contract yet?

Get proper advice for an HR consultant

We used Rebox HR for a similar issue

Yes, she is. If your employer sends you an updated contract and you continue to work in accordance with its terms without protest, you are generally deemed to have accepted the contract.

She's not though is she? Working within the terms, maybe she doesn't think it's valid until she's signed

She is working within the terms. She is fulfilling the role as manager and accepting the salary. The fact she isn't doing the required hours is not enough to allow her to claim that the contract does not apply.

Presumably though she's working to her old contract & that's what she'll argue. I don't think it's as easy to get rid of or discipline someone under these circumstances.

She handed in her notice with Immediate effect today! So that's over. But I have taken on everything everyone has said for the future. Thank you again

That’s great news that it’s now sorted, hopefully you’ll be able to put systems in place so no one can take advantage again.

Great news! You did not have to say anything and she just resigned like that?

You must be so relieved.

Given the latest update it is irrelevant, but she can only argue that if she also rejects her new salary. She can't pick and choose to somehow claim that the old contract applies. If she accepts the new salary, she has accepted the new contract.

Good news! Bearing in mind the recent discussions about what does/doesn't constitute an agreement, I suggest that you respond.
In theory, at the moment she has merely made an offer of resignation. You need to complete the contract - and remove any chance of backtracking - by accepting it in writing. Here's a template from ACAS. Do it, pronto.

Thank you OP for providing the update. Having to sack someone which is what you would otherwise have to do is not easy, so perhaps her resignation is for the best.

Thank you @senua I wrote back and accepted her resignation quite swiftly! And she's been taken off of the rota. And I requested her hours worked in the last few days and said her p45 will be in the post Monday afternoon. I am releived. She was a nice person but just not the right fit for us.

I think she understood it was heading in that direction and it's better to resign than be sacked!