Help please - Flowery? Asked to repay downtime...

[ilove]

I hope someone can help. I wok from home, contracted, for a Sales company in the UK. We work shifts, online, through an online call center we access via t'interweb and phone. Work provide the PC/phone/broadband/phone bills etc and obviouly we are paid.

My PC broke (motherboard/powerpack) a couple of weeks ago, I turned it on to start work on the SAt and it was dead. Contacted the boss who stated nothing could be done till the Monday. On the Monday I again chased it up, (I was days off Mon/Tues that week), and on the Tuesday I was asked to contact Dell as the PC was still under warranty. Dell insisted it was to be retuerned to them as it was blowing my electrics every time I turned it on due to the power pack failure.

To cut a long story short, Dell didnt return it to me for over 2 weeks. Meaning I missed 9 shifts for work. HOWEVER I repeatedly rang my boss asking for stuff to do, I offered to work on a personal laptop and was told NO, it had to be a company machine for data protection. I asked them to courier me out a replacement machine, was told there aren't any. I rang and rang every time I was due to work and kept being told there was nothing I/they could do.

Now the machine is back they want me to repay these missed shifts. But given it was their fault I couldnt work by them refusing to let me use my laptop, or sendme another machine, do they have the right to make me repay them or not pay me if I won't?

Thanks for any opinion...just to say they are a company that if you give an inch they will take a mile, and do everything they can to wriggle out of giving anything...

What does your contract say about your obligations in terms of availability, supply of equipment, contracted hours, that type of thing?

That we must be available to work shifts, which may vary at short notice. Which I was...and as I rang him from my work line, it will show all calls to him/finance director should they ask for a breakdown. I don't get copies ofthe bills, the finance directors get them.

Does it guarantee that if you make yourself available to work shifts then work will be provided for you?

Have just re-read my contract and there is notheing other than stating that in the hours we are working for them we must not do anything else.

Hours of Work

The Employee will be required to work 40 hours per week within the shift patterns at times and days determined by the Employee's manager from time to time with half an hour for lunch each day. It may be necessary for the Employee, however, to work such other reasonable hours as are necessary for the satisfactory ompletion of his/her duties for which no overtime will normally be paid. Where additional hours are required or requested any time off in lieu or additional pay shall be at the sole discretion of the company.

That is it about hours of work...

Also, the job I do it isn't like I could catch up on paperwork later...we answer calls coming in and sell them the product.

ooh hang on, there's an addendum here...

Except as otherewise provided herein or as otherwise agreed by the company the employee shall not be entitled to any remuneration or other payment from the company in respect of any period of employment during which the employee is absent from work

What does anyone think?

Sounds as though you should be paid. You were told to work those hours, you were available to work those hours, and you were not 'absent' from work as your workplace is at home. Not paying you would be an unauthorised deduction from wages as far as I can tell.

ooh thankyou. Yes, I made sure I was around every shift I was due to work, both on landline and mobile. I'll see what they say next week...