Feeling slightly taken advantage of

[positively9something]

I started a parttime position, it turns out the role really should be full time and there is way too much work to do in the parttime hours, it's a small company and I am the only person responsible for my work.

I started on 20 hours I now do 24 hours sometimes more. I do not have a contract and I do not get holiday pay. My boss said he could give me holiday pay but he would deduct it from my salary. So I would be earning £1.50 less per hour apparently.

He has asked me several times t

Sorry posted too soon.

He has asked me several times to go full time, if I worked full time my salary would equate to 20k per year. I advised him with the amount I would loose in tax credits it would not be worth my while. He then offered me 25k to work full time. So I can see he does appreciate my hard work etc.

But at the moment I work 9.15-3.15 hourly rate no holiday and no lunch break. I started with 1/2 hour unpaid lunch and decided i would be better off working through as will earn slightly more and get more work done.

Really what I'm wondering is if there is any point in me pushing for better conditions ie holiday pay etc when actually the job is a full time job and for that reason I have way too much on my plate. As I could get another job which already has the better terms set out. The thing is this job is very local to my dds school an was I am a single parent that makes life much easier.

You are legally entitled to paid holiday and a written statement of particulars within two months of starting your job. I would be concerned at your boss's approach to your employment and conditions.

Do you get proper pay checks ? is he paying your NU and Tax correctly ??

Are you the same poster who posted about holiday pay before?

I'll say the same, you are not entitled to holiday pay, you are entitled to paid holiday. You should also have at least a 20 minute break in a 6 hour shift, so your boss shouldn't have allowed you to work through.

But the good news is he can afford to employ you full time, which means money for holiday isn't the issue...

I would suggest asking him for a draft contract for the full time position and saying you will base your decision on that. If he refuses to give you a contract, or doesn't include holiday, I'd walk away.

He does pay my ni and tax.

Flowery - I have posted about this before.

Is the 20mins break paid or unpaid?

If I went full time I would have a paid holiday entitlement. I could also arrange to have a contract.

The problem is as I am a single parent, if I work full time I have to pay childcare and loose nearly all of my tax credits so I have tried to calculate it and I feel like I wouldn't actually benefit by working full time and if I would it would be only slightly and my dd would be stuck at after school club until 6pm and as she is only small I feel it's unfair.

What he is doing is unlawful - part timers are entitled to holiday too on a pro data basis.

The statutory 20 min break is unpaid.

Well when I said that I really wanted paid holiday he said he can reduce the hourly rate from £10 to £8.50 per hour and then give me holiday pay.

He is breaking the law - you are entitled to accrue holiday at the equivalent rate to a full timer.

Please document all the conversations. And start looking for another job - he sounds like a complete nightmare.

Holidays are a statutory minimum of 28 working days (or 5.6 weeks) per year. He has to give you these paid at your normal rate of pay. Lunch breaks are usually unpaid, he can ask you to say on the premises for this but only if you have a proper tea room to sit and eat your meal, otherwise you can go out (not much you can do in 20 mins mind you).

Seems to me that he is a bit of an idiot that hasn't a clue how employment laws work. An employer can in some circumstances work holidays into pay but that is only good really for casual staff (I run payroll for a cleaning company for example, they have staff working a few hours here and there alongside other employment). I roll their holiday pay of 12.07% of their hourly rate and add it into their payslip, however this is listed in their terms and conditions and shown separately on their payslips. How was the job advertised?

Was this made clear when you started? Just asking as I once took on a project management job that was advertised at £26,000 per year but when I received my first cheque it was less. The Directors told me it was because the advertised wage included their employer's national insurance contributions at 13.8%, knocking almost £3000 off my yearly salary however, as they did not stipulate that in the ad I successfully argued Emp NIC contributions were their problem, not mine. They sought a barrister's advice who told them to pay up.

The job was not advertised, it's a small local company and I walked in and asked if there were any jobs available.

When he offered me the job he offered it at 10 pound per hour (inclusive of holiday pay) I raised the issue with him and he said we would review it after 4 weeks, then when I approached it with him again, he said if I had holiday pay he would have to reduce my hourly rate to £1.50.

I think at the time I didn't mind so much as I saw it as short term as I wanted to get into a different line of work and I originally started with 2 days off in the week, but now that I have upped my hours I really feel that I need a proper holiday entitlement and I don't want my salary to go down.

I think I will speak to him and say I cannot see myself working under these terms for a long time so if they do not change I will have to look elsewhere.