Payment issues with employer

[stevesw2]

Dear All
I was recently employed in an admin assistant role for a nursery. Just something to fit in with the kids being at school really. I have worked in an office all my life. Turns out the expectations for the role were outragous, responsible for 3 nursery settings, a highly pressurised role and paid the min wage it was not acceptable and was not discussed properly on interview. I have never left a job and am hard working but I am a grown woman and understand what is acceptable and what isnt. And to prove a point, while I worked there I learnt that the 3 admin staff before me all left within the first week of employment. It was a running joke each day I turned up.

So I worked 10 days (one of those I agreed to work for free for training) and then I handed my notice in. It stated in my contract that I had to give a months notice which I did but obviously it was pointless me hanging around so they said I should leave that day. After a couple of days I emailed the owner and asked about payment. She has replied and said that as over that 9 days i was partly getting trained I need to tell her how many hours i think I actually 'worked' as this is the only part she will pay me for. Now I am pretty sure she has to pay me for all the full 9 days. I have a contract cofirming my employment start date with no mention of a two week trial verbally or written or any additional training which I may not get paid for.

Here is the email she sent to me. Any advice on this would be very much appreicated.
Thank you

Dear Jane
Thank you for your email

Of course I will pay you for work you did when at XXXXX as explained and you agreed you were on a two week trial to include training for the post which could end at any time. Therefore no notice was required to end the post. You may be aware that applicants within two years of employment only need to give a weeks notice to end any position.

Please give me full details of the 'work' you did for XXXXX and of course I will pay you for the hours worked. As I know you were being trained by a paid employee for much of the time you were with XXXXX. I will need to reimburse employees for overtime they did as they were unable to get their work completed in their working week due to time spent training yourself.

Kind Regards
XXXX

You are entitled to be paid for all the hours you have worked - it is completely irrelevant that someone was spending their time training you!

Also, you have a contract which states that you have to give 1 months notice, therefore if they don't want you to work it, they should pay you in lieu of that notice period (PILON), for the normal hours that you would have worked, plus holiday pay that you would have accrued during that month. It's different if you asked to leave before the end of your contractual notice period, PILON is not applicable there.

I would write back to that effect, with a copy of your contract highlighting the part about the 1 month notice period (it should have stated that there is a reduced notice period both ways during a set probation period if that was the case).

Ellypoo
Thank you so much for this. Its sort of what I thought too. Is this employment law?
I think she thinks she can get away with it as I wouldnt pay the costs to take it to a tribunal. But to be honest id rather spend every penny I earned there to prove her wrong. I think shes a terrible greedy employer hence why its gone wrong so many times.
Thanks again

IIRC you should be able to take her to the small claims court?? I think you need to have been working there for 2 years to take this to a tribunal, they changed the rules. She should pay you for your training and she can't make deductions because someone had to train you, that's a ridiculous thing for her to do.

May be a good idea to post this in legal matters, or give ACAS a call for advice? www.acas.org.uk/contact

I think advice above is spot on, I'm not hr or lawyer but in my previous role was a manager and employed quite a few people and was well supported by our company hr. Sounds like she is trying to get away with paying as little as possible, might be worth you contacting citizens advice or perhaps even a solicitor, you might find a solicitor who is prepared to give you a fixed price for just an initial letter which may make her shift her position?

Yes all advice is spot on. Thank you very much all, really appreciate it.

Agree it's irrelevant you were being 'trained' you were still there working for them so you should get paid for all of the hours you were there.

I think from the sound of that email you were right to not continue working there! No wonder everyone was leaving!hope you get it sorted. Good luck!

You are entitled to be paid for the hours you worked but just because your contract says you need to give a months notice doesn't mean they have to do the same, unless it says so. Statutory notice from an employer is one week after a months continuous employment, see here. You don't need to have been employed for two years to bring a tribunal claim for non payment of wages.

What a nightmare! You are entitled to be paid for all the hours you were employed- why not simply reply withthat figure, since she asked! Plus she waived your offer to work the notice period so she needs to pay that to you as well as any annual leave you earned in the 9 days.

If you want to wind her up, Tell her that having spoken to ACAS/having reviewed the contract, it seems that there was no basis for you to compensate other employees or the company for the time/cost of training you - but you are sure that she would'nt be attempting to make an illegal deduction of wages from you just beacuse the job hasn't worked out, so if she could just ensure that the wages due including annual leave and pay in lieu of notice are paid by x date and the payslip (a legal requirement), that will be the end of the matter.