My partner got a job about a month ago. It was a good job, as a dog groomer, and it was going well until four days in when he fell ill and had to take two days off. He literally could not stand his migraines were so bad. His boss basically apologised but told him not to return - they needed someone more reliable. Now the woman he had been working with had been a bit of a b and had been making it hard for him to do his job well by treating him rudely, so he didn't really mind too much about losing the job, as it had become clear it wasn't going to go well. Saying that, he had kept his head down, been polite and worked hard. By the way, he had also quickly realised that this boss treated people like they were dispensable, firing them for any reason.
However, this job really had been a good opportunity and we decided that he should take it despite the expensive two hour commute. We aren't rich, so this was a sacrifice for us which we hoped would benefit his career. It didn't work out though, and that would have been fine - these things happen. Except his ex boss is now ignoring his messages about the four days pay he is owed.
It cost us £15 a day for him to travel to that job, and we really need the money he could have earned.
What on earth can we do? I suppose the boss probably didn't bother putting him through the books as he had not worked there long enough. Should we just leave it? He was speaking the the guy in Facebook messenger, and had given him his bank details just before he was fired. The boss replied a few times as three weeks went by with no pay in the bank, saying "next week", and "the accountant will get round to it" and "the accountant is waiting to hear back from HMRC about your tax code". Four weeks have gone by now and he has not replied to the latest message we sent him a week ago,