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Original poster

Being paid under minimum wage

26 replies

Kaylasmum49 · 03/04/2019 00:25

My partner has just realised that he has been getting paid under the minimum wage. Looking at his payslip it appears he is only being paid £7.53 an hour. He works 39 hours a week and his yearly pay is £15275.

He is going to speak to his manager about it tomorrow but is a little nervous about it. What is his legal standing on this? Does his boss have to pay the minimum wage?

OP posts:
MagentaRocks · 03/04/2019 00:28

Have you taken into account lunch breaks?

CoachBombay · 03/04/2019 00:29

I would also assume he only gets paid a 37.5 hour week and gets a 30mimute lunch break, meaning it look about right payment wise.

AssassinatedBeauty · 03/04/2019 00:31

Yes they do have to pay minimum wage. Treat it like a simple enquiry where you're looking for clarification. State that it seems like he's being paid under minimum wage, and ask how then to explain how that can be calculated correctly. Are you very sure about your calculations?

Original poster
Kaylasmum49 · 03/04/2019 00:41

He works 8-4.30 mon/tues/wed/thurs and 8-4 on Friday. His yearly pay is as stated above. With his breaks deducted he works 39 hours. I think we've calculated it correctly.

OP posts:
colehawlins · 03/04/2019 00:43

8-4.30 mon/tues/wed/thurs and 8-4 on Friday.

That's 42 hours without breaks. Are you sure he only gets three hours of (unpaid) breaks per week?

CoachBombay · 03/04/2019 00:48

Well NLW was £7.50ph in 2018. He should now get a pay increase to £8.21 for 2019 rates. That is if you are 25 or older. Otherwise it's not the NLW but the NMW.

Have they not calculated the increase as of 1st of April, or is he under 25?

colehawlins · 03/04/2019 00:50

They won't have paid him for April 1st and onwards yet. It was only two days ago.

CoachBombay · 03/04/2019 00:50

Sorry £7.83ph in 2018. My apologies.

Original poster
Kaylasmum49 · 03/04/2019 00:57

Mon to thurs he has a half hour lunchbreak and on Friday he has an hour, he gets two 15 minute breaks every day which he gets paid for.

He is 49 years old and has worked in this job for about 25 years. He is an estate gardener on an estate owned by a millionare!

OP posts:
colehawlins · 03/04/2019 01:01

Stingy with breaks, aren't they?

It sounds about right for old NMW, so assuming he's paid in arrears, the next payslip is the one you need to check carefully to make sure he gets the increase.

Methyl · 03/04/2019 01:21

What does his contract say?

Original poster
Kaylasmum49 · 03/04/2019 01:36

How does it seem right for old NMW, when I calculate those figures it works out that he was getting paid £7.53 an hour, not £7.83.

He says he doesn't have a contract.

OP posts:
Original poster
Kaylasmum49 · 03/04/2019 01:39

39 hours at £7.83 an hour works out more than he has been getting paid.

OP posts:
RainbowMum11 · 03/04/2019 01:41

I'd question it, it doesn't seem right but could have simply been an oversight, some payroll packages don't increase automatically for NLW.

Fridasrage · 03/04/2019 01:42

I am quite familiar with the tax system! First thing is first, you need to check whether he is actually being underpaid.

  1. First check what the period is that you've taken that gross amount from as the minimum wage changes each year (when the 12m starts and ends) If it was, for example, the year to March 2018, then he's been paid correctly. If he's still earning £7.53 an hour, he's being underpaid slightly as the minimum wage now is £7.83 an hour.

The £8.21 figure doesn't kick in until April.

Rates are here: www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates

  1. You also need to check that the annual amount you listed is definitely the gross amount, before pension contributions, tax, national insurance, child support and any salary sacrifice amounts.

  2. Finally, you need to check whether your partner is definitely eligible for minimum wage. Check on this page to rule out that he's in an exempted group (it's unlikely): www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage/who-gets-the-minimum-wage

  3. If you verify this and he is being underpaid, he should take it to his employer and assume that it's a simple oversight that needs fixing.
    "I noticed that my pay hasn't been increased in line with the national minimum wage. As it's a legal requirement, could you update this?'
    Technically he should be entitled to backpay if he has been illegally underpaid.

If this doesn't go well, he should insist, reminding them that it is in fact illegal to be paid less than the minimum wage. Here is some further information on what he could do:

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/pay/getting-paid-less-than-minimum-wage-or-living-wage/

If your partner has a good working relationship with his employer, he might have to judge how much he cares about this - although it is his legal entitlement going down or threatening the grievance route might not be best in the long term for some employees.

Fridasrage · 03/04/2019 01:45

Apologies small correction: it is in fact illegal to pay less than the minimum wage, it is not illegal to be paid less than the minimum wage Grin

Original poster
Kaylasmum49 · 03/04/2019 02:02

The amount I stated in my first post was his latest payslip.

You say that it's illegal to not pay the minimum wage but not illegal to not be paid the minimum wage, how does that work out?

Also you said "he might have to judge how much he cares about this" obviously he wouldn't want to lose his job over this but he's entitled to be paid the minimum wage. Are you suggesting that he should just accept being underpaid by about £400 a year rather than rock the boat?

OP posts:
Original poster
Kaylasmum49 · 03/04/2019 02:16

If he was being paid minimum wage his yearly pay should be £15,879, his payslip dated 31st of March is £15,275, that's a difference of £604 for the year. For us, that's a considerable amount.

OP posts:
colehawlins · 03/04/2019 02:29

You say that it's illegal to not pay the minimum wage but not illegal to not be paid the minimum wage, how does that work out?

She meant that an underpaying employer is breaking the law, but an underpaid employee isn't.

colehawlins · 03/04/2019 02:31

If he was being paid minimum wage his yearly pay should be £15,879, his payslip dated 31st of March is £15,275, that's a difference of £604 for the year. For us, that's a considerable amount.

Yes you're right. So, on the face of it, he didn't receive last year's NMW increase.

I think PP's advice to raise it as polite enquiry initially, is good.

RainbowMum11 · 03/04/2019 02:32

The NLW changed on 1st Oct though, so his March payslip will show the YTD figures as 6 months at the lower rate and 6 months at the current rate (the rate before April).

DeadDoorpost · 03/04/2019 02:58

Does he get paid 4-weekly or monthly? If 4-weekly then the calculations work out at 15879 but if monthly then the work out at 14657 so the extra is, I'm assuming, the hours the fit outside of the 12 monthly payments that are done as a basic workout.

7.83x39x4=1221.48 (4 weeks worth of hours and wages)

1221.48x12=14657.78 (12 monthly payments)
1221.48x13=15879.24 (13 4-weekly payments)

Original poster
Kaylasmum49 · 03/04/2019 04:44

He gets paid monthly.

As far as I know the minimum wage before the last rise was more than £7.53 and by our calculations that's what he has been getting paid..

OP posts:
Fridasrage · 03/04/2019 05:34

Also you said "he might have to judge how much he cares about this" obviously he wouldn't want to lose his job over this but he's entitled to be paid the minimum wage. Are you suggesting that he should just accept being underpaid by about £400 a year rather than rock the boat?

Hi OP,

To clarify what i meant, in my original post i said that the link contained some things that your partner could do if the conversation with his employer didn't go well (i.e. meaning if they refused to increase his pay or pay backpay if appropriate). Some of the things at that link are more appropriate if you have secure employment at a medium or large employer.

You say that your partner works for a millionaire. I don't know the exact nature of the employment but if there is one employer making the decisions rather than this being a company or agency that he works through then it could be that his employment is relatively less secure than that of a person at a large organisation with a HR department. In these types of employment, doing things listed at that link (such as taking the employer to a tribunal, taking the employer to court or reporting them to HMRC) would inevitably cause a significant rift with the employer - I wouldn't want your partner to rush to threatening that type of action if it could cost him his job.

I did not mean to suggest that he should ignore this issue full stop.

Overall i think it's very likely that if you raise the issue as a probable accounting error, that will be sufficient to get things sorted.

The NLW changed on 1st Oct though

I don't think this is the case.

Does he get paid 4-weekly or monthly?

Usually for monthly contracts the earnings over a 52 week period are spread over 12 months, so this shouldn't be an issue.

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