Dd employer threatened to sack her

[whitehorsesdonotlie]

Dd 18 works PT at local restaurant. She has tonsillitis. Came on v suddenly today - she's prone to it.

She rang her boss to tell him she couldn't work tonight and he said she has to or he will sack her.

What can she do?

She wants to go in. I want to ring him and tell him he's being an arse/breaking the law, but is that right?

What can dd do?

@whitehorsesdonotlieUnfortunately, you have no rights until employed for 2 years, unless you are dismissed for a reason that is automatically discriminatory (all covered by the Equality Act).

It’s shitty, but those are the rules. I’ll attach a link for NI thresholds. You can pay when earning a lower rate. While paying someone cash is not illegal, I would think they should still be on the company’s books. My DF used to employ people p/t who didn’t earn enough to meet thresholds, but they were still down as working for him.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-national-insurance-contributions/rates-and-allowances-national-insurance-contributions

So she's just got back. Her boss took one look at her and said oh. I didn't realise you were that il 🙄 then made her a honey and lemon.

It’s always better to go in and get sent home than not to go in at all
Now he might be inclined to believe her if she has to phone in sick again

It because it's the weekend and he thinks she's going out and of course it'll be busy so he's stressed

@whitehorsesdonotlie

So she's just got back. Her boss took one look at her and said oh. I didn't realise you were that il 🙄 then made her a honey and lemon.

What a complete arse. I hope he learns a lesson in humanity from this. I hope DD recovers as it can be really painful. She might need antibiotics if she gets a fever etc with it.

Well I hope she hasnt passed her germs on to any of the customers. Both bacterial and viral tonsillitis are very infectious.

@insancerre don’t be silly - esp with an infectious illness like Tonsillitis! Not to mention costs of travel etc potentially. Would you say the same if it were, say, Covid? Good employers will believe their staff who call in sick

@CherryRedDMs

She’s an adult so I don’t think you can ring at all. I would suggest to her that she accept being sacked (if he goes through with it) unless you need the income. By going in she will “prove” to him that she wasn’t too ill to work so he won’t trust her, not that his trust has any value. If she goes in, something else similar will come up again and she will just lose the job a bit later. Staying at home she keeps the moral high ground and if she loses the job, it wasn’t worth having.

I disagree - if my 18yr son is sick and his boss spoke to him like that I would be sticking up for him too! In their twenties then maybe keep out of it but at 18, inexperienced and not been working very long, damn right I would talk to him - OP maybe he thinks she’s just making an excuse to get out of work x

Sorry only meant to quote your first line @CherryRedDMs x I agree with the rest of your post though 😂

She doesn't earn enough to pay NI either but it is a good idea to have it paid properly and not cash in hand