Useless boss and 0 hour contract request

[Uselessbossnohelp]

Im really stuck with this one and hoping someone might have an idea of what to do

i line manage someone who is here on a 3 year student visa. She works 10 hours somewhere else & 15 hours a work for us. She has asked me if it is possible for her contract to be a 0 hour contract because she’s worried about HMRC and her student visa.

i can’t make that decision so took it to my line manager who is also the ceo (it’s a small charity with 12 staff so no in house HR) at the end of March. He promised me to consult with the HR consultant we use to get an answer. Since then I’ve reminded him 3 times (2 x in writing) he needs to do this and he still hasn’t. Meanwhile my member of staff is getting really really stressed about the lack of an answer. I don’t know what to do to get him to just talk to the HR consultant 🤦🏻‍♀️ Ive offered to speak to them myself but apparently it has to be him. What can I do to get him to bloody well deal with this?

Nothing. She is asking you to lie about her employment - she is breaking the terms of her visa. Having a zero hours contract will not change that fact because the law is clear. She is not allowed to do more than 20 hours work - PAID OR UNPAID - during term time.

A student visa issued for full-time degree level studies allows you to work for a maximum of 20 hours per week during term-time. This is a maximum of 20 hours in total in any one week, including paid or unpaid work and for one or more organisation. The 20 hours cannot be averaged over a longer period. A ''week'' is defined by the Home Office as a period of 7 days beginning with a Monday. This also includes both paid and unpaid work.

She clearly knows that her visa has these terms, or she wouldn't be asking you to make it look like she isn't working the hours that she is working. The "government" are not stupid (contrary to all evidence) and there is a very good chance that they will find out and she will have her visa revoked. Giving her a zero hours contract isn't going to change the number of hours that she works, and it is the hours that she is working that are the issue, not the contract.

Thanks @Jalisco thats really helpful & what I suspected was the case

The problem is though that I need him to formally communicate that that is the case to me or direct to her. He just hasn’t spoken to our HR consultant or sought the information. He’s just parked it on his “things I’ve not done” list with about a billion other things. gah it’s so frustrating!

i will tell her what you have said above and then it’s up to her to decide what she does

I can see that it's frustrating for you, but really she does not need to be told this. She knows what the rules are because they are very clearly communicated to people when they apply for and get the visa. And the fact that she has asked for this to be done because she knows that it will be picked up shows that she is aware of the rule. What she hasn't twigged is that lying about it won't work. The only way around this - and I am very definitely not suggesting this - is to get cash in hand payments somewhere that is willing to employ people on a dodgy basis. Which clearly isn't you!

I don’t see why your boss is useless because he doesn’t want to help somebody commit visa fraud, employers generally don’t want to do this. Just tell her no.

He should have communicated his reasons for not actioning the request - how hard would that be?

He could have, but frankly he is running a business and maybe has better things to do than explain why he doesn’t want to assist an employee in breaking the law. I wouldn’t dream of getting a CEO involved in such a conversation, OP should have knocked this on the head a long time ago.

I don't think the OP was aware of the visa issue, and there is no reason why she should be, so it is hardly her responsibility to "knock it on the head". The employee / student is responsible for complying with their visa terms, not employers. The OP was asked a question and did not have the authority to response to the question, so she correctly referred it to the person who did. It was reasonable to expect a manager to at least acknowledge the question. It isn't hard to say "no". In my experience, as a manager, it takes up more time dealing with repeated requests for support because one is ignoring them than it does to deal with something the first time around. That also plays to better support for staff and improved morale because people know they are being heard, even if they don't always get the answer they want.

I agree with you - running a business is challenging - I know - dh is an MD of a SME- his do list is obscene and delegating will only get you so far. If we have staffing issues I have the authority to consult with an HR professional or a lawyer for support - the OP doesn’t have the option to go to them directly, so her boss needs to provide her with an answer, she shouldn’t have to rely on Mumsnet.
“No can do” doesn’t take long to type.

By the way OP those in the know contact me when they fail to get through to dh - is there anyone else who has his ear?

The working hour restrictions on a student visa form part of their right to work in the UK. If you (the employer) know the student is working elsewhere for more than 5 hours per week, and thus breaching those terms, then you are complicit in this. As well as a potential civil penalty for the business, it could have other implications.

If I've read your post correctly, you've known since at least the end of March that the student has breached the terms and is considered to be working illegally. The business needs to act on this immediately, and not by changing to a zero hour contract to disguise the situation.