Please help - issues for daughter in hairdressing salon

[tribeleader]

Hello, I have a 19 year old daughter who completed level 2 in hairdressing at college in july 2009. She started working at her salon in sept 2008 as a 'weekend girl' and also 1 day a week there on work placement. She became fulltime in July 2009. Here are my questions

1. Originally, she was being paid as an apprentice but after an interview in Novemeber 2009, the salon agreed to put her onto junior stylist rates. The manager said they would get her on the floor with her own clients but this has not happened. In Sept 2009, the salon took on two apprentices, they are learning at the salon with 1 day at college. Today one of these were declared level 2, so my first question is, how long should it take to achieve level 2? This person has also been made head junior stylist, which means a sixteen year old is now in charge of my daughter. How do we determine when my daughter has been employed for a year? Is it from when she went full time or from when she started partime?

1. My daughter does not have a contract. She has also been told she is entitled to 21 days holiday. She recently had to have a wisdom tooth removed. Her manager tried to insist she returned to work the following day, even after seeing a factsheet which recommended 4-5 days off. I intervened and told him she wouldn't be in for minimum 4 days. On day three, my daughter was seen by GP due to pain and was given antibiotics for infection. On day 4 A & E determined her jaw had been injured, on day 5 she was given further antibiotics and was issued a Dr certificate and signed off work. She was absent from work for a total of 8 working days (they follow a two week programe where week 1 she works 6 days, week 2 she works 4 - illness fell in week 1)

Since she has returned to work her manager has mostly ignored her, when they have had conversation, he told her Dr's certificates are not to be trusted and you don't need 8 days leave for a toothache. So far, her timekeeping has been excellent and her attendance has too. The only other time off she has had was for appendicitus in July 08 when she was part time. Sick leave is unpaid. She was a keyholder and used to open the salon but this was removed as 'she wasn't reliable'. The younger stylist was promoted above her at the same time. Is there anything she can do/say to get this addressed?

1. Her working hours are 9am-7.30pm. Recently, they have trialled shifts of 9am-6.30pm and 10am-7.30pm but they often work much later. She isn't allowed to leave the salon for breaks and doesn't have a scheduled break all day. Most days, she eats lunch standing up around 3/4pm and has been called back to the floor before finishing. Is this allowed?

1. The manager appears to favour the male staff and is promoting the males over my daughter (the apprentices straight out of school), also he is booking in models for the males and not the females. How can we address this?

1. She has tried to book days off for scheduled holidays in advance and each time, the day or two before, the manager has messed her around, saying she can't take the holiday. He has let her have the time off each time but only telling her the day before. Can he do this?

Really sorry this so long but I feel she isn't being treated correctly and I would like facts to help her. She would like to move to a different salon but jobs are scarce at the moment, so she is staying there until one comes up but she is very unhappy

Well,

1. No idea about levels, but continuous service counts from first day of employment, even if it is part time to start with.

1. See general comments.

1. Yes, she has a legal entitlement to 20 minutes in any shift of six hours or more. Must be allowed to take it away from work station (i.e. leave the shop). It's the working time regulations.

1. see below.

1. see below.

If you are unhappy with the way you are being treated at work, whether unfair practices (2 & 5) or discrimination (4), your way forward is to put in a grievance. If this isn't successful, you can appeal. You can also file a tribunal claim. For the discrimination, you can do this whilst in job (although, since compensation is mostly based on financial loss, there often isn't a great deal of point if you are still in the job, unless you've missed out on a promotion or something). For the general unfairness, the claim is for constructive dismissal - i.e. I've been treated so badly I had to go but can treat myself as sacked. ..

Sorry, been called away. Will try to come back and explain more about constructive dismissal if no one else gets there first.

Thank you for replying

Level 2 means 2 years college and is a basic qualified hairdresser. You can also become level 2 by learning in a shop (like the boy who's been promoted) but I understood it to take two years

She still isn't home yet (been there since 8.45am!) but will show her this

Can anybody else help please

Hi there, I feel as I may be of help as I'm a hairdresser myself.

1. As long as she is being paid the NMW there is not really much she can do unless she has a contract which you stated she does not. It's not really good for the shop to not have her doing her own clients as she's not bringing in any money, of course it would be best for your DD to get plenty experience. I'm baffled as to how one of the apprentices managed to qualify in such a short time, it takes two years to complete the course . I would tell her to take her queries to the boss, not managed as he has been proved to be rather useless.

1. Also tell her to ask for a contract or anything she is told regarding holidays in writing on headed paper so she can keep herself right. I advise your DD to ignore her manager as she will still be getting sick pay right? As ong is she is paying tax/NI she is entitled to sick pay if she was signed off work. It is tough to work with tension.

Regarding the keys, tell her to go to her boss.

1. She is entitled to 1 hour un-paid break a day, which is usually broken up to 15min in the morning, half hour for lunch and 15mins in afternoon. The fact there is no suitable staff room for a job that requires you to be on your feet all day is beyond me.

1. As for models, I would recommend having yet another word with the boss. I realise in some cases the owners don't have much to do wit the running of the salon but they are still responsible.

1. Holidays I'm not too sure on because I've never had a problem with holidays.

It would be best if she wrote down everything she wants to address with the boss so she doesn't end up all flustered.

Also, Pay and Work Rights Helpline
0800 917 2368
Opening hours
8.00 am to 8.00 pm, Monday to Friday
9.00 am to 1.00 pm, Saturday
Closed Sunday and bank holidays

I found the above number a huge help when dealing with some problems at work.

Let me know how she gets on

Hi

1. I qualified in about 9 months as my salon manager was an assessor...I worked full time in salon (I had previously worked there for 2 years as a Saturday girl) with 1 day a week at college mainly for theory & so my days were spent actually "doing" hairdressing therefore my confidence & skills grew quickly. And therefore I also qualified when I was 16.

I agree with the above...1 yrs service is from when she actually started, even if she was just part time. Re clients...it is up to the stylist to build their own column, if customers are happy they will request your daughter personally. I would suggest she speak to her manager about how customers are allocated, specifically new ones or put forward an idea for an advertising campaign to entice new customers in ie offer ?% OFF with "your Daughter"....as a manager I would be impressed that she had the initiative to come up with the suggestion & be happy that she is trying to improve the business.

1. Legally you are entitled to 5.6 weeks annual leave..I work my staffs hrs out in hours rather than days so it is easier if they just want 1/2 day & also because the amount of hours they work per day differs.

My staff contracts are through the National Hairdressing Federation. Re sick pay, all staff get SS with 3 waiting days (unpaid days) at the beginning of each period of time off.

3.As she does not have a contract it is difficult re changing of hours...I'd make her keep a note of hours actually worked to ensure she is being paid correctly in accordance with her agreed hourly rate. In our contracts we can can impose short time working in accordance with the business needs (although I never have).

I agree with all the above re breaks etc although we don not have scheduled breaks/lunches my staff are free to break as & when they need to as long as all jobs are done & customers are all looked after. We do book lunch breaks out on really busy days to ensure a rest but I do discuss this with staff when they start, due to the nature of the business all employees are fine with this arrangement (& prob get more than their entitlement anyway!)& I pay for the full day without deducting for lunch/breaks. I would never ask a member of staff to come back on the salon floor if I knew they were in the middle of eating lunch!

1. Promotions...are these handled as job interviews or purely on merit? This is a difficult one...it may purely be a case of the other stylists have better skills or are buliding a better customer base(Sorry to sound harsh ) Re models is this general in salon for keeping updated with skills? If your daughter is qualified why does she need models? I insist my staff make arrangements for models themselves, We do advertise etc but it just means one less job for me. It also indicates to me how keen my staff are to learn.

1. Manager is a prick! She really needs to get a contract as all things such as how to request leave, notice to be given etc etc will be stated.

Hope this helps