Some help please

[kitana.333]

Hi,

I have some real issues with an employer that I have just left. I started there last July and have just left last week after numerous problems with them and I don't think most of how they have treated me is legal. Can some one please just look through this and let me know if there is anything I can do.

First, I was given accommodation as an employee, which I had to pay £40 a week for. The accommodation had no drinking water (all tap water came from a contaminated supply) but I still had to bath/shower/wash up in it. I had to buy my own bottled water to drink/clean teeth. It had no heating and no heaters were provided. It has a massive leak in the celling (about 2 meters long) and I had to use 4 buckets to catch the water. A blocked drain outside the front door meant I had to wear wellies everytime I went outside. Plus a number of other issues when I told the boss I was told nothing would be done about it so just put up with it. I has to live like this for 8 months.

My contract says I am entitled to holiday however, when I asked for holiday was told I get no holiday or holiday pay. My contract says I was entitled to extra money (£1 per hour extra) for overtime. But when I worked overtime it was not given to myself or anyone else who worked there. When someone asked about this he was told that we wouldn't be getting it so stop asking.

When I brought up a number of issues with my boss I was told to "deal with it or leave"

When I left I did so because of the actions of another employee, he truthfully was a real bully and no one got on with. When asked my reason for leaving I explained it was because of him and no attempt was made to sort it out. Was just told to leave.

I have now just been asked to come back and do some freelance work for the company (I really need the money so am considering it) but they said I would be on the same rate of pay as before because I used to be a freelancer. When I explained I was not a freelancer, I have a fixed term contract, a payroll number, national insurance was taken from my wages etc. They say I was a freelancer?

My contract was a strange contract. The front page said "The position is as Fixed Term Contract with an hourly rate of £7" Below is says "Normal office hours are up to 41 per week but you maybe required to work more" However, I was actually working as and when they needed me. Sometimes this would be for 41 per week for 5 weeks in a row them 0 hours for 3 weeks then 43 per week for one week then 0 for the next and so on.

I was not allowed to declined work I just had to go in when they needed me.

There are literally loads of other problems there but those are probably my main ones.

Obviously there is a lot wrong here but my knowledge of the law is terrible and I just wondered if they were actually doing anything illegal and if it would be worth doing anything about it or if I should just get on with my life?

Thanks for any help

[teaboy2]

Re: Some help please

Well there is a number of issue i have noticed. I will list them in order.

1 - Unlawful deduction/with holding of wages in breach of section 13 employment rights act 1998 (regarding overtime pay)
2 - Breach of the working time regulations 1998 section 13 (regarind you statutory entitlement to annual leave)
3 - Breach of Health and Saftey regulations (reference sub standard accomadation and especaillay contaminated drinking water and water supply)
4 - Failure to prevent bullying in the workplace (need you to elaborate on what form of bullying you were subject too to advise further on the bullying)
5 - Breach of contract (mainly due to all of the above)
6 - You resigned because off bullying but also have all of the above too so may have a claim for constructive dismissal.
7 - A fixed term contract where they pay your taxes and national insurance is an employment contract and not a workers contract. You were therefore not freelance (self employed) but indeed an employee.
8 - They failed to honour the contract by not providing you the contracted hours per week, you should still be paid in full for the hours they did not want you there regardless. Therefore you can claim lost earnings due to said breach of contract by them, for those hours you were not wanted at work and not paid for.

There is more to it, but they are the maid ones.

The major obstacle though is that you have not been there for 12 months, though an employment tribunal can and have made exceptions to this rule in the past. My advice you would be to seek a free consultation with a solicitor and then decide how you wish to proceed. Check you house insurance as you may be covered for free legal representation.

[charitynjw]

Re: Some help please

Fixed term workers are exactly that - they are employed for a fixed term (ie, until a specified date, or until a specific event, such as a project which will come to an end, etc.)
Does your contract include any such clause?

[teaboy2]

Re: Some help please

Fixed term workers are exactly that - they are employed for a fixed term (ie, until a specified date, or until a specific event, such as a project which will come to an end, etc.)
Does your contract include any such clause?

True but they are still employees, they do not have to be self employed. especially if the company is paying their income tax and insurance out of their wages.

[charitynjw]

Re: Some help please

!00% agree with you, teaboy.

Anyway, fixed term employees have very similar employment rights in comparison with permanent workers.

Just wanted to try & define the contract & status.

[kitana.333]

Re: Some help please

Hi,

thank you so much for your fast responses. I have just included all the info on the contract that has anything to do with working hours and pay. Sorry if I wasn't clear ealier, I really dont know much about contracts.

On the front page

"I am pleased to enclose a new contraact of employment. This begins on 16th January 2012 and ends of 15th June 2012" (I had an earlier fixed term contract which ended in December)" The position is as Fixed Term Contract Instructor with an hourly rate of £7.00."

Normal office hours are up to 41 per week, but you will be expected to work such additional hours which may include wekends and Bank Holidays as the demands of the business require. "

Then under hours of work it says:
"Your basic hours of work are variable according to shift patterns, however you will be notified of you shifts in advance. To facilitate this, it is essential that you provide details of an email address to which this information can be forwarded. Your specific hours of work will be as defined by a senior member of staff in accordance with operaional requirements. Employees are expected to be co-operative in working outside their normal hours as neccessary to cope with varying situations and worklads."

Also something else that I didn't mention earlier. Part of my job was to act as a caretaker for the building and a fire warden and first aider for the people in it. This shift started at 9:00pm and finished at 8:00am and required you to stay in the building and not consume any alcohol in case there was a fire or another emergancy e.g. first aid. You were allowed to sleep (but had to inforn everyone where you would be sleeping in case you were needed) once you finished locking the building and doing fire checks. I did this shift about 8 times and for each time you only get paid for 1 hour work. Is this right?

Again thank you so much for any help

[dog after a bone]

Re: Some help please

sorry to hear about your situation,it do's sound like a bad company to work for,
were you aware of how this company treated its employees,?
did you research them before you took on employment,
they definately breached h&s regulations!
did you report them,or make any written complaints?
good luck with resolving this[i was a company h&s /shop steward ]
p.s were other employees complaining or had complained previously
cheers rich in hull

[charitynjw]

Re: Some help please

More questions - sorry!

For the weeks where you worked zero hours, were you paid?

[kitana.333]

Re: Some help please

I am afraid that I was very aware they are a bad company, but times are hard and I just needed the work. They are a small company with just 3 other people working on the same basis as myself. All have now either left or are in the process of leaving (have handed in their notice), which is why I am being asked to come back as a freelancer. All left because of how badly they have been treated both the manager who just has the idea that she will just replace people so it doesn't matter who leaves and the man I mentioned who was a bully who I will refer to as B.

B and one other person are on a full time contract and get huge preferential treatment (even though they have the same wage and same position just full time). So both are happy there.

I was not paid anything on the zero weeks. So with a small wage in the first place and getting very few weeks work but still paying the accommodation fee I was only taking home about £200 - £300 per month most months.

In regards to the accommodation, the company have been shut down twice in the last 3 years for breaking many H&S rules (mainly fire regs), however, the staff accommodation was never checked.

There was never any point in writing a formal complant to them, it would have been ignored and truthfully I had no idea who else I could complain too!

Once again thank you for the responses.

[shell]

Re: Some help please

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg...type=RESOURCES

This seems to be the law at the moment. Wrong I think. If you have to be there then you are deprived of your time and so should get paid for it. But it seems the law states that they don't have to pay you while on "standby" only if you have to get up and attend to something.

I don't understand how the government thinks it's acceptable for someone to be at work for 12 hours and only get paid for one or two.

As for the sleeping arrangements, I think you should phone environmental health and report the staff accommodation.

[teaboy2]

Re: Some help please

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg...type=RESOURCES

This seems to be the law at the moment. Wrong I think. If you have to be there then you are deprived of your time and so should get paid for it. But it seems the law states that they don't have to pay you while on "standby" only if you have to get up and attend to something.

I don't understand how the government thinks it's acceptable for someone to be at work for 12 hours and only get paid for one or two.

As for the sleeping arrangements, I think you should phone environmental health and report the staff accommodation.

On top of that though, its unlawful to charge an employee for on site accomadation when they are there on call or on stand by or due to work needs i believe.

This case is a big case and will involve a huge amount of time and effort hence why i said the OP needs to go see a solicitor.

in fact when i think about it, without checking though, i do believe that the lack of access to clean drinking water is a breach of her human rights too.

[charitynjw]

Re: Some help please

Hi kitana.333,

As you can see from all the replies, you certainly have just cause for complaint.
Can you provide documented proof, should you wish to progress it? (Photos, letters, pehaps witness statements from others who witnessed the bullying, and/or were themselves bullied?)