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Hello,
I've recently had an issue with an agency job: as the title says, they were not paying me the amount that was stated on the ad. I'll try to give as much information as I can about what the situation is and what I've done about it so far.
My question is: is there any way I can get them to pay me the difference between what they've given me and what they were supposed to give me?
About the job:
Position: Bilingual customer service phone agent
Contract: Agency (weekly and ongoing)
Type: Full time (37.5 hours a week)
The stated salary:
On July 1st, I responded to an ad for a bilingual phone agent position. This job was advertised on the jobsinkent website as well as on the agency's website. The salary stated on both these ads was 20 000 to 21 000£ a year. I have a screenshot of it (I saved it when things started to get weird).
The salary was an important element in my decision to apply as the job was an hour and a half's train ride away from where I live, which involved substantial train fares.
From that 20 000£ a year announced salary, I deducted what my weekly salary would be based on the tax rates in the UK (and please correct me if I'm wrong): the first 10k are not taxed, the remaining 10k are taxed at a 20% rate, which gives me a net annual salary of 18 000£ a year, or 1 500£ a month, or 346£ a week.
The first conversations with the agency:
On my first phone conversation with the agency, the following exchange took place:
Agency advisor: 'Do you understand the salary for this job?'
Me: 'I understand it's 20 to 21k a year'
Advisor: 'Yeah, well, you're going to be paid hourly. It'll be something between 9 and 10 £ an hour, but yes, it will be equivalent to a 20 to 21k annual salary.'
This didn't seem quite right to me but I didn't worry about it as I trusted they knew what they were doing.
Then, when I obtained the job, the agency sent me an email saying I was to be paid 9£ an hour. I worked out that 9£ an hour for 37.5 hours a week came down to 17 500 £ a year, which is significantly below the 20k quoted on the ad. So I emailed back the agency explaining just that - that the amount wasn't right and that, because of my train fares, I needed to be paid what was on the ad.
The advisor rang me on the next day, explaining that in order to pay me the amount I wanted, they needed to direct me to another agency, which was going to handle my payroll. She explained that this agency had a system that was about paying back expenses, and that this would allow me to get something equivalent to a 20k annual salary.
The other agency then called me, explained the whole expenses system, and said I was to be paid 10.09£ an hour - which was slightly below the 20k (it comes down to 19.5k), but it wasn't too big a deal to me. I made another estimate of my weekly salary and found I was going to bring home 340£ a week, based on that new information.
The actual salary
I ended up bringing home 304 £ a week. I first turned to the payroll agency, explaining that it wasn't what was on the ad and that, given the expenses I'd been claiming, I should have obtained more anyway. They came back to me saying that there was a limit to the amount of expenses they were allowed to pay and that the rest didn't depend on them but on the other agency. The other agency - the one that initially hired me - stayed dead silent about it.
The payroll agency also pointed out to me that they were paying me 11.8£ an hour (the payslips were very complicated), which amounts to 22k a year and is therefore more than the 20k that were advertised. I replied that in these 22k, were included: my holiday pay, their own margin, and the expenses which they weren't fully paying back, and that it couldn't be considered a proper gross salary for all of these reasons. I didn't get a satisfying response to that either.
All of these exchanges were emails and I've kept them all - the ones I've sent and the ones I've received.
The ending
I ended up quitting - Friday, September 5th was my last day - because I just couldn't keep spending 15 hours a week on a train to make only 300£ a week. I sent both agencies my notification, and only the payroll agency acknowledged my message - I haven't heard anything from the other one since.
So, as I've said above, my question is... Is there anything I can do to get them to pay me the difference between what they were supposed to give me and what I've actually been paid? Can I sue them over this, and would it be worth the trouble?
Thanks for reading me, and I'd be very grateful to anyone who could give me any piece of advice about this.
I've recently had an issue with an agency job: as the title says, they were not paying me the amount that was stated on the ad. I'll try to give as much information as I can about what the situation is and what I've done about it so far.
My question is: is there any way I can get them to pay me the difference between what they've given me and what they were supposed to give me?
About the job:
Position: Bilingual customer service phone agent
Contract: Agency (weekly and ongoing)
Type: Full time (37.5 hours a week)
The stated salary:
On July 1st, I responded to an ad for a bilingual phone agent position. This job was advertised on the jobsinkent website as well as on the agency's website. The salary stated on both these ads was 20 000 to 21 000£ a year. I have a screenshot of it (I saved it when things started to get weird).
The salary was an important element in my decision to apply as the job was an hour and a half's train ride away from where I live, which involved substantial train fares.
From that 20 000£ a year announced salary, I deducted what my weekly salary would be based on the tax rates in the UK (and please correct me if I'm wrong): the first 10k are not taxed, the remaining 10k are taxed at a 20% rate, which gives me a net annual salary of 18 000£ a year, or 1 500£ a month, or 346£ a week.
The first conversations with the agency:
On my first phone conversation with the agency, the following exchange took place:
Agency advisor: 'Do you understand the salary for this job?'
Me: 'I understand it's 20 to 21k a year'
Advisor: 'Yeah, well, you're going to be paid hourly. It'll be something between 9 and 10 £ an hour, but yes, it will be equivalent to a 20 to 21k annual salary.'
This didn't seem quite right to me but I didn't worry about it as I trusted they knew what they were doing.
Then, when I obtained the job, the agency sent me an email saying I was to be paid 9£ an hour. I worked out that 9£ an hour for 37.5 hours a week came down to 17 500 £ a year, which is significantly below the 20k quoted on the ad. So I emailed back the agency explaining just that - that the amount wasn't right and that, because of my train fares, I needed to be paid what was on the ad.
The advisor rang me on the next day, explaining that in order to pay me the amount I wanted, they needed to direct me to another agency, which was going to handle my payroll. She explained that this agency had a system that was about paying back expenses, and that this would allow me to get something equivalent to a 20k annual salary.
The other agency then called me, explained the whole expenses system, and said I was to be paid 10.09£ an hour - which was slightly below the 20k (it comes down to 19.5k), but it wasn't too big a deal to me. I made another estimate of my weekly salary and found I was going to bring home 340£ a week, based on that new information.
The actual salary
I ended up bringing home 304 £ a week. I first turned to the payroll agency, explaining that it wasn't what was on the ad and that, given the expenses I'd been claiming, I should have obtained more anyway. They came back to me saying that there was a limit to the amount of expenses they were allowed to pay and that the rest didn't depend on them but on the other agency. The other agency - the one that initially hired me - stayed dead silent about it.
The payroll agency also pointed out to me that they were paying me 11.8£ an hour (the payslips were very complicated), which amounts to 22k a year and is therefore more than the 20k that were advertised. I replied that in these 22k, were included: my holiday pay, their own margin, and the expenses which they weren't fully paying back, and that it couldn't be considered a proper gross salary for all of these reasons. I didn't get a satisfying response to that either.
All of these exchanges were emails and I've kept them all - the ones I've sent and the ones I've received.
The ending
I ended up quitting - Friday, September 5th was my last day - because I just couldn't keep spending 15 hours a week on a train to make only 300£ a week. I sent both agencies my notification, and only the payroll agency acknowledged my message - I haven't heard anything from the other one since.
So, as I've said above, my question is... Is there anything I can do to get them to pay me the difference between what they were supposed to give me and what I've actually been paid? Can I sue them over this, and would it be worth the trouble?
Thanks for reading me, and I'd be very grateful to anyone who could give me any piece of advice about this.
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