Online zero-hours contracts : minimum notice period for employer to cancel work

[ilfordhammer1]

I'm an online teacher of English. I'm due to have an interview soon with an online language school based in an EU country. It looks like a promising place for my career but I have some issues following info I have seen online from ex-employees. Basically, the set-up seems to be a zero hours contract where I work from home and only get paid for time actually spent teaching. This is normal but the concern is that (it seems) students can cancel lessons up to 6 hours before they start. If they do, the teacher receives nothing. This means that you can go to bed with a full morning booked and wake up to find that all lessons have been cancelled during the night, you get nothing. In practice, the notice to the teacher in this situation is practically zero.

Can employers really mess you around like this, even on a zero-hours?
Or if they are up-front about it, then is it caveat emptor?

On zero-hours, I guess I should be able to choose if I accept clients who mess me around, but obviously this could result in me not being allocated work.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[Amethyst]

Re: Online zero-hours contracts : minimum notice period for employer to cancel work

You can only go by others experiences and your own judgment and if your gut is saying it doesn't seem right, then I would listen to your gut. Nothing to be lost by doing the interview though and you can ask them all those questions then. Have you checked out the company fully ? How long have they been operating, what do their accounts look like ? do the directors have any history with other companies ? Reviews across home working and english language sites - reviews written by students who use the company will tell you a lot, as well as reviews by staff.

If the cancellation policy is up to 6 hours in advance of a lesson then that should be adhered to - have you checked out copies of the terms and conditions that students agree to ? and have you got a copy of the contract/agreement that workers sign up to ?

[ilfordhammer1]

Re: Online zero-hours contracts : minimum notice period for employer to cancel work

Ok thanks. I'm onto the kind of enquiries you've mentioned already. They seem quite legit and reputable, except mainly for this issue. Ultimately, if I lose more than 15% of my income-producing time to unreliable students who cancel so late, then I'll be worse off than I am now, and will vote with my feet. I'll find out in the interview and update the thread after.