No pay for work?

[DP391]

Hey everyone,

I started a new job in early October in a pub which is part of a large company. I realised after 3 weeks that when I work until the pub closes of an evening, I only get paid until the time the bar stops serving, at 11pm (or 1am on the weekends). This is the same for all staff within the pub I work in. Even though we follow the courtesy drinking up time of 15 minutes, we don't even get paid for that, but are expected to clean up after customers have left too. This means workin til 11.30 in the week, and usually around 1.45 at weekends.

I spoke to my manager about it and he said he didn't have the funds available to pay us for that because there wasn't enough money in the wage budget, but that the DJ budget no longer came out of the wage budget, so he may be able to start paying some people dependent on efforts of clearing up. (?!?! Because this is fair?!?) However, this has not happened!

As well as this, for 2 non-consecutive weeks in December I have been missing pay. The manager said this was due to the BDM (Business Development Manager I can only assume) having put a stop on any wages over contractual hours being paid without an email from the manager confirming them. I wasn't even paid the contractual hours, so I'm not believing this either.


What is the best course of action for me to take next?



Additional to this, I'm also now off sick, and the manager has asked for a doctor's certificate (on the second day!) which my doctor won't give me without charge (£25!!). I've told the manager I'm not willing to pay it, (he isn't either) and the staff handbook even says we only have to provide one after 7 days. Should I just hope this is let go of, or should I do anything?

(Happy New Year to everyone for tomorrow btw! and Thanks in advance)

[leclerc]

Re: No pay for work?

are you salaried or paid by the hour?
You need to check with the policy of the place you work but you should be able to self certificate yourself for up to 7 days(if memory serves me right without a doctor's note). Tell the manager that the staff handbook does not require you to have a doctor's note for up to 7 days and so you will self certificate yourself when you get back to work.

[DP391]

Re: No pay for work?

Paid by the hour... and that's literally too... even though we clock in and out, if we start early or finish late, we don't get paid extra...

[Cyberprog]

Re: No pay for work?

Simply put, you should be paid for the hours you work. If they don't pay you for some of the hours, it may be possible that your overall pay divided by hours worked may cause your overall hourly wage to drop below the NMW threshold. At which point the employer is in somewhat hot water.
Do you have a contract of employment? Is there an HR department?
The hours you worked, and were not paid for may constitute an unauthorised deduction in your wages.

Whatever you do however, you will rock the boat, and may find yourself out of a job. This may or may not constitute unfair dismissal (especially if the above factors are true), so be prepared.

Submit a Data Protection Act request with the HR department for your timeclock entries. Consider keeping an independent log of your hours, and ask your manager to sign to confirm that they are accurate. Don't take "we've got no budget for it" as an excuse, they have an contractual obligation with you to pay you for the hours you work. If they don't want to pay after 11pm, don't work after 11pm. Clock off, and leave. Again, this will be rocking the boat somewhat, they may not take kindly to it (nor will your co-workers).

If you can, get your co-workers to join you in this - they can't easily fire everyone, and as long as you all have enough resolve to see the whole thing through, then you might well achieve victory, and keep your job.

However, I wouldn't be too hopeful on the last part, and my advice ultimately would be: Get Another Job!

Edit: I had another thought here - as you're an hourly employee, you should also be accumulating holiday pay. If your hours/wages are wrong, your holiday pay will also be wrong. This link has more info: https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitleme...pay-the-basics