employer legally required to pay employee at work? need help

[kevcampbell]

sorted now

had a talk with http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1461

 

[annedonnelly]

hi all

my partner is messaging me this morning, she is not happy about what the boss has been telling her this morning, she works in a salon and is only receiving £60 a week for a full days work, 4 days a week, we are still on jobseekers allowance benefit due to this wage, so i guess we both could be in the wrong but the main reason for remaining on jobseekers allowance is due to this wage we are receiving, defiantly not enough to live on as we have our own place that we rent from council (with help from benefit)

now hairdressing and working in a salon, something she always wanted to do, she loves it, but today the boss turned around and said if there are no clients that come in, she will not get paid for that day, now that has even made me angry as i think it is disgusting

now my partner is too kind i think to start an argument or a war with the boss, so trying to figure out what we can do, in the long run i think she wants a job like this but because she is 21 and is not fully qualified in hair dressing it is extremely difficult to find something like this


if i think of anything more i need to add i may add it, or if you need any other information ask and i will see what i can do

No idea, but suggest you or your partner get in touch with your local Citizen's Advice Bureau. They should be able to help with lots of advice.

I'd say that if you're at work you ought to be paid, but I expect it depends on the contract she's signed.

I was in a hairdressers a few months ago and wondered about this exact thing. I seemed to be the only customer that morning and as well as the hairdresser there was a young girl who was probably a trainee. I couldn't imagine how the price of my haircut was going to pay the salon overheads plus the young girl's salary

Good luck with getting it sorted out.

 

[BSRU]

That sounds like the boss is trying it on, hoping someone inexperienced would not question it. Assuming she has a contract of employment, it should state how many hours and what the rate of pay is.

£15 for a full days work sounds very illegal, it violates the minimum wage laws.

 

[gbb]

Cant say for the particular circumstances above, but what ive heard is, and i dont know if this is a new thing, or old established practices....that some hairdressers 'rent' a chair day by day. I assume, no customers, no (or little) pay.

Perhaps this is whats going on...

 

[slugonabike]

Glad it's sorted, Kev. Are you able to tell us the outcome?

 

[Lizban]

Short answer is it could be legal, (0 hour contracts and self employeed sub contracting are 2 ways that spring to mind)

GLad it was sorted hopefully to all involved satisfaction.

Cheers

 

[ChrisKH]

Reading between the lines it would only be legal if she is bona fide self employed and there is a sub-contract agreement between the parties (e.g. 20% takings to salon owner, 80% to chair holder) but it doesn't sound like this arrangement to me. The fact they are talking about wages, fixed hours of work, etc. and the individual still not fully trained, would imply an employer/employee relationship. The salon owners discussion to reduce the wage could be seen as a variation in the contract or even a redundancy situation with a switch to self-employement.

Glad it's resolved, but if it isn't, consider going to the CAB as others have said for better advice. The problem at this level of pay and in this economic environment, even if the salon owner goes through the motions and does it all legally and by the book, there's not a lot the employee will be able to do other than make sure they get everything to which they are entitled vis a vis redundancy, notice of change, etc.