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Working without a contract
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Work & Study
Hey,
Whenever I've worked I've always signed a contract and got all the rights that I'm entitled to with that. The one exception being having a paperround. But both my girlfriend and sister work for people they like in jobs they enjoy (as much as you can enjoy a job), but both don't have contracts, both are paid less than minimum wage, both don't have the amount of breaks they're supposed to have (my girlfriend works 8 hours and gets a 20 minute lunch break in the middle of the day).
Now, I'm not sure what to do. Because they've both been doing what they're doing for quite a while (girlfriend works in the village deli, sister works in a hair salon) and get on well with the people, but still get screwed over a bit. My sister is paid £80 a week for full time work, she did ask for a contract but they said it was complex so couldn't. (She was on an apprenticeship and used to attend college, but for the past 4+ months they've increased her hours and she hasn't attended the college because her class was shut down).
Because neither of them pay NI contributions and it's all cash in hand I think it's a bit fishy really. If one of them had an accident at work for example, would they be covered?
The worrying thing is there are probably loads of people working like this 'under the radar' but because they like the people they're working with they'll hapily go on being effectively exploited.
Whenever I've worked I've always signed a contract and got all the rights that I'm entitled to with that. The one exception being having a paperround. But both my girlfriend and sister work for people they like in jobs they enjoy (as much as you can enjoy a job), but both don't have contracts, both are paid less than minimum wage, both don't have the amount of breaks they're supposed to have (my girlfriend works 8 hours and gets a 20 minute lunch break in the middle of the day).
Now, I'm not sure what to do. Because they've both been doing what they're doing for quite a while (girlfriend works in the village deli, sister works in a hair salon) and get on well with the people, but still get screwed over a bit. My sister is paid £80 a week for full time work, she did ask for a contract but they said it was complex so couldn't. (She was on an apprenticeship and used to attend college, but for the past 4+ months they've increased her hours and she hasn't attended the college because her class was shut down).
Because neither of them pay NI contributions and it's all cash in hand I think it's a bit fishy really. If one of them had an accident at work for example, would they be covered?
The worrying thing is there are probably loads of people working like this 'under the radar' but because they like the people they're working with they'll hapily go on being effectively exploited.
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Comments
This doesn't just sound fishy, what you have told us makes it sounds deeply dodgy. No tax, no NI, below minimum wage. Anything there give people concerns about how upstanding this employer might be in other aspects?
I'd be worried about liability insurance for a start...
The fact that they are not paying tax, and they are getting paid cash in hand, sounds a lot more dodgy. They are still entitled to statutory rights regardless of contract, as mucha s anything there is a presumed contract, but that doesn't really count for much when the shit hits the fan.
If they are concerned about their employment they should give CLS Direct a call on 0845 345 4345.
My sister gets a raw deal of it, worked it out to £2 an hour for an apprenticeship, but they don't train her. They just get her to do jobs like washing clients hair and stuff, from what she's told me anyway. She tried looking elsewhere for somewhere to take her on but failed. She's 16, and that's also cash in hand at the end of the week.