Hi all,
Next door neighbours son is going to ET and I have tried to help him with his case as a litigant in person. He is 18 years old and is his first job.
Long story short:
He applies for zero hours job, and they give him the job at interview. Employer ask him to sign some documents whilst he is there but he is not sure what he signed (most likely contract). He is not given any documents to take away and definitely did not get a contract to take away so I/he has no idea about the T&Cs. He is classed as an EMPLOYEE.
Company organized work using WhatsApp group for shifts. He does around 10 shifts over 6 weeks.
He was meant to be paid after 1 month but was not paid on pay day, he asked to be paid a couple of time but they did not pay him and kept on telling him that he'll be paid 2 weeks later, again and again, stringing him along.
In the mean time employer removes him from the Whatsapp group so he cannot sign up for anymore work - he asks why, but is not given any reason - is he "dismissed" at this point?
He waits another 2 weeks and is still not paid. He asks other employees if they have been paid and tells them that he has not been paid. Employer gets angry that he has told other employees about the non-payment of wages. He phones employer and employer tells him they will not be paying him and even threaten him with violence if he doesn't stop asking about his wages.
He has logged an ET case for: automatic unfair dismissal as he was dismissed when he asked for payment.
The employer has done this to a few other of his colleagues too but those colleagues have not lodged an ET case as far as I know. They are willing to be witnesses. It seems that the majority of them are students/recent immigrants to UK and one of the witnesses I spoke to said "discrimination" but they didn't put in their ET1 as employer kept stringing them along about paying them until their time ran out. They also confirm no contracts given. Seems employer is exploiting students/people with poor english/lack of knowledge of rights.
Employer has ignored ACAS, ET for 6 months but has recently engaged in the process. Employer said in the ET3/preliminary hearing: Admitted to owed wages and holiday pay and will pay him. They said he is not dismissed as they did not dismiss him and that if court finds that he is dismissed that they will argue it's due to conduct (he contacted other employees and complaining about not being paid his wages)
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On his schedule of loss he is claiming:
unpaid wages
unpaid holiday pay
lack of contract/T&Cs
notice pay (probably not applicable as zero hours contract)
interview expenses for next job (can he claim for this?)
compensation for being unemployed between jobs ((probably not applicable as zero hours contract)
ACAS uplift 25% (as employer argues that he is still employed or in the alternative dismissed because he contacted other employees and complaining about not being paid his wages but employer did not conduct any investigation/put accusations to claimant so claim ACAS uplift)
interest
preliminary preparatory costs
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1) Is he dismissed at the point he is blocked from WhatsApp or when they threaten him with violence? Employer is arguing not dismissed as they never told him he is dismissed so they claim he is still employed or in the alternative he is dismissed due to conduct (contacting other employees and complaining about not being paid his wages).
2) Is there anything else he can claim in his schedule of loss (above) or should remove??
3) Even though employer admitted owed wages and holiday pay in preliminary hearing and said that they would pay up promptly, they are now saying to the claimant that they will pay him this if he signs a settlement agreement. Is there any way to force them to pay as they already admitted owing him this money and that they would pay it.
4) I noticed recently that the directors opened a new company. If the old one was called Pizza Hut Ltd (as an example), the new one is called Pizza Hut (Cambridge) Ltd. Do you think they could shut down the old one and get rid of the ET case and not pay up? If so is there anything I can such as inform the ET/court/companies house about the court case so that they can't wind up the company to get out of paying up owed wages?
Thanks.