Hey ladies

I felt like I've been gone for years! As some of you may remember my partner is in the Armed Forces and got a 4month posting overseas. I did the scrapbook idea for his return and he thought it was great when he got home which was the 12th December after a long 17 and a half weeks! That has been one reason why I haven't been around. The other being, well, I'm not sure if I am actually getting married now :(

Basically a guy from my work left in mid November and a new guy came in, what I told was for temp over Xmas and NY. He has now, overall taken 8hours away from my shifts A WEEK! So he definately isn't a temp now! I've explained to my boss that the sudden cut in my hours is unexpected and not on seeing as I am a fulltime member of staff on below minium wage, who is now working part time, which I never asked for. Obviously the sudden drop in wage was unexpected. It has been halved! I barely get £150 a week now. She told me to either like it or lump it! Which she knows I wouldn't because I have no where to go and couldn't afford a wedding not bringing in my own income.

My wage is now far from enough for a wedding, so it means the brakes are firmly locked on and this wedding has come to a grinding halt and I'm completely devastated. Its not what I wanted for OHs return at all :(

I hope you're all well, a lot of catching up to do and thanks for the rant
X

EDIT - THE TITLE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO MAKE SUBJECT A LITTLE CLEARER - MODS

aww no hun thats awful is there anyway you could claim some sort of working tax credit I think if you work 20 hours your entitled to it x

Surely if you are actually working for LESS than the minimum wage she is already breaking the law. Sounds like you need some professional law help here.

Also, after I read your boss is a woman, and the new person is a man, I thought HMMMMMM!!!

Yeh they are right, you need to contact the cab or someone and get advice!

Agree with the other ladies, they shouldn't be able to just cut then without any notice or reasoning. xx

i would definitely get some professional advice on this one, i don't think she can change your hours without prior warning and if it isn't in your contract. At a previous company i worked at, i was told that if your hours or shift times were increased or changed and you did these over a certain period of time, they become your new contract. Without it been in writing. I don't know anymore than this so don't know if this can be done anymore, but i just wanted to tell you.
Hope you get it sorted soon, it must be a really awful situation to be in.
Let us know how you get on.
xx

like lala said contact ACAS, they are brilliant (and free) they got me my maternity allowance and my redundancy pay which work were refusing to pay as apparently I was a temp - for 3 damn years. They said if you have been working the same department, same hours for more then a year even without a contract you are a permanent member of staff and have the same rights as other staff.
Hope you get a good outcome too, unfortunately employers seem to think that they can treat you however they like these days because we are all too scared to say anything cos we need the job

Thanks girls.

I had a contract drawn up when I began there which was for when I was an apprentice, which I take it now I have finish my apprenticeship is no longer valid? If so, it means I have no contract.

I generally spent most of last night sending out my CV to as many places possible because I need to get out. The plan was we would be married before OH moved to his next base posting and we would get marriage quarters but it is looking less likely each day :(
X

Thank you.

The worse thing is I've read some of the acas codes and there are quite a few that are against me :/ I just feel hurt that I have been working there nearly a year and a half and some guy who has only just been there over a month is favoured already. He isn't even nice. He treats me like I'm his slave or something! He cant even get his own cup of coffee which comes from the coffee machine! But that's a whole other rant.

I'm just sending out my CV to anywhere that I feel would suit me, hoping there is something. Need some positive vibes!
X

This is terrible, so sorry to hear this :(
I don't know what to advise, apart from contact acas or someone who can help.
Also, if you want to get married before your h2b gets posted again, could you just cutback on your wedding plans and have a smaller, more intimate wedding? Then you'd still be married :)

Nothing wrong with getting married well into the thirties I will be 36 as my name states and my age is just a number. Anyway what. Want to say yeah go seek advice but bring a copy of your contract with you. If you don't have a copy go to HR and ask if they would kindly give you a copy of it but don't tell them what you want it for. Then go see if you can get impartial advice either at citizens advice or the other group that were mentioned.

They may well be acting within the law and within what is stated on your contract or they might not but you must go and check it out. Ok and I don't want to seem ignorant here but I feel I have to ask is there any reason in particular as to why they have cut your hours and given him the work? Do you talk to people when you are supposed to be working, are you giving your job 100%? Do you take a lot of days off sick, are you coming in late? I know employers sometimes do this kind of thing for no reason and its possible this is the case here but sometimes these things do happen for a genuine reason and sometimes it can be the individuals own fault. I'm not saying it is your fault but have you been told off or given warnings or anything like that? I've seen similar things happening to members of staff before. Whatever their reasons for it just find out what your right are but remain calm and put in a complaint if you find that you are within your right to do so.

I am just wondering how come OP you are stressing about your wedding now but it says you get married in seven years time? And as it seems you have way more time than most other brides surely you could forget about wedding planning for a while and just concentrate on getting through this tough time and start thinking of it again when you are a bit more financially stable and haven't got so many things going on in your life? I know that if I was you I would keep the wedding date etc but I would put off the planning of it for at least 1-2 years or maybe longer and purely because worrying about it now with 7 years to go would drive me mad. Plus it would drive my fiancé mad too lol.

All I'm saying is relax you have plenty of time and a lot can happen in seven years. Who knows in 6 months or 1 year or whatever you could be in a job you love and that pays well. Don't have any unnescessary stress hanging over you for the time being :-) besides calling off your wedding that's seven years away is a bit drastic and I guarantee in a year or so you will look back and think "What on earth was I thinking"? I've made loads of unnescessary hasty decisions in my life and most of them I really regret.

If you have no contract, you can have them for that as well, youre supposed to have one (my ex boss got taken to court by an ex employee and the lack of contract was one of the things that came up)

Id definaltey definately seek legal advice, she has no right to tell you to 'like it or lump it' its unprofessional and she sounds like a complete wanker. I can not abide people like that, I have no tolerance. You treat people how you want to be treated.

As Tori says, you will have proof that it's suddenly dropped and that (Im assuming) it has been a steady income of the same amount prior to that

I would definately mention the lack of contract as well, she will be in breach of all sorts with that

I wouldn't direct your rage at the bloke, Id aim it all on that woman, she sounds like a right dragon, don't do anything too hasty like rage quitting (I can say that from experience hahaha) the meeting sounds good, but Id still definately recommend CAB, or ACAS, both, especially the latter, will give you the advice you need.

Just read this thread and all the posts.

I work in HR and am a senior adviser so will give it a stab.

If you started there as an apprentice and therefore on an apprentice wage and contract but never had a new contract issued then the one you have is what is valid unfortunately. Do you have anything in writing and signed that states your contracted hours?

If you have something in writing stating your contracted hours and they want to decrease them your employer needs to consult with you prior to actually making the change. I've had legal advice on a similar matter from my professional body and it's clear that unless contracted your employer is not legally bound to provide you with the pay and hours.

What I am interested to know is what your contract does states, even if as an apprentice, is it a fixed term contract? As it would make sense for it to be as most apprenticeships are time bound in that they last a year or two but you gain experience and a qualification at the end of it but the organisation is not duty bound to employ you full time or permanently after you're qualified.

How can you legally be on below minimum wage?

I think you're best looking for a new job, holding off the wedding til you have saved or ask for help from families. You can get married for not evry much still these days, it just won't be as huge a wedding...which may be a blessing!