Am I breaking the law?

[MobileKat]

If I employ someone and pay them NMW for some of their hours am I breaking the law if I say the rest of their hours are voluntary. They would be doing the same job for the voluntary hours

The employee has agreed to the voluntary hours.

Thankyou in advance x

 

[JenBella]

I would think their overall contract stating X hours at NMW is fine...not sure how you incorporate them working for you for free into a contract or how this is justified....as it seems like you are either getting someone to work for you for no pay or else overall their hours total against their hourly rate means you are paying less than minimum wage.

 

[Dannigirl83]

Thats what i thought aswel. You are allowed to have someone working as a volunteer only, but if they are doing paid work aswel then i dont think it stands doing voluntary work, but i may be wrong. Maybe ring the employers advice line who will tell you over the phone? x

 

[AcidPerm]

Yes.

In reality, you have to look at total hours worked by £ amount paid and then you have the hourly rate. If you only pay NMW for part of those hours then your employee is effectively working for less than NMW.

Even if she agrees now, she can sue you later for the balance of pay.

 

[laurakate]

Employment law is pretty black and white....youre either employing somebody and treating them as such for evry hour they work or youre not. There should be no grey areas about it.

 

[swilks12]

Hi, I got severely stung by this so I am now an expert on NMW etc!!

Basically ANY hours that a therapist is working at your salon has to be paid at least NMW. The previous comment is correct you either have them on a voluntary capacity or as an employee, not both.

I'd defo contact the NMW office and discuss and get all your facts straight before employing ANYONE!!

 

[Crystal colleen]

You would be breaking the law effectively because he/she would not be earning NMW they either need to be employed and payed or just voluntary.

 

[Crystal colleen]

I have read your other post about job offer and correct me if I'm wrong but you have been offered a job for the pay structure you have outlined in your other post are you employing someone to come along and work for you working some hours nmw and some voluntary to save yourself some money so you can meet the demands of out goings of the jobs pay structure you have been offered.If that is correct I think you need to really come up with a new strategy for earning extra money.x