Hired under annual salaried position, now only being paid for hours worked

[essjaydee]

Hi everyone, 

 

Hopefully I can get some advice on what is a slightly unusual work situation.

 

A few years ago - firstly for medical reasons, and then due to relocating to another country - my UK (England) employer allowed me to work remotely full time. Previous to this, I was hired with an annual salary to work 37.5 hours per week in their office, which I had done for several years. One of the conditions that my employer specified upon switching to remote working, was that I had to now submit a timesheet and would only be paid for the actual hours worked, which I agreed to (this was all verbal - nothing signed). 

 

Fast forward a couple of years and my employer has been losing clients right, left and centre (and have done nothing to try and replace them), which has left me with an ever-lessening amount of work to do, and therefore, less and less hours that I can be paid for each week. Right now, it feels as though they are just squeezing me out, by not giving me new work, and therefore barely paying me.

 

At this point, I don't know what to do... Do I have any rights to ask for more money under my original salaried contract, to make up for the lack of work they are giving me (which is through no fault of mine)? I don't want to quit, because I have almost 10 years in the position and would in theory get some kind of redundancy pay, if they are eventually forced to let me go.

 

What should I do?

 

Thanks for any help you can give and sorry for the long post. Greatly appreciate you reading everything!

[ericsbrother]

you have worked for a substantial time under the new contract ( both parties agreed it so it is binding) so you cant demand to go back to your old one and nor can you expect them to pay you under the old terms either.

Look for something else and suggest reundancy to them to try and get a severance deal. It would be a matter for an ET so drawn out and uncertain if you go that way.

If you get a new job in a different company in the same field the working pattern will kill any exit clauses regarding non contact with your clients etc so your address book may be worth something to you

[essjaydee]

1 hour ago, ericsbrother said:

you have worked for a substantial time under the new contract ( both parties agreed it so it is binding) so you cant demand to go back to your old one and nor can you expect them to pay you under the old terms either.

Look for something else and suggest reundancy to them to try and get a severance deal. It would be a matter for an ET so drawn out and uncertain if you go that way.

If you get a new job in a different company in the same field the working pattern will kill any exit clauses regarding non contact with your clients etc so your address book may be worth something to you

 

Yes, I did think that may be the case - i.e. after working a certain way for an extended period, that in itself becomes the agreement. Thanks for your reply. I shall speak to them and see if we can work something out either for more work, or perhaps redundancy, if they are not going to try and win new clients. Thanks again!

[essjaydee]

9 minutes ago, essjaydee said:

 

Yes, I did think that may be the case - i.e. after working a certain way for an extended period, that in itself becomes the agreement. Thanks for your reply. I shall speak to them and see if we can work something out either for more work, or perhaps redundancy, if they are not going to try and win new clients. Thanks again!

 

One other questions relating to this:

If they refuse to make me redundant and instead continue to leave me with extremely low hours, to try and force me to quit, is there anything I can do? Can I argue that they have made my position redundant with the lack of clients/work, and therefore it is their duty to give me redundancy? Thanks.

[ericsbrother]

you are paid on a zero hours basis so they pay you for the work done. Nothing to force them to provide more work.

Why arent you at a job interview today, that is the real question

[essjaydee]

16 minutes ago, ericsbrother said:

Why arent you at a job interview today, that is the real question

 

Thanks for that wonderful insight, but unfortunately, due to many circumstances that you have no idea of, it isn't as simple as just going and finding another job - hence me starting to work remotely with this employer some time ago. Thanks for your input though.

[ericsbrother]

Well, you arent working for them so you should have the time to look for another job and their treatment of you should give you the inclination.

If that isnt so it begs the question what do you want from this? a fat redundancy package? No chance and you already know that. Redundancy went out the window when you asked for the changes to your employment contract