unpaid wages

[teddybon]

my son worked 3 days in a pub and the landlord will not pay him. I have contacted the brewery chain-enterprise inns- but they say they only lease the premises to this 'gentleman' should I persue this further as the man is very rude and intimidating?

[albaqwerty]

any sort of written contract? go for the jugular.
Did you son work for him through JobCentrePlus? Even if he didn't I'd suggest contacting them, as surely he must advertise the occasional job through them?
Good Luck (it makes me fume that folk can do this)

[teddybon]

no contract but wages done legally. Was a stop-gap job whilst he looked for full time post. landlord took offence when he was offered a better job.

[albaqwerty]

I'm not in any way, shape or form up on any legalities I'm afraid. but that "gentleman" is a representative of a larger chain with a lot to lose.
3 days wages is 3 days wages.
Could/would HMRC offer any advice?

[albaqwerty]

I agree with please-sir. Lucky escape.
Don't let it fester.
Word of mouth is pretty satisfying advertising tho!!

[bednobs]

did he give the required notice?

[buildersmate]

Back in your box, bednobs, this is casual work of only 3 days total duration, no need to give notice.
The landlord is of course expecting him to put up and shut up - probably gains quite a bit treating people that way.
The way to extract the money is through the small claims court, as others have said. make sure you also include the costs of the SC application and some expenses for the pain of having to do it.

[hc4361]

Bednobs has a valid point, and you are being somewhat rude, BM.
Did the landlord know this was only a stop gap job? Was it casual? I can see no reference to it from the OP.
If he didn't turn up for work when he was expected to and simply left the landlord in the lurch, I can see his point. I can't see a new member of staff being especially efficient in three days, after all.

[tamborine]

get in there when its busy and demand his wages......if he refuses to pay send your friends in to spill drinks & generally mess up the business.

Get you son to name pub on Facebook......all his local friends will soon bring the place down.

[bednobs]

did the landlord know it was "casual work" though? if he gave someone a job with the thought that he was employing him for a while surely notice has to be given. We wont know till the OP posts but if you have a job don't you have to give notice?

[Androcles]

As bednobs has pointed out, there may well be more to this than we have been given. Was he taken on in the form of a temporarybasist by the houror was the landlord expecting him to put in a stretch of time until after Christmas, say? If the latter, then I am not surprised he is a bit annoyed, which is no excuse for not paying the wages, but understandable.

I think we need the full story, teddybon to give you a proper answer.....

[buildersmate]

Irrespective of whether notice was given or not, an employer cannot withhold wages for this reason - it's in breach of the Employment Rights Act because it is not one of the statutory reasons why an employer can withhold wages.
What the employer has to do if it thinks it has a case is to make a civil claim for breach of contract in the (Small Claims) courts.
Anyone else want to challenge that I know my stuff on this?

[saxy_jag]

No challenge, Buildersmate, but I was wondering about the possibility of the lad invoicing him for the work he did and then taking it through small claims if he doesn't pay up.

[bednobs]

lol no challenge BM - you get back in your box now :)

[buildersmate]

Saxy - I think that's what my first post was suggesting. However there is a better and cheaper way - use the Employment Tribunal.
The steps to follow this route should be:
Write to the employer setting out one is owed and giving a reasonable length of time to pay - say 2 weeks. Keep a copy of the letter, obviously.
That alone might do the trick since many people will back down if it looks like a youngster is serious about pursuing it and seems to know something about his rights.
If that does not get a response or any valid reason why the employer thinks no payment is necessary, go to the ET website here, download Form ET1 and fill it in.
The link to the Form ET1 is here (it downloads as a PDF)
One would be claiming for breach of contract / failure to provide adequate pay statement.

[buildersmate]

http://www.employment...-version-18-11-09.pdf

[Buenchico]

The first thing your son should do is to send a formal letter (by recorded delivery) demanding payment of the money owed to him. The letter should be dated and clearly show the name and address of the publican, together with your son's own name and address. (Your son should, of course, keep a copy of the letter, together with his Post Office receipt). It should (roughly) be worded as follows:

"To Alfred Jones

I write to DEMAND payment of the sum of £xx owed to me in respect of wages for three days work (on 11th, 12th and 13th December 2009).

TAKE NOTICE that if the aforementioned sum is not paid to me within FOURTEEN DAYS I will initiate court action, seeking payment of BOTH the aforementioned sum and my LEGAL COSTS.

Signed: Teddy Bon Jnr."

If the guy doesn't pay up, your son should use Money Claim Online to seek payment:
http://tinyurl.com/5kwx6

Chris

[teddybon]

Thankyou for all your advice, the landlord knew the job was temp. he used to ring my son and say you are working/not working today...3 days wages is a lot to a young man of 21 and he earned them. The pub is one of the scummiest locally and i don't know why the brewery are defending a landlord so lacking in ambition and bonhommie!