girlfriend let go, what are her rights?

sinjin_smythe

I am interested to see if my girlfriend has been treated wrongly by her employer.

She started working with them only 2 months ago, she believed it to be an internship type role although it was all reception duties. Her boss mentioned she would be on less then minimum wage (13k) and would then increase after 1 month. She accepted and started working, only recently we began worrying as she was still on below the minimum wage so only today after lunch she asked and was told she she has been let go without any notice (as in not to come in tomorrow). Although he has said she will get a weeks paid holidays.

The question I want to ask is it legal that he had her on below minimum up to now? and let her go, or is that to be expected with an "internship" (although seems like temp work). Im really annoyed at this as i would have gone mad if i was in her position.

O and they last paid her through a cheque mentioning that they hadnt setup bank details yet.

Please help, it doesn't sound right at all.

Shelflife

depending on her age/experience shemay not have been entitled to the min wage. while she has been told not to come in tomorrow she has got notice as she is getting paid a weeks hols ( only entitled to 3.3days).

it takes time to set up her bank and companies usually wait until they get the employees tax details before finalising the bank.

sinjin_smythe

I do understand that, but is there anything that can be done about her minimum wage? Really how is it legal to say its an internship when its just clerical work thats below the minimun wage ? thanks for the help shelflife

Shelflife

what age is she and what experience has she?

sinjin_smythe

23, a degree in media and 6 months experience with a previous media production company

Shelflife

her lack of experience would prob count against her, as you need 2 yrs exp to get the min wage , so they are prob within their right but only just.

not alot she can do really as she was only there 2 months.

chalk it down to experience really. (no pun intended)

sinjin_smythe

Yeah well i suppose yuor right, but it really feels wrong. Aside from what happened, what is the difference between full time work and in internship? I would have thought the difference being in an internship a work period is agreed with or without pay.

Thoie

Shelflife wrote: »

you need 2 yrs exp to get the min wage

Really? Was that always the way?

Oh, so you do!

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/employment/employment-rights-and-conditions/pay-and-employment/pay_inc_min_wage

Though according to my maths, her annual salary should still have been €13,494 (37.5 hour working week x 52 weeks (as holidays and bankholidays should be paid) x €6.92)

brianwalshcork

Did she get a contract when she started work? (probably not)

Did she get a payslip along with her cheque?

Did it look like the company might have had any intention of giving her work that was actually related to her qualifictaions eventually - like an intern would expect?

Sounds like she might be better off without this employer.

leeroybrown

There's probably not much that she can do. They'll have someone else in doing the same thing for the same money next week. There are hundreds (possibly thousands) of people out there who did courses thinking that they would get into 'the media' only to find that they've joined a queue of people looking for menial work as a gofer in the hopes of getting a real job off the back of the 'experience'. There are plenty of companies out there willing to use them in this way.

That said, if she has more than two years work experience (in total) since turning 18 then they were definitely pushing the boundaries of minimum wage. What she was doing certainly wouldn't class as structured training. It might be worth her while getting in contact with NERA, even if only to make their life slightly awkward.

Emerald Lass

Did she get a payslip with her wages? and did she get a written contract?
if no to either question then AFAIK what they are doing is illegal. So that may be a course of action. Not sure about the minimum wage/experience thing so can't comment on the legalities of that, but they are definitely a company to be avoided and it does sound like they set out to take advantage of someone.

Def get on to NERA and find about about the above.

I'd also look into the getting paid by cheque thing - seems a bit suss to me. Wait and see if she gets a P45 from them - you apparently can DEMAND this the minute you leave. The SW are advising people not to actually leave a job without it, as it is needed to file a SW claim. If she doesn't get her P45 promptly I would wonder if they ever even put her on the books.

As for the poster who justified the cheque payment with the bank excuse - in any decent company they will not wait over a month to pay to a bank account. And it shouldn't take that long to get the tax details sorted - its unproffessional and unfair to expect somone on such a low wage anyway to be hit with emergency tax!

If she wants experience etc she would be better off trying to get on a FAS course - on that she would get experience and still be eligible for the dole at €204 per week so she would be financially better off.

best of luck to her with looking for a new job any way - she has my sympathies, I reckon this employer well took advantage.

leeroybrown

Unfortunately, the 'media' sector is one of those special cases where far more people (at least 10 times) pursue a qualification than will ever be able to get jobs. It's one of those strange areas where you generally can't get a job without experience (or great contacts) but the only 'experience' going in many cases is menial work where you learn nothing.

One thing I forgot to add is that if she does consider causing trouble the Irish 'media' sector can become quite small if someone decides to badmouth you. While I'm certainly not condoning the employer, I do think she should consider what is the best outcome here.

Kipperhell

I don't think they even needed to give her notice pay. The first 6 months of any job they can just let you go no explanation needed. In 2 months I doubt she would be entitled to 5 days pay as holidays.


I think people have stated what early media work is like and the reality of the industry.

Mrs OBumble

weedhead wrote: »

she believed it to be an internship type role although it was all reception duties.

What exactly is an "internship"?

The minimum wage act has provision for trainees, but with bits like:

- there must a be structured training or study programme
- the training or study must be for the purposes of improving the work performance of the employee
- at least 10% of the training must occur away from the employee’s ordinary operational duties;
- there must be an assessment and certification procedure or written confirmation on the completion of the training course.

Was all of this in place?

If not, then she's not a "trainee".

Seems to me that an "internship" is a nasty idea imported from the US (which has very different labour laws and structures to Europe) in which people work for free, or almost free, because they're so desperate to get into the organisation. I think they're a bad thing all round: places that get free labour don't appreciate it, the desperate people are forced to work for nothing and are generally treated badly - and have to be supported by someone else while they're doing do.