Tea Ladies -have they any comeback?

Paddy Samurai

Could a solicitor help them?. As they are on low wages I said I would check here first.I don’t want them paying out for help if it’s a straight forward no hope situation.

My aunt is 1 of 4 tea ladies working in a hospital .They have been in the same job for about 20 years.Last week they were told they have been paid incorrectly and will have to take a pay cut.Although they are all employed as permanent workers none of them remember getting a contract.

This happened after they asked for a meeting to discuss greviences they had.This was the first time that they requested such a meeting due to changes in their duties.

coylemj

Are they employees of the hospital or the HSE? Are they members of a union?

Mellor

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

They have been in the same job for about 20 years.Last week they were told they have been paid incorrectly and will have to take a pay cut..

Being told means nothing. They need to get it in writing along with the reasons why.
There is probably some sort of paygrade tier they are on, (presumably their pay increased over the years)

_Brian

Bit if they were on the incorrect rate it’s not a pay cut.
Am employer has the right to rectify errors up tomakd including recovering any money overpaid should they wish to persue that.
Because they are “tea ladies” and not on €79k a year matters none.

Mellor

_Brian wrote: »

Bit if they were on the incorrect rate it’s not a pay cut

The issue is whether or not they are actually on an incorrect rate. But whether or not employer can adjust.

There needs to be some level of proof provided. The employer can't just decide it's incorrect. If a new pay structure was brought in recently, it doesn't retrospectively apply.

4ensic15

There is a mechanism to complain to the WRC under the payment of wages act. That would put the proof on the employer to show how the alleged over-payment occurred. They should also have been given written terms of employment which should have set out their wages. 4 weeks pay can be awarded if they were not given written terms.

Paddy Samurai

Thx all for the reply’s.

They are permanent HSE hospital employees that work nights on the wards,giving patients their suppers.

They are paid the standard catering rate.

For the past 20 years they where paid double time for Sunday’s ,last week they were told this was a mistake and the would be on a new allowance for Sunday.

They are expected to work three to four sundays a month .

They did tell their manager that they were not accepting the cut but it still went ahead.

They contacted HR ,but where told to talk to their manager.

They tell me it’s hard to get managers to put snything in writing as they don’t want any comeback.

How can they make their manager put it in writing?.

Paddy Samurai

4ensic15 wrote: »

There is a mechanism to complain to the WRC under the payment of wages act. That would put the proof on the employer to show how the alleged over-payment occurred. They should also have been given written terms of employment which should have set out their wages. 4 weeks pay can be awarded if they were not given written terms.

They tell me they all started out as temporary staff that where then made permanent .Also they say they did get a letter saying they where permanent and catering staff ,but not what hours them would be working.
Maybe it’s because it’s so long ago that hospital did’nt need to set out hours?

What is WRC ?.

4ensic15

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

What is WRC ?.

Workplace relations commission.

colm_mcm

Would they really be on €43k a year?
https://www.hse.ie/eng/staff/benefitsservices/pay/consolidated-payscales-1st-april-2017.pdf
Sorry if I’m derailing.

Paddy Samurai

colm_mcm wrote: »

Would they really be on €43k a year?
https://www.hse.ie/eng/staff/benefitsservices/pay/consolidated-payscales-1st-april-2017.pdf
Sorry if I’m derailing.

No ,they tell me they earn around 16k basic for 20 hr week.

Mellor

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

Thx all for the reply’s.

They are permanent HSE hospital employees that work nights on the wards,giving patients their suppers.

They are paid the standard catering rate.

If they are HSE there is definitely a pay grade associated with the position.
The lowest grade (CATERING OFFICER, ASSISTANT) on the chart above is 32k. If they are doing 20 hours, 16k makes sense.
However, with 20 years, they should have increased to what looks like 20k.

They need to cut out the manager and contact national HR.

Paddy Samurai

Mellor wrote: »

The lowest grade (CATERING OFFICER, ASSISTANT) on the chart above is 32k. If they are doing 20 hours, 16k makes sense.
However, with 20 years, they should have increased to what looks like 20k.

€15.79 per hour x 20 hrs x 52 weeks + €16421.60 and thats from my Aunt who is working there 20 + years.

Thanks for info all,I will pass it on.

ichabod

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

Could a solicitor help them?. As they are on low wages I said I would check here first.I don’t want them paying out for help if it’s a straight forward no hope situation.

My aunt is 1 of 4 tea ladies working in a hospital .They have been in the same job for about 20 years.Last week they were told they have been paid incorrectly and will have to take a pay cut.Although they are all employed as permanent workers none of them remember getting a contract.

This happened after they asked for a meeting to discuss greviences they had.This was the first time that they requested such a meeting due to changes in their duties.

According to later op's posts, these women are direct HSE employees. The HSE is highly unionised. So that should be the first step ( unless they are non-union ). Assuming they, or even one of them , is a union member, why talk about solicitors ? The op doesn't say that the HSE is trying to recover over payments only that a reduced rate will apply. It is unlikely that changes in duties are being applied just to 4 domestics. Any changes in the HSE are subject to collective agreement between the various unions and the HSE, which is why radical change within the HSE is nearly impossible. On the information available, it seems that the four women have fairly solid grounds for redress on at least two grounds but without a lot more detail, who knows for sure ?

Chancer3001

Maybe I picked it up wrong

They were payed double Sunday.

Work said oops you should nt have been

Now you're being paid a new rate.

Was there a post where they have to repay money or no ??

hullaballoo

Has anyone questioned whether the employer is correct in saying the tea ladies were overpaid?

There is provision for Sunday hours in the OWTA and I was sure Sunday workers were covered by it?

Chancer3001

Exactly.

If theres no contract they are ****ed.

They have no right to be paid anything.

So there's surely a contract with pay per hour on it somewhere

Mellor

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Maybe I picked it up wrong

They were payed double Sunday.

Work said oops you should nt have been

Now you're being paid a new rate.

Was there a post where they have to repay money or no ??

There was no post about repaying, that I seen.
The issue is whether or not the employer is correct. Doubletime on a sunday was pretty common 20 years ago. If they have never been issued a new contract, then that's the agreement.

Even if they are no longer on a double time sunday contract, they should probably be on a higher rate (going by the schedule posted above).

Victor

As public servants, they are only entitled to public service pay* - just like the chief executives that got caught topping-up their salaries. Their pay is set by law, not contract.


* This doesn't apply to certain constitutional office holders.