No pay due to lack of work?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

This is now £23.50 a day - which is taxable. it is know as Statutory Guarantee Pay (SGP)

However - the employer doesn’t need to pay it every day. The employee is entitled to their £23.50 for a maximum of 5 days within a 3 month period. if the employee normally works less than 5 days a week - then they would only be entitled to the amount of days they normally work.

Quite a few employers give away money they don’t have to on this … detailed logs of lay off days need to be kept to track the amount of payments.

If lay off totals 4 consecutive weeks - the employee can claim redundancy. This can be refused but the employer must then give 12 weeks of continuous work in the employees normal role.

If layoff equals 6 weeks over a 13 week period - they can then claim redundancy as above.

If an employee is offered SOME work during a lay off day - they are not entitled to SGP whether they then take that work or not.

Its not a nice thing to have to inpliment or manage lay off but the fact is the company generally can’t afford to pay when there is no work to be done. Unfortunately some employees think the company has ‘millions’ of pounds and they are entitled to some of it. Fortunately for the employer - the Lay Off clause is one of the few rules/regulations that seems to be on the employers side rather than the employee.

22

shep532:
This is now £23.50 a day - which is taxable. it is know as Statutory Guarantee Pay (SGP)

However - the employer doesn’t need to pay it every day. The employee is entitled to their £23.50 for a maximum of 5 days within a 3 month period. if the employee normally works less than 5 days a week - then they would only be entitled to the amount of days they normally work.

Quite a few employers give away money they don’t have to on this … detailed logs of lay off days need to be kept to track the amount of payments.

If lay off totals 4 consecutive weeks - the employee can claim redundancy. This can be refused but the employer must then give 12 weeks of continuous work in the employees normal role.

If layoff equals 6 weeks over a 13 week period - they can then claim redundancy as above.

If an employee is offered SOME work during a lay off day - they are not entitled to SGP whether they then take that work or not.

Its not a nice thing to have to inpliment or manage lay off but the fact is the company generally can’t afford to pay when there is no work to be done. Unfortunately some employees think the company has ‘millions’ of pounds and they are entitled to some of it. Fortunately for the employer - the Lay Off clause is one of the few rules/regulations that seems to be on the employers side rather than the employee.

shep, well answered, a rare occurance here, thanks, i had nearly given up posting.

23

It isn’t a perfect factual answer as most of this depends on actual terms of employment as detailed in contracts etc.

It is possible to have a contract that says you don’t even get SGP. it is also possibly to have one that only allows lay off on full pay. if lay off isn’t actually stipulated in the employment contract - then it’s full pay for lay off days. (So get reading your contracts)

In my exerience - any company that has gone to the effort of getting contracts will have the lay off clause covered. it’s pretty much standard to include it in a contract of employment.

Unfortunately I have had to deal with Lay off in various departments and it isn’t pleasant. the amount of people have stormed out of meetings off to speak to ACAS or someone in the pub who knows the law … nothing ever comes of it because I was doing things right.

24

If we get laid off we still get paid but the day gets banked and we owe it back.

25

just a thought from the other side of the fence here, if i park up a truck for even one day a week, i wil llose money on that trucks earnings for the week, i very much doubt your boss would be sending you home for the day unless he absoluetly had too, me in an ideal world i want the trucks out 7 days a week, a four day week means im losing money too, so dont take it personally, its just the way it goes sometimes.

26

we have had this problem a few weeks now, and its a case of go with it and wait for work to pick up, or leave.
depends what the company you work for is like. If you like the job, people, location etc, maybe better to see it out, if you hate it, then either time to leave, or head for the agencies.
Personally, I have taken the pay cut, rather than try elsewhere.
Like i say, its a personal choice.
If the boss decides to lay people off, you may be one of them, if you all take the wages cut, at least you are getting some pay.

27

We’re always told by those that runs things that “market forces” hold sway in both wages and the jobs themselves.

Trouble is, “market forces” has been turned into a management tool that can be used BY them, but not AGAINST them.

For instance, when was the last time you told your boss that

“Bloggs & co across the road have just given their staff a big payrise, so you’ve got to follow suit right?” - Wrong.

“This company have just announced record profits in a year where they expected to make a loss - so we get a big payrise right?” - Wrong.

“You’ve just paid yourself over a million pounds for the first time, so we’re up for a sizable christmas bonus right?” - Wrong.

The catch-all argument used by any boss today is “There’s someone else down the road who’ll do your job for less.”

Load of crap that argument, because I’d do his job for £900k instead of the million - but I won’t get the job because HE won’t let me have it! - Market forces don’t apply to the riggers of the market!

We drivers won’t get extra pay until we make moves to get it. This can be achieved by solidarity with other drivers (no one accepts work at a firm that’s just laid staff off for example) or can also be achieved by refusing to work for less than a certain amount. A driver on their own has no power. All drivers together can achieve anything they want.

Forget GMB, TGWU, CWU, and whatever. We need a national union that is only for LGV drivers and no one else outside that group. A firm treats you illegally, and the government doesn’t care - a national walkout might prevent them ever trying scamming like that again!

No one is going to walk out over a guy caught with his hand in the till getting sacked, but a guy who’s refused to run bent/pick up stolen goods/cheat the taxman/sign false declarations etc etc should and would be supported by everyone else in the union since any one of them could have easily found themselves in the same spot.

28

I’m self employed & I work among a lot of employed drivers. A few years back drivers where I work were being made have a couple of days off each week. Several didn’t like it so they went to the job centre/CAB for advice. It turned out the bosses could stand them down each week if there was no work. Therefore it might pay you to seek proper advice to find out your rights.

Best of luck

BB