I know a few on here have experience of this. I know that agencies get slagged off a lot on here. But generally, I’ve always been paid what I’ve been owed. My one go at ‘employee’ has not been as sucessful.
Recently I posted about a ridiculously long induction. The company were XPO. I spent 4 days sat in a classroom. Each day my soul died a little more. It came to a head when they started saying you need to turn your engines off at crossings (no problem) but expect to be interrogated at debriefing and have to justify why you stopped. They they started talking about disciplinaries for not using cruise control enough… To top it off they asked if we’d have a problem coming in a midnight on a Sunday (no extra pay on this contract) when I applied for a job that was mornings. So I explained I did have a problem with this. Next thing I’ve got a man telling me to ‘shut my mouth’. I ended up having a bit of a barny and raising my voice a bit myself. The next day I went back simply because I wanted to be paid. The compliance manager said I wasn’t the sort they were after - and they wouldn’t even be uploading my cpc hours. I asked about pay. Was told I’d be paid etc.
Since then I got nothing in writing. Even though the contract says they only terminate employment in writing. I chased this, and eventually got a letter saying I failed the probation.
Now the problem is… I should have been paid on thursday. No money. And they are ignoring my emails (I don’t actually have a number for HR). What’s more my contract says I should be paid a weeks notice. I’d settle for just being paid for the work I did. So I reckon I’ll need to sue them. I quickly found work (via agency) doing general haulage and i couldn’t be happier. Lovely small family company - leave me alone and greet me with a smile in the morning, top quality trucks and all specced with the driver in mind. Not the newest units - but all have fridges, sun roofs etc. And best of all zero harassment (which is why I’m not bothered about the notice money they owe me).
Any advice from those who have had to do this? I’ve emailed them giving em 7 days to pay me or I’ll issue proceedings. Anything else I should do?
Nope, just do what you have done. Once they’ve not paid that send a letter before action giving them another week. After that if they’ve not paid then file a claim online.
Keep all correspondence business like. Don’t let emotions get into it because they’re both pointless and and just make you feel worse when trying to resolve this.
From my previous research on this subject, you need to send them a letter (in the post) but which department/person do you address it to - I wouldn’t know. I used to work for XPO at a warehouse until last year and at the time they paid near the end of the month, so if you started your employment after the 13th or 15th can’t remember then you got paid by the end of next month. Don’t know if it has changed. Also if you were on probation I don’t believe they owe you any money for contract termination.
sammym:
I know a few on here have experience of this. I know that agencies get slagged off a lot on here. But generally, I’ve always been paid what I’ve been owed. My one go at ‘employee’ has not been as sucessful.
Recently I posted about a ridiculously long induction. The company were XPO. I spent 4 days sat in a classroom. Each day my soul died a little more. It came to a head when they started saying you need to turn your engines off at crossings (no problem) but expect to be interrogated at debriefing and have to justify why you stopped. They they started talking about disciplinaries for not using cruise control enough… To top it off they asked if we’d have a problem coming in a midnight on a Sunday (no extra pay on this contract) when I applied for a job that was mornings. So I explained I did have a problem with this. Next thing I’ve got a man telling me to ‘shut my mouth’. I ended up having a bit of a barny and raising my voice a bit myself. The next day I went back simply because I wanted to be paid. The compliance manager said I wasn’t the sort they were after - and they wouldn’t even be uploading my cpc hours. I asked about pay. Was told I’d be paid etc.
Since then I got nothing in writing. Even though the contract says they only terminate employment in writing. I chased this, and eventually got a letter saying I failed the probation.
Now the problem is… I should have been paid on thursday. No money. And they are ignoring my emails (I don’t actually have a number for HR). What’s more my contract says I should be paid a weeks notice. I’d settle for just being paid for the work I did. So I reckon I’ll need to sue them. I quickly found work (via agency) doing general haulage and i couldn’t be happier. Lovely small family company - leave me alone and greet me with a smile in the morning, top quality trucks and all specced with the driver in mind. Not the newest units - but all have fridges, sun roofs etc. And best of all zero harassment (which is why I’m not bothered about the notice money they owe me).
Any advice from those who have had to do this? I’ve emailed them giving em 7 days to pay me or I’ll issue proceedings. Anything else I should do?
Cheers.
You seem to get a lot of that and you only a part timer
Read your contract and the staff handbook together.
The contract will spell out the legally required bits and the handbook gives more information on the terms.
You will probably find that there is a right to terminate without notice by either party in the first month.
The probation clause will be clearly marked at near the top of the contract.
Check the frequency and terms of pay. When I drove for Norbert Dentressangle it was on a month in hand basis which meant that the work I did in June was paid a the end of July. You may be going a bit early on this one.
XPO have a no name policy in place so you won’t be able to find someone in HR to address your complaint to. You can however write to the department so Head of HR, Lodge House, Lodge Way Industrial Estate, Northampton, Google the postcode, I’m not quite that sad. Send it recorded. Don’t do emails because the system hasn’t caught up enough to recognise them yet. Paper and Ink are king.
Regardless of what you did or didn’t do or say, if you fit the bill or not for XPO, they are legally required to provide you with pay for the time you spent on their site. That should be at the agreed rate. Now if they have provided training they may try to deduct the cost of that training. Its probably in the contract but: If you were not given a choice about receiving this training, you are not obliged to pay for it regardless of the contract. If they required the training, they cannot reduce your pay to the point you would have been paid less than the National Living Wage.
CAUTION: When writing, do not confuse the National Living Wage, £8.25 per hour wish IIRC, with the Living Wage Foundation Living Wage which is much higher.
If you’re on PAYE, then contact ACAS before making a claim to the small claims court. In my experience ACAS sorted monies owed to me after non payment of induction pay by the agency for a full day sat bored rigid on an XPO contract, seems to follow a similar pattern. ACAS offer a service prior to an employment tribunal which generally kicks ■■■ of employers who don’t want to play ball and it won’t cost you a penny unlike money claim online.
sammym:
and they wouldn’t even be uploading my cpc hours.
I’m confused…
If this was a Dcpc course and you attended the full hours required, they have to upload the hours because you did them.
As others have said already, send them a letter by registered post explaining your greivance with them and if that fails then it’s moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome
sammym:
and they wouldn’t even be uploading my cpc hours.
I’m confused…
If this was a Dcpc course and you attended the full hours required, they have to upload the hours because you did them.
As others have said already, send them a letter by registered post explaining your greivance with them and if that fails then it’s moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome
When you start you do 1 week in the class room. Learning how to do it the XPO way.
Some of those hours count as CPC hours. It’s a daft system. We had an experienced petrol tanker driver shipped in to sit on an induction course for something which had nothing to do with petrol tanking. Just so he got his CPC hours.
I did 3 days which should count as CPC. At the end of the 3rd CPC day the compliance manager said I wouldn’t get my hours and I’d failed probation. I shook hands with the trainer as I left as I got on with that one. And he said he is never told anything but he thought I’d been fine.
So I suppose they can not upload the hours if they so chose.
As for this company not allocating the DCPC hours, i wonder there’s some small print involved here where if you left within a certain time (or didn’t complete induction) the DCPC modules would be chargeable, or if unpaid as such then they claim no obligation to update said hours?
XPO sound like what RM have now become… “Poachers-■■■-Gamekeepers” who watch you like hawks, and the extra stress levels involved for the most petty of things - simply aint worth it.
RM pay £19.48 on agency though. I reckon XPO barely pay half that, so they must be trying to farm out those really desperate for a full time job, and put off any “troublemakers” like moi, who expect to be left to their own devices with a free hand to get the job done, rather than “breathed down the neck of” at every turn…
Nothing in the contract about CPC payback etc. Just says with less than 12 weeks service you get 1 weeks notice.
After my email today they did pay me £440 by faster payments. Which is about £700 short of what they actually owe me. If you include the notice and the holiday pay etc. I have no idea how they worked out £440. It was salaries for 48 hours a week. It says if sacked for gross misconduct you get no notice pay. But my letter doesn’t say that - it says I ‘failed the probation’.
I’ll shoot them a recorded delivery letter asking for justification. I wouldn’t ever go back there so I have nothing to lose.
I couldn’t believe what they were telling me tbh. Every time you come back your ‘team leader’ (who doesn’t drive…) goes over your ‘performance’. If you didn’t use CC for 20% of the time you get told off and have to say why. If you did any ‘harsh braking’ you get told off andhave to justify it. If you stop without asking permission you get told off and have to justify it. They are big on ‘retraining’ you if you do any of those things.
I’m much happier being handed the keys and left alone. I’m the first to admit I’m not the best driver. But I don’t need that stress. If I have a booking time now if it’s looking tight I crack on. If I can’t make it I rock up late. If I am looking at getting there early I take it easy and stop for a coffee. No one says a word where I am now. Just a smile and asking me if I have any plans for the weekend. It’s how it should be. I put it on break when I want. I do whatever suits me.
If the teacher thinks you’re a [zb]…he/she has no obligation to upload your hours.
If the teacher thought I was that bad why let me do three days… If I my attention on the first day was so shocking as to be not worthy of uploading hours surely it wouldn’t take three days to work that out.
It’s clearly a company realising they won’t benefit so not doing it. Which is fine.
robbo99.:
If you’re on PAYE, then contact ACAS before making a claim to the small claims court. In my experience ACAS sorted monies owed to me after non payment of induction pay by the agency for a full day sat bored rigid on an XPO contract, seems to follow a similar pattern. ACAS offer a service prior to an employment tribunal which generally kicks ■■■ of employers who don’t want to play ball and it won’t cost you a penny unlike money claim online.
MCOL doesn’t cost you a penny technically as you will get your costs back from XPO if they are in breach.
Bottom line is this; You attended their place of work and are entitled to be paid as such. The entitlement regarding training is down to the mk1 eyeball and the small print.
Some time ago I did a days work for an agency at Culina. The agency didn’t get paid by said Co as they were not happy with my work. The agency refused to pay me so I took Harry Monk’s advice and followed the MCOL route. Paid out in full along with costs (cost was £50 from memory). I would be very surprised if a company the size of XPO decided to go through the mither of contesting you for the sake of a few peanuts (to them). Spend £50 and give them some…
If XPO are so bad no wonder the Stobarts etc etc of this world have plenty of drivers.
If they are as bad as Sammy says for the paltry some they are paying and monthly paid I struggle to see how they have any drivers. Seen them advertising today for British Gypsum in a ■■■■ poor location and making out 30k was a good wage when any drivers going to work there would have to drive past several similarly or better paid jobs to get there.
Be interested to here from the XPO drivers who have a more positive experience with them
As far as the original topic goes, send a letter before action - send it recorded and a copy by email - of which you will find numerous templates online and then do the m-col claim.
If the teacher thinks you’re a [zb]…he/she has no obligation to upload your hours.
If the teacher thought I was that bad why let me do three days… If I my attention on the first day was so shocking as to be not worthy of uploading hours surely it wouldn’t take three days to work that out.
It’s clearly a company realising they won’t benefit so not doing it. Which is fine.