Employers in the care sector are hiding behind complex and incomplete pay slips to break wage laws

Employers in the care sector are using complex and incomplete pay slips to get away with paying staff less than the minimum wage, says UNISON today (Tuesday). Under new legislation introduced this week, employers whose staff work variable shifts must list all the hours they’ve been paid for in every wage packet from April 2019. UNISON believes this doesn’t go far enough as it still doesn’t place a requirement on employers to include and pay for travel time, nor prove that the pay slip is compliant with national minimum wage laws. A survey of care staff carried out last year by the union, revealed that more than six in ten (63%) admitted not being able to work out their wage from their pay slips. Almost three quarters (73%) of those employed by private care companies said they weren’t paid for their travel time, a figure which drops to just under two-thirds (63%) for staff directly employed by local authorities. However, UNISON believes the measures don’t address the widespread problem in the homecare sector where employers also often fail to include travel time on wage slips, even though it counts as working time that must be covered by the national minimum wage. The new legislation allows employers to obscure the fact that they are not paying homecare staff for all their working hours and allows them to pay illegal wages. This is because the regulations do not require employers to separate out contact time from travel time. UNISON national officer for the care sec...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: News Press release care employers care sector government low pay Source Type: news