Christmas job HELL.

gillymuffins

I'm at a loss of what to do at this stage and in need of some help on what I should do.

I've been unemployed since July, so I got offered a part time Christmas job in a retail shop and I jumped at the chance. I was on Job Seekers and getting €100 before hand thinking the job would give me some extra cash for presents this year.

Here's my problem.
I started on November 2nd and was then informed that I will be paid monthly and will be given 3 hours a week until close to Christmas. In the interview it was told it was part time hours (16-20) and possibly more, never was it mentioned that the temps would only get 3 hours a week.

I went to my local social welfare office which they informed me about the part time work and JSA X's and O's sheet that you get your employer to fill out every week, post it back to welfare office and claim dole for the days you didn't work . I wasn't aware of this so I was delighted that I would be getting some money.
That was nearly 2 weeks ago. My manager told me that they had to send the forms to head office and should be back in about 4 days. I'm still yet to revceive them back. I've been ringing the shop asking about my forms since I haven't been in work and all I'm being told is 'They're not here, I have to ring head office and I'll call you back'. Never a call back. I would go into work but I have €20 to my name and bus fare will cost me €7 which I need for my stupid 3 hour shift on Saturday.

I'm completely broke and fed up.
I know I can't leave the job because I won't be able to claim JSA for quitting. I don't get paid until December 30th.

I live at home with my mother who is currently out of work. My money is used towards food and bills so I'm really worried.

Is there anything I can do? Can social welfare help me?

tatli_lokma

First of all, getting 3 hours a week is essentially a zero hours contract and there are rules which govern such contrasts. See here:
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/contracts_of_employment/contracts_without_specific_working_hours_zero_hours_contracts.html

With regards to your social welfare, you should make yourself familiar with what you are now claiming and how it works. You can advise SW that it is just short term seasonal work in which case when the period of employment is finished you can reinstate your full benefits/allowances without delay.


http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/social_welfare_payments_and_work/jobseekers_benefit_and_work.html

AFAIK the need for the employer to stamp the x and o sheets changed and the employee can just send them in, but it may be that the first claim has to be signed or something?

In the meantime contact your community welfare officer and explain that you are without dole because you are waiting on these forms. She/he may give you an interim payment until it's sorted which once you get your dole you repay. At least you won't be out of pocket.

I commend your desire to work and I know you are probably hoping to get more hours closer to Christmas, but in your situation you have to ask is it worth it? I am guessing you get somewhere between €8.65 p/hr and €13 p/hr. Three hours before any deductions for USC and PRSI gives you no more than €40 best case scenario. It costs you €7 to get to work. If that is all you work that week you get 1/5th of your dole for every day you don't work. So €80. Essentially you are working for €12 more per week. If it's minimum wage then you are €1 worse off. Now don't get me wrong, any job is better than none. But you would want to be getting more hours as soon as December starts and you would want to be getting more than 3hrs per shift. Your dole is based on the number of days you work not the number of hours so on the days you do work you need to get decent shifts to make it worthwhile.

I think you should also visit your SW office somehow and explain the situation. Get it on file that the employer is not returning the forms. Draft a short letter and hand it in so you can be sure it is on your file. That way if the situation continues you have some hope of them accepting that you didn't leave a job per se but were forced to do so due to their work practices

Sorry to say but it sounds like you are being taken advantage of by the employer, so unless the hours improve I really think you have no option but to walk away.

Fair Play to you though for trying to work. Some employers don't make it easy, do they?

gillymuffins

Thanks very much for your reply, you've been very informative!

I'm currently getting €9.89, which is brilliant for retail but unfortunately the hours are just ridiculous.
It's a shame as well as I do enjoy the job, and it's some more experience to add to my CV but this situation I'm in has really put a downer on it. I realistically was better off, money wise, on the dole

The forms I'm looking to get back are the initial form stating that I am currently employed with them part time as well as 2 weeks X's & O's forms, which I have another one to give to them my next shift. If I do get them back soon hopefully they don't have to be signed by head office every week, as I can see they're not too good at sending them back.

I'll head to my community welfare officer first thing tomorrow, as it's my only option at this point because that €20 wont be lasting me too long to get me to work etc. and send a letter to social welfare explaining the situation.

Thanks again, it's given me some hope that someone can help!

tatli_lokma

gillymuffins wrote: »

Thanks very much for your reply, you've been very informative!

I'm currently getting €9.89, which is brilliant for retail but unfortunately the hours are just ridiculous.
It's a shame as well as I do enjoy the job, and it's some more experience to add to my CV but this situation I'm in has really put a downer on it. I realistically was better off, money wise, on the dole

So for bothering to get up off your bum and go to work for 3 hours you will be better off by a whopping €2.67 per week after travel expenses? Fair play for even bothering. Seriously, I think you need to politely but firmly ask how likely it is you will get more hours because working 3 hours a week is a joke.

Did you even get a contract? What does it say about hours?

gillymuffins

The contract pretty much states that my normal week is 3 hours, but may be required to work up to full time hours. I did speak with the managers regarding the hours and they told me that they will increase in December.

I wasn't expecting the issues with forms, so I decided to suck it up for the experience to put on my CV. Even though it's only for a few weeks, it's experience I didn't have.
If I don't get the forms I will have to forget about the job, because I won't have the money to get to work when my hours increase. If that's the case, I'm hoping that social welfare will understand my situation and that I'm in no way trying to get out of working. I'm desperate to work, but this is just really not an ideal situation.

EireinOZ

Fair play to you ! well done , its not easy out their ! Your dead right , it adds more to ur cv and future employers will see that your grateful to get any work given to you ! make sure when u finish up to ask for a reference !

As for the head office of the company your working for keep ringing them , or do they have a email address ? send them an email explain your situation, and cc the social welfare on it to ! Get ur manger to sign ur time sheet and take it down to welfare office and explain to them u have no money , that u started work on 2 nov and wont get payed till the 30th of dec , and that u have no money to get the bus to work !! Just keep pleading ur case , if that don't work , ring ur local TD and if that doesn't work , i would ring Neil Prendeville as a last restore!

tatli_lokma

A 3 hour contact is a piss take, it's not even a half day. Very unfair to staff.

As I said, Make sure you let SW know the trouble you are having and that it's seasonal. At least then you have a chance of having your dole reinstated without delay.

I also can't believe you won't get paid until the end of December?! That is strange. It is unusual in retail to be paid monthly and even if you are your arrears period wouldn't normally be 1 month. Since you worked in November I would be expecting that you get paid for those hours or at least some of them at the end of this month. The normal is 1 week in appears, so if you've worked two weeks you should get one week paid at the end of this month.

Also make sure you get any holiday leave owed to you when you finish. It's 8% of the total hours worked. It probably won't equate to much but you are still entitled to it so make sure you get it.

gillymuffins

tatli_lokma wrote: »

I also can't believe you won't get paid until the end of December?!

Sorry, I thought I added this into my original post!
They pay monthly, every 4 weeks from a payday on a Friday (I think), not a certain date each month. Payday was November 15th, but don't get paid for the hours worked the week before payday, that goes into my next paycheck. I was told the next payday was December 30th.
So I basically got pay for my first 3 hour shift, and after deductions was €27.

I will never understand how that €27 is money for Christmas, which is what a Christmas job is supposed to be.

Thank you all again for your help and replies. At least I understand now about the social welfare payments more and to just document everything.

tatli_lokma

gillymuffins wrote: »

Sorry, I thought I added this into my original post!
They pay monthly, every 4 weeks from a payday on a Friday (I think), not a certain date each month. Payday was November 15th, but don't get paid for the hours worked the week before payday, that goes into my next paycheck. I was told the next payday was December 30th.
So I basically got pay for my first 3 hour shift, and after deductions was €27.

That's still not adding up. You got paid on the 15th Nov. This matches with a 4 weekly Schedule. The next pay date should therefore be 4 weeks from the 15th Nov which is the 13th December. The next pay is 4 weeks from that. In some companies they have a final pay at the end of the year such as 30th December so that the next financial year pay starts on the 4th Friday of Jan. So if you are certain you get paid on the 30th you should also be getting paid just before Christmas.

As you have also found out there will be a cut off point and all hours after x date of the month are paid in the following month. To ensure nothing gets overlooked, keep a note of all hours worked, dates and how much you got paid. It's not too hard to keep track of now but if your hours increase it could very easily happen that you get under/over paid so you need to have your hours recorded to be sure.

WRT your arrears when you finally finish up you will either get all money owed to you including holidays in your last pay or you will get up to a certain date and then the following month although you didn't work that month you will get the arrears and any holidays.

Also you shouldn't be having any deductions made on your salary so ask your employer for their PAYE registration number. Phone revenue with this number and give them your PPS number. It may be too late in the year to properly allocate your credits but they will issue a tax cert to your employer so that you shouldn't have any further deductions once they get the cert. If you have never worked at all before then instead of the above you need to complete a 12a (I think) form and you will then be allocated credits. Just ask revenue for this.

In 2014 when you get your p60 ring revenue and ask for a p21 balancing statement. This calculates any over or under payment you have made in tax and you should get a rebate on any deductions.

gillymuffins

I think it's due to accounts being off for Christmas.

Went to my Community Welfare Officer today and was basically told that she can't do anything for me.
Because I'm getting part time work and my Job Seekers X's and O's is pending, means I don't have a primary open claim and that 'she doesn't deal with anything other then primary claims'. I stressed to her that I have nothing until I get paid and she pretty much just couldn't have cared less.
Also said that Social Welfare can't do anything for me until I get the forms back. Called the job and once again, no answer on the whereabouts of my forms.

Mrs OBumble

Can you get the name of the person in head office, and call them yourself?

Failing that, approach your TD, and see if they can pull some strings. (A call from someone who knows someone may prompt the local manager to remmber to make the phone call.)

Also, go to Citizen's Information and ask them for help. They may be able to find a way to convince the CWO that she does care after all. (sometimes it's about know the right words to use).

uck51js9zml2yt

Get back into social welfare and get copies of the signing sheet. It will probably be blank sheets and just fill them in. just tell them they went to head office and got lost and you didn't realise you could fill it in yourself.
You do know you get no payment for the day you work so take €30-legal deductions - bus fare -loss of 1days social welfare =? Is it worth it?

Gone West

This is the unfortunate world we live in now.
The "recession" has been good to a lot of people, and it has allowed many employers to re-draw the lines on our social contract.
The norms have changed, and more people than ever are being taken advantage of.

gillymuffins

Just thought I'd give an update on my situation.

I went to my social welfare office last week to explain the situation and to keep my claim open, along with copies of my timesheets ,and was told that I would not get payment until the signed forms are brought back. The forms had to be in before the 11th of December if I was to get anything this side of Christmas.
There was still no news from head office on when I would receive my forms back.

Yesterday I was finally given back forms from my employer.
I've handed in 5 weekly forms so far and they've given back two, so I'll finally be getting some money. The hold up was because their main office is in Scotland and all forms had to be sent there and they aren't familiar with the Irish forms. They've hired about 150 staff across their Irish stores alone, and pretty much all the temps handed in the same social welfare forms.

I also got a call this morning from social welfare and they asked me what days I've worked up to the 11th of this month as I had only handed in forms until the 26th of November. She was very understanding regarding the hold up from my employers and that it wasn't my fault, and she was adament that I will get money before Christmas.

It's been a difficult few weeks living on nothing, but it finally looks like things are getting sorted.

I just want to talk everyone for their help and suggestions on this thread

gozunda

Fuzzy wrote: »

This is the unfortunate world we live in now.
The "recession" has been good to a lot of people, and it has allowed many employers to re-draw the lines on our social contract.
The norms have changed, and more people than ever are being taken advantage of.

That's certainly one way of putting it - another is that too many employers are taking the proverbial ...

Whatever you decide to do OP make sure that you insist that your employers observe the SW requirements. If need be get an email address to contact them directly and fully inform them of what their obligations are.