Employer refused to pay for trial period

D

dustie

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My boyfriend is after finishing a catering course and started work as a commis chef in the hospitality industry. He did an interview with a hotel in galway and was offered a weeks trial as a breakfast chef. He worked the week and at the end he asked whether he had the job and was told he was always on trial but he was doing fine. So at the end of a shift on the end of his second week he was taken aside and told he was being let go as he was too inexperienced. My problem is not the fact he was let go: I understand it was his first job and that the hotel needed someone with more experience. He was let go at the weekend and there was no HR representative to sort his wages.
So he rang on the Monday and the HR Manager initially refused to pay him as he had been on a 'trial'. So he went out to the hotel to speak with her and that he had completed 75 hours work and deserved to be paid the minimum wage. After a long discussion where he had to quote employment law to her she agreed he should be paid and said a cheque would be in the post. This was 9 days ago and no cheque has arrived. So he has returned to the hotel wanting to get another cheque issued to him personally but the HR person is making excuses and refusing to see him. He has spoken with the Hotel Manager (who incidentially is the HR Manager’s uncle) and he refused to resolve this claiming it is not his responsibility.
At this stage I really dont know what to do... its two weeks work and at the minimum wage it amounts to approx €650. This is the equivalent to our monthly rent and we cannot just walk away from that amount of money which he is entitled to.
He has threatened to talk to the local media if this situation is not resolved but they don’t seem to care and this will not get us the money owed. Any advice you might have is really appreciated as we really do not know what to do and feel like we are powerless in this situation.
 
Sorry to hear about your predicament Dustie, unfortunately I'm no expert in the area but I can give some advice. I too live in Galway, if you contact Siptu in Forster Place, there is a guy there called Pat Flannery, he should be able to give you some assistance. He represented my Mum recentely in an unfair dismissal case and he should be able to give you some definative answers even without being a union member.
 
Stand in reception, near guests, and argue loudly until he gets his money. Don't leave until he gets his money.
 
bring the employer to the RIGHTS COMMISSIONER. you cannot go to labour court cos he did not work 2 years. the R.C. deals with cases under 2 years.
 
Dustie, these people should be named and shamed, that's a despicable thing to do to anyone. they were quite happy to keep him there for two weeks working? were they waiting for someone else to start I wonder? That sort of thing must be against the law? I go to Galway quite often, and if I knew which hotel done this dirty trick then I'd make sure not to stop there.
 
Swallows said:
if I knew which hotel done this dirty trick then I'd make sure not to stop there.
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Id be more inclined to stop there, order something expensive to eat then tell them Id pay up when they pay their trial chefs for work completed.
 
I dont want to name them yet.. but if needs be I will. The whole setup is like a twisted Fawlty Towers. Its dragged on for ages now and its so frustrating. My boyfriend went back to retrain and only received a weekly 200 euro training grant while he trained to money is tight at the moment until he gets settled. He is currently in the hotel lobby trying to shame them into the payment.
 
Stand outside the hotel with a placard and hand a flyer to everyone who enters the hotel until they pay you.

You'll have a cheque within a few minutes.
 
dustie said:
I dont want to name them yet.. but if needs be I will.
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If you're tempted to do so, have a look at the Posting Guidelines first.

http://www.askaboutmoney.comfaq.php?faq=posting_guidelines#faq_faq_posting_guideline_8]
7. No defamation
We remove all posts which are potentially defamatory. Fair criticism of an institution or a product is encouraged. Askaboutmoney is not the appropriate forum to claim that you were cheated out of money by a named institution. Please do not use words like 'ripoff', 'dodgy' or 'scam' in connection with identifiable businesses. Any such references to a company, person or institution will be deleted. For example, one contributor claimed that a named auctioneer had cheated him. This may or may not be true, but we do not want to get distracted by litigation, so we deleted the name of the auctioneer.
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Good luck with your query. Hope it works out.
 
Flyers, placards and time cost money. This country is not a banana republic. We have employment rights for a reason, they must be asserted. As an employer I generally disagree with union agendas as I am generally of the opinion that workers can assert their rights and that if they are good enough they will be paid enough etc. Yet then I read about charlatans like this hotel and my blood runs cold.
So for the first time ever, I am recommending to someone to contact SIPTU, as per an earlier poster. I'll give them one thing, they will not lie down when they have a cause to fight for (and thus a rallying point for new members - so don't consider their services as charity).
So even though your bf is not a member, I guarantee that they will sort out the situation in no time if they are contacted. Placards etc may or may not work but SIPTU will.
 
amgd28 said:
Flyers, placards and time cost money. This country is not a banana republic. We have employment rights for a reason, they must be asserted. As an employer I generally disagree with union agendas as I am generally of the opinion that workers can assert their rights and that if they are good enough they will be paid enough etc. Yet then I read about charlatans like this hotel and my blood runs cold.
So for the first time ever, I am recommending to someone to contact SIPTU, as per an earlier poster. I'll give them one thing, they will not lie down when they have a cause to fight for (and thus a rallying point for new members - so don't consider their services as charity).
So even though your bf is not a member, I guarantee that they will sort out the situation in no time if they are contacted. Placards etc may or may not work but SIPTU will.
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An excellent idea. Well done.
 
That is absolutely disgraceful behaviour and your boyfriend should absolutely be paid. I know one top hotel in Galway which charged the staff if they broke a plate and then annually they claimed the plates off the insurance.
 
Thanks for all yer advice.. after waiting around the reception complaining loudly for 3 hours they relented and paid him. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.
 
dustie said:
Thanks for all yer advice.. after waiting around the reception complaining loudly for 3 hours they relented and paid him. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.
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Good news - did they pay him for the 3 hours as well?
 
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