Please help me with employer holding my wages

[EastLondonPlumb]

Hi all i wont go into too much detail. Basically i worked for this guy direct not through an agency for a month, i was on fortnight pay with a fortnight in hand. I left early a few times and had them on my back. On a Friday the supervisor asked 2 of us to come in on Saturday and told us job and knock. He sent a text on Saturday morning trying to cancel out the job and knock but we left anyway.

When the boss come back the following Wednesday and found out he went off his head, swore at me, spoke at me with disrespect, all this while i never spoke or raised my voice to him in anything other than a professional manor. I agreed with him that i would not book the Saturday which i left early.

On Friday i was due 11 days money to which i got an email saying this

'Thank you with your phone call with regards to Jays wages, could you please pay him 5 days as discussed and could you hold the other half due to his work not have been tested on site, once testing is complete i will authorize the other half'

This is day rate work not price. When i called him and asked him to explain he said the work 4 hiu's and 8 second fixes on kitchen sinks needed testing, i asked him to test it with a pressure tester at 10 bar, he was going to agree and said what about the kitchen sinks (which are not even complete as their where no drain of valves, washing machine vales or iso valves so they are incomplete) i said test them to, which he said he is going to charge me 2 days money to test, i said go on then do it! To which he changed his tune and said no it needs to be heat tested. I honestly laughed at him no pipes i installed were hot pipes going through any walls or anything heat will not make a blind bit of difference.

He said he will pay the 6 days when the site is complete in December something i have never heard of in my life, also the contract i signed agree's 5% retention but states nothing about holding back wages. I plan to write a letter tomorrow and give him 14 days to respond as advised by ACAS and then take him to court. I just wanted as much information about the implications of having tested hot pipes at 10 bar and the difference with heat going through them with regards to leaks only.

Not that it matters because what he is doing is not right anyway, i cant wait to take this guy to court, i have evidence to back everything up.

 

[village idiot]

Sorry about your plight.
Why do you need them tested at up to 10 bar?
As for holding your wages, it is hard to give you advice without reading the contract you had with them? There may be clauses in there relating to payment terms.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Were you employed, or sub-contracting?

 

[EastLondonPlumb]

Sorry about your plight.
Why do you need them tested at up to 10 bar?
As for holding your wages, it is hard to give you advice without reading the contract you had with them? There may be clauses in there relating to payment terms.

Hi there, the reason it was 10 bar because this was the standard pressure they were testing at on site. 10 bar does seem a bit much without crimp fittings, but with crimp i saw one fitting which had not even been crimped (plastic) hold up to 5 bar and blow at 6.

The contract only states 5% retention, i challenged him on this not being in the contract and he said yes that contract is only for insurance purposes so contract wise he does not have this covered i can assure you. And i was sub contracting.

 

[EastLondonPlumb]

Were you employed, or sub-contracting?

Subbing mate

 

[rpm]

Tell me if I`ve got this right, you were employed on a day rate and in one month you left early "a few times" and was pulled up over it and then to top it you ignored an instruction from your supervisor.
I`ve known people to be told don`t bother coming back tomorrow for stuff like that.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Subbing mate

The reason I asked was because there is very robust and aggressive legislation stopping employers from withholding wages - which are the words you used in the title.

Unfortunately, he isn't your employer and the money isn't wages. Its an old fashioned story of the contractor bashing the subbie - a tale as old as time, and with a hundred varieties, twists and turns.

There are two routes. Careful and patient, properly documented legal route. If you search this forum, or the UK Business forum, you will find lots of procedural advice.

Then there's the other route.

 

[EastLondonPlumb]

Tell me if I`ve got this right, you were employed on a day rate and in one month you left early "a few times" and was pulled up over it and then to top it you ignored an instruction from your supervisor.
I`ve known people to be told don`t bother coming back tomorrow for stuff like that.

Yes that is right, i was unprofessional.

 

[Centralheatking]

Well Quoted Ray - This fella is in the poo
centralheatking QUOTE=Ray Stafford;698359]The reason I asked was because there is very robust and aggressive legisaltion stopping employers from withholding wages - which are the words you used in the title.

Unfortunately, he isn't your employer and the money isn't wages. Its an old fashioned story of the contractor bashing the subbie - a tale as old as time, and with a hundred varieties, twists and turns.

There are two routes. Careful and patient, properly documented legal route. If you search this forum, or the UK Business forum, you will find lots of procedural advice.

Then there's the other route.[/QUOTE]

 

[EastLondonPlumb]

The reason I asked was because there is very robust and aggressive legisaltion stopping employers from withholding wages - which are the words you used in the title.

Unfortunately, he isn't your employer and the money isn't wages. Its an old fashioned story of the contractor bashing the subbie - a tale as old as time, and with a hundred varieties, twists and turns.

There are two routes. Careful and patient, properly documented legal route. If you search this forum, or the UK Business forum, you will find lots of procedural advice.

Then there's the other route.

Thank you Ray, unfortunately i can not do the other route, as much as i would like to believe me. I am going to go down the legal route, i am going to write a letter tonight and give him 14 days to respond as advised by ACAS. Then i will just take it to either a tribunal or small claims court whatever is the more appropriate. I will record the letter so to have proof he signed for it.