At last. Mike Astley getting his comeuppance

for that to be an issue you have to believe people like him have an ounce of compassion. he doesnt give a toss as long as the business is good.

 

From memory sports directs permanent staff are uk nationals whom predominantly work in office based and/or management roles.
The pickers are overwhelmingly EU migrants recruited via an agency on a zero hour contract.
Bit like Asos.
Both have had issues in the past and given yesterdays squirming quite recently about what hourly rate is actually paid to employers once post shift requirements have been fulfilled.

However these two companies arent alone on this...

aldi recently got pulled up for it.

tesco had a similar policy to sports direct in terms of security and would dock wages if your late from a break.

i wonder how many on here have '9-5' where they have been or told an employee to try and get here for quarter to so your all logged on ready to go for 9am. . .

 

This wouldn't happen if workers were protected by the EU

Oh..

 

I think you'll find, he did pay the correct wage at the correct level.
However he expected the staff to be security checked but not as part of their shift!
I've worked for companies that make staff check their till after the shift... it's the same principal...

And to compare it to some one breaking into your house is absurd!

Especially as there are more companies who do similar... who work tips into the minimum wage, or bonus payments into it too.

 

Exactly, the coop (the great ethical business) expects staff to be in 5 minutes before their shift...

 

Did i mention shirebrooks on the verge of exploding with racial tension. ..

 

I used to have to be in work 15 minutes before my shift started for absolutely no reason at all. I did for a while (mainly due to travel arrangements) but then zi refused, stood my ground and was summoned to HR and argued my case that they have no right to tell me what I do outside of my paid hours be that 13 minutes before they start paying me or 13 hours. I also argued with them about their rule that I wasn't allowed to leave the building during my unpaid lunch break. I won that too

 

I used to work at JD Sports when I was 16/17. I was paid £3.30 an hour (I think mimimum was £3 then) but after our shift ended at half 5 we had to stay until 6. We literally just sat around doing naff all in the staffroom for half an hour unpaid. I asked why we had to stay, especially as it said in our contracts that no breaks were allowed at the beginning or end of the day and they said that someone had to till up and they didn't want anyone to leave until everything had been checked and everywhere locked up. I wanted to argue it but as a 16 year old, working part time on a temporary contract with no-one else willing to challenge it I left it alone. It was also the practice that whoever turned up to work first got the first dinner break (and so on in that order). As I didn't know that for the first few weeks I used to turn up at 9am for my shift and not get a break until half 4. Again, when I said that the contract states that we get a break every 4 hours they just told me to turn up earlier (to stand outside a locked building). Some people used to get there well before 8 to guarantee an earlier break.

I think the way people let themselves be treated there was a big part of the reason why I became the school rep when I started teaching (although no-one would fight anything there either - bunch of wusses!)

 

Your point sums up exactly what I've been saying. Laws supposedly to protect workers are ineffective if the workers are too scared to challenge their bosses through fear. Many people argue that they want to stay in the EU because of the employment protection laws, even though the UK versions of these laws are (in general) far more in favour of the workers, but the origin of the laws is irrelevant if people are too scared to invoke them.

As an example of what I mean, a friend of mine is a newly qualified paramedic. She's 22. She's just got a job with Yorkshire Ambulance service and she has been given a start date, in writing, of 13th June. As a result she gave notice in her current job and leaves this Friday. Yesterday she got a letter saying the start date of 13th June was wrong and actually she has to start on 11th July, 4 weeks later. She rang up and explained, and was told there's no point in turning up as there would be nothing for her to do and she wouldn't get paid.

She would win easily if she made a fuss about it - they don't have a leg to stand on - but she doesn't want to "cause trouble" especially before she even starts. As a result she now has to go 4 weeks with no pay. The law is totally on her side but she doesn't want to use it, and I can understand why.

 

He clearly admitted in front of the select committee not adhering to NMW legislation. There are no caveats to the legislation and he admitted the breach. The breach was not only in terms of the searches but also 'fining' employees 15 minutes wages if they were 1 minute late.

You may think that white collar crime of whatever sort is more acceptable than other types of crime I don't. To say other people are breaking the law is no excuse for someone else to do it unless of course you think it is.

 

Minimum wage legislation was also breached by fining employees 15 minutes wages for being 1 minute late. A policy he was fully aware of.

 

So as an employer, he isn't allowed to punish his staff for lateness? Great. So jo blogs can turn up late to every shift, oh and because jo blogs gets away with it... so will the other thousand... Nah sod it... let's all be late, our employer does nothing about it!
Or should he follow the letter of the law and start to put people on the disciplinary ladder? Therefore potentially putting them out of work??

With respect to so called "white collar" crime, of course it is breaking legislation, but is it seriously in the same league as breaking and entering? Burglary? Willful intent to damage property? Theft?
They lock you up for those sorts of things!
They don't lock you up for taking a Biro home from work, or a few sheets of a4 paper! Or eating a grape while wandering around Morrison's. But these are still crimes!

He has admitted a few breaches in employment legislation.
I can guarantee that almost every business that employes people will at some point have broken at least one piece of employment legislation!
Shall we lock them all up and throw the key away?