Just need to rant!!
My husband (28, UK) has been working for 18 months at a property photography company, and they are honestly the most disgusting company I’ve ever known. I’ll try to summarise:
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They “forgot” to declare his company car in the first few months which has resulted in him being taxed more the past year. These repayments will carry through to 2023.
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When they couldn’t (or wouldn’t, I suspect) find work, they would exploit the furlough scheme and simply furlough him at random, for a day at a time.
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His base wage is minimum, but they made the threshold to receive bonus so high, that he rarely saw any bonus whatsoever.
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He was never paid overtime, so he would be out the house from 6-7am to 7-9pm at night, and would still have work to do when he got home.
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He was on annual leave and was one day late handing in his mileage form, so rather than rolling it over to the next month, they just took £500 off him for business mileage. Something which he could not afford being on minimum wage.
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Whilst he was on a job, someone side swept his car and drove off, so he came back to find it damaged. Company assured him that as he’s not at fault, the insurance would cover it. We have found out tonight that they’re going back on their word. They’re refusing to pay his last wage to cover the costs of the car, and they’re pressing for £400 extra to cover the rest of the repairs.
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They invited him and other staff members to a meeting a couple months back to flaunt how well the company are doing financially. Meanwhile him and the other members of staff are having sleepless nights over how they’re going to cover their bills.
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Their days were planned so poorly, that he never got time to have breaks or even eat.
We have been strained financially the whole time he’s been there, which has resulted in a mountain of debt just so we could cover bills. The worst part though is my husband used to be the cheeriest, most carefree person I’ve ever met. He’s always worked so hard, takes pride in what he does and has always gone above and beyond for that company. He was one of the top earners, and he’s done them plenty of favours (example, being called the night before being asked to work a 6 hour drive away the next day to cover sickness in that area, he always said yes). Since he’s been there, it’s been awful watching him turn into a sullen, bitter person. He gets home from work, and just goes to bed without talking completely defeated by them. They’ve taken away his good mental health and his peace of mind.
I was thrilled when he handed his notice in. It’s been awful to stand on the sidelines and see him be exploited so much, I cannot even imagine how he feels after being through all that.
What’s more, is that after he handed in his notice, loads more people did after he started talking freely about the awful treatment he’s received. A lot of people rang him saying they feel the same way, and they thought they were alone in their thinking, and have quit too.
We will not be paying them any money. We have it in writing that the insurance will cover the car. They’ve taken too much from him as it is.
Thankfully he’s started a new job this week, it’s the same company my dad works for, and they treat their staff not only fair, but well.
Hopefully after this last fight with them, he can return to being his cheerful, carefree self.
Thank you for reading my rant.