Be on your guard against rogue employers

The Citizens advice centre here in Hackney has recently dealt with problems caused by one local unscrupulous employer.

Employment caseworkers Fred Sekindi and Felicia Agbakoba from the East End CAB service (which includes the Hackney bureau) were advising several employees from the same workplace, all of whom had not been paid for three months. Overall, around a hundred employees were affected. As well as not receiving pay, the employer had taken ID and bank details from all of the workers and asked them to pay around £40 each for Criminal Record Bureau checks, which appear never to have been done. Fred explained: “The employer always had a plausible reason why he could not pay the employees and he was stringing them along for three months before they decided to get advice.”

Eventually with the help of the CAB, several of the workers were awarded unpaid wages claims of around £2300 each at an employment tribunal. However, despite being given a judgement and court order, they have been unable to get their money as the employer has disappeared. Felicia told us: “As the company was not formally wound up, they could not claim from the government’s National Insurance fund. There needs to be a change in law to register bad business practice such as this.”

Meanwhile, the CAB is collecting evidence in the hope of obtaining improvements in the law.

If anyone has concerns about jobs offered through Jobcentre Plus, they should contact the staff there.

Felicia says: “In this economic climate with so many people desperate for work, unscrupulous ‘employers’ are preying on vulnerable people. People need to be wary – if a job offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

More information:
Hackney Citizens Advice Bureau
0844 499 1195
Tues and Wed 1-3pm

More information from the Advice guide.

Report scams to your local police 0300 123 1212 or the National Fraud Authority’s Action Fraud line 0300 123 2040.
More information on the Action Fraud website.