contacted by hmrc. been payed less than minimum wage! fuming!UPDATED.IT WASNT A SCAM!

[babycrazy1706]

So my ex employer who is a right money grabbing bitch (I worked in a nursery and she packed it full of kids, very understaffed etc) has payed me less than minimum wage in the past!!!
I've just had a call from revenue and customs minimum wage department and they are going to send me a cheque!! I hope she gets a huge hefty fine and I'm totally going to name and shame all over face book! She already has a terrible reputation and had to close a nursery down because everybody left!!

Anyone had a similar experience??

 

[suzib76]

Did you contact them initially?

 

[babycrazy1706]

No. But the lady left her name and number. And she already had all my details, I didn't have to tell her anything. Xx

Why?

 

[babycrazy1706]

She had my employers details too. She just wanted to see if my address had changed? But I said no its the same and then she read it out to me and I said yes that's right. Xx

 

[girlnboots]

They must have had another complaint and launched an investigation. Did you know you were getting paid less than minimum wage?

 

[babycrazy1706]

No! I worked for them for 7 yrs in total and I left in 2011 when it closed down due to bad reputation. So I doubt very much I was payed less than minimum in all those 7 yrs but at some point I was. They said I will receive paper work explaining it all. Just looked on the hmrc website and apparently they are doing a lot of investigating at the moment. Xx

 

[girlnboots]

Sounds legit to me! I would say you have some good luck, but it really sounds like a crappy situation.

 

[babycrazy1706]

Well I was totally unaware so I'm happy!!! Bonus! Xx

 

[suzib76]

The cynical part of me just wondered why they would contact you to say you had been underpaid. What is the cheque for, did you overpay tax?

 

[LuckyYem]

I have recently received an email (I know slightly different to a phone call) from HMRC that had loads of my personal information on it sent from a .gov.uk email address telling me I was due for a tax rebate of £322.46 so not a huge amount it looked perfectly legit and I know they are doing tax reviews etc so I called them from the number on their website and they confirmed that it was a scam and they did say they don't usually ring or email they send official letters. personally if it was me I would ring HMRC not on the number they gave you and confirm. I must admit it seems a bit odd that they would ring you to confirm you hadn't moved when they can cross check against child benefit on/or tax credits.

 

[smileyfaces]

If its legit then fab! Hope she gets fined! Id give them a call just to be safe xxx

 

[special_kala]

A cheque for what?

Im surprised if they are going to make up the difference in what she payed you and minimum wage.

 

[Mummy Bean]

i been in battle with HMRC about various txa/pay issues iover the past 6 months and certainly never had a phone call - so i would poss check out the legitmacy of it.

 

[C_baby]

I was due a tax rebate of £346 and all they did was increase my tax codes allowance for this year so I won't pay as much tax this year to even it out. I didn't get a cheque back to cover it and I'd sought the money back myself for hmrc.

I woul be a bit suspicious too. I really hope it's legit for you but it does sound a bit odd. They have always communicated with me via letter or me calling them.

 

[babycrazy1706]

Its nothing to do with them owing me tax or me paying tax so its nothing to do with tax credits etc. What it is is the government sets rules for employers and by law the employers have to pay minimum wage. If its found out by hmrc that an employer has underpaid its workers (I.e someone complains) then they fine the employer and make the employer pay up what they owe the employees. I've looked it all up on the gov website. I'll let you all know how it goes. She said I will get a letter after the 9th september as that is when the legal case is or something or another. Xx

 

[suzib76]

It was the phone call that threw me, HMRC had a big campaign a couple of years ago about how they never contact you by phone or email, only post. That was a scam about tax rebates though, not minimum wage enforcement.

 

[suzib76]

Also, they haven't asked for any wage slips to verify your underpayment

 

[LuckyYem]

Its nothing to do with them owing me tax or me paying tax so its nothing to do with tax credits etc. What it is is the government sets rules for employers and by law the employers have to pay minimum wage. If its found out by hmrc that an employer has underpaid its workers (I.e someone complains) then they fine the employer and make the employer pay up what they owe the employees. I've looked it all up on the gov website. I'll let you all know how it goes. She said I will get a letter after the 9th september as that is when the legal case is or something or another. Xx

I only made reference to your tax credits/child benefit because I would have thought they would have crossed checked with those as opposed to phoning you. The point I was trying to make is it is fairly easy (if you know what you are doing) to find out someones personal information (still don't know how they found mine we do everything online) and then claim to be HMRC they can easily look up the same information as you. I would hate for you to get stung by fraudsters and sincerly hope you are due a windfall, but personally I would have to make the phone call to a number I had found out for myself - but then I am a massive worrier!! Xx

 

[babycrazy1706]

As they already had my info I wasn't concerned but we will see. I'm usually a worrier too. lol Xx

 

[LuckyYem]

As they already had my info I wasn't concerned but we will see. I'm usually a worrier too. lol Xx

Lol on the email I was sent they had all my info the only thing missing was my national insurance number hence the reason I initially thought it was genuine but because I panic I then rang them - glad I did now TBH. Xx