Salary payment dispute and half-illegal employment

Sorry... this is a long one... If you have the patince and any info, I would be most appreciative!

Unfortunately I have placed myself in a diliema (sp??) which I should not have allowed to happen. Hindsight is such a wonderful thing

I have been paid a nett salary of 2870Euros/month,in addition to all living expense and a maintained car for private use, for M-F, 55hrs per week(0900-2000). Of this, 1500Euros was a cash sum each month.

After a period of 7months of me being in this position, the employer decided that they required additional assistance and someone in this role on duty "7days wk/364 days year". I was in agreement with this as I was working far more than the original contracted hours.

As it turned out, the new staff member - a great person, but with a different style of working to mine in this setting, consequently we were not compatable working together on the 3days that we overlapped each week.

The decision was mutually agreed that I would infact leave the position and they would employ a temp member until a new permanent could be located.

Now the crunch...

When attempting to finalise finances/payments etc, I invoiced the accummulated days worked and additional hours (23 DAYS!), which would have been taken as time-in-lieu or payment had I continued in their employ, the employers refused to pay me out for these.

This has made me extremely angry, as I was at all times extremely flexible with the hours I worked when ever they requested, and went beyond the call of duty in many ways.

The additional days and overtime were refered to in our contract that they woulod be discussed prior to the days/hours occurring, agreement reached on the compensation to be made or paid... unfortunately in all circumstances it tended to very short notice, or employers were busy so "we will discuss this later". Obviously this never occurred.

I don't hold my breath that I will get paid out these days (may as well dream though). My thoughts now are that I may as well do something about it in order that this not happen to future employees in this setting, as is most likely to occur.
I know for a fact that they have set the salary arrangements up in the same way for the "new staff member" that came in, and then for the person who filled my position.

At the time of signing the "contract" when I started working for them, I requested an addendum or personal letter, confirming the "unofficial" component of my contract, but was told by my immediate line manager the director would not permit this, as he did not want anything on paper and that I would "have to trust us" ... Big mistake on my part...

As that is how they want to proceed, if I get advice that I need to take this further, I will also submit that I should in fact be paid out the eight weeks notice that was required by either party should the "contract" be terminated. At the time of signing the contract I actually specifically requested a 4week notice period,(In the last 6yrs of employment through my agencies in London - whom I got this position through- it has always been 4weeks) but the line manager stated that it is law in Germany that it is an 8week period...so I agreed...

As I completed the 6month probationary period with no issues, and they wish to deny any payment of the additional days I worked (23), I am at the stage now of thinking I want to insist on the 8weeks notice salary (they were "prepared" to pay 4weeks) and the 23 DAYS additional that I worked.

Sorry for the long saga story...

what I would like to know is...

1. What rights do I actually have in this situation?

2. If I have no rights here, then... What authority can I report them to for employing staff half legally, half illegally?... with someone who is english speaking who can translate it if necessary???

I would appreciate your thoughts/advice on the situation... Thankyou in advance.

to be honest mate i would do a runner.no reporting it to any authorities.Write it off to experience.Next time get everything in writing and confirmed.You are stuck noe they can get you for illegal work and you would have to pay something on top for the car as well.

Are you totally stupid ?

You talk about this on an open website ?

Jeebus!

Hope the mods delete this one quickly.

I am not concerned from my perspective at all. The position was placed through a London agency and salary is always, in these positions discussed as nett.

The company I was employed by has far more to loose than me, coupled with the fact that they now employ 2 staff to do what I was doing... they should be more concerned. As I finished with this position at the end of last year and have continued working since. Oslo now, then in March to Sydney for 10weeks, there is no shortage of employment in my field - it is a non issue for me.

Why do you think, I have not given specific names, employment fields etc - simply because I'd like some advice on the approprite authorities to contact, so that others dont find themselves working the sorts of hours I was and not being compensated for it...

If I "report" myself in the process, so be it... at least there will not be other employees caught out by not being paid by these people for additional hours worked.

Has it occurred to you that you are in an expat community and issues like this have to be dealt with discretely?

Forget your bloody company.

Name and shame and report them to the authorities.
If a company dosen't treat its employees well it dosen't deserve to be treated well in return.

Reporting them to the authorities means reporting yourself to the authorities with the consequence that you'll probably end up with a bill (fine, legal fees etc.) higher than what you lost out on, plus you run the risk of losing your work permit. You have to know what you're doing ...