am i a slave?

[Poglet]

Im 16 and recently started work as a waitress in a pub/restaurant. I previously worked in a tea room and got �3.50 p/h, i left because i wanted more money as my friends got �4.50 elsewhere. But was dissapointed to find im on �3.00 p/h and get taxed alot?! Should i say something and if so what?..

[Dollie]

The national minimum wage for your age is �3 so the pub is doing nothing wrong. However, it does seem as though you perhaps shouldn't be paying tax just yet. Depends I suppose on whether you are still at school and working part-time or if this is you full-time job. Either way, contact your local tax office and check out with them if you should be paying this much tax - my guess is that you are being taxed at the wrong level - you will get it back eventually but still, correct it now and you should be left with more money in your hand at the end of the week. Good Luck

[undercovers]

why did you accept the job if it only pays 3 pounds an hour and you used to earn 3.50?

did you not even mention it at the interview / when you accepted the work? if you didn't then its not surprising that they decided just to pay you the minimum, either ask for more or quit again as you are going backwards...

next time make sure you know what you are working for before you do it

good luck

[Poglet]

i didnt have an interview :S my friends grandma works there and got it for me. i didnt get told how much i would get paid...opps

[gammaray]

If your not in part time education you will have a single persons tax code. At �3.00 per hour even if you worked 40 hours per week you would, even as a rough guide, pay less than 6 or 7 quid a week tax. Check with your local tax office to make sure everything is in order.

[Catso]

If you think you're taxed a lot on a �3ph part time job, wait till you start full-time employment.

Seriously though, what is 'a lot'? At this sort of rate, you shouldn't be earning enough to get taxed 'a lot'. Phone/email your tax office and find out your tax code. Or if you don't feel able to do this, use the basic single person tax code (you can get this off the internet). You can then use the various online calculators to find out what tax you should be paying. Approximately - it won't be exact to pennies.

It's conceivable that, if you've just started, you could be being taxed on an emergency code, which I believe is generally higher than most people's correct code. If so, when your employee gets your real code, you should get a tax refund.

[Catso]

PS At least every week I ask the same question: am I just being used as a slave?

It could be deeply philosophical; are we all slaves to the state, or a company? Myself, I don't see that much difference between a middle-ages peasant, who had to work his lord's fields in order to get his own little bit to grow food on, and what we do today. Just a difference in scale and working conditions.

Sorry, just being rather cynical...