Cosmetic Medical Group - Cosmetic Medical Plus - Maria Archer - Kevin Paul - John Whelehan I went to work in this company as an employee, stayed there a few months - left due to illness - had to check social security issues and learnt this co never paid any tax or social security for staff. Internet

Hello, Fatsha....

The first thing you need to think about, is did you sign any forms upon your hire at the company? If you did, did you make sure to read them and completely understand them?

The reason I ask is this: There are a number of companies that can and will make the payment of deductions the responsibility of the employee. This includes such deductions as holiday pay,which you must put aside yourself, applicable taxes and unemployment benefit deductions that you must render to the appropriate bodies yourself also.

The practice itself is not illegal. However, if a business is hiring you under these conditions, they usually must inform you of this fact at the time of hire, not afterwards, and they may not obscure the fact they are doing so. Therefore, these terms and conditions of employment are most often addressed at the time of hire in the contract language if one is actually physically "signing on" via an agreement or contract in the papers they're signing, or via verbal communication of the fact, or often both.

If the company in question did not disclose that they expect the employee to be responsible for their own deductions and payment thereof to the appropriate, responsible departments, then they have a legal problem on their hands. For example, paying out of the 4% holiday pay to an employee on each and every paycheck without the employee having agreed to this at the time of hire is illegal.

As for the payslips you say you haven't been issued, and given that Canadian and British laws are quite parallel, you need and should be issued these statements of earnings each payday, be they attached to your check or, in the case of "direct deposit", be made available for you to pick up at your office at the very least. These are "proof of earnings" and are needed in the case of, say, an audit by the taxation office or even used as proof that you have a job in the event that you need to get a payday loan, as those outlets generally require that you provide them with your most recent payslip. The company may issue an annual summary of your earnings (called a T-4 here) so that you may file your annual tax return, but this is not enough.

Just something to think about.