I am asking on behalf of a friend who is very worried at her current situation.
From 2002 - November 2005 she was in the UK on a student Visa. For the last year of this she was actually working full time in the travel industry as branch manager of a travel agents. Her employer was fully aware of her visa status and both of them were obviously breaking the law.
In November 2005 her employer arranged a work permit for her to stay in the UK and work legally full time. I believe that as this is an 'employer sponsored visa' this means she is Tier 2 and I have it in the right forum. I'm struggling with this as I'm a UK national and never had to deal with visa problems before.
Throughout her employment her boss acted in a completely reprehensible manner. She has never been supplied with a contract despite signing one and asking for a copy. She has never received a payslip and unexplained deductions have been regularly made from her wages. For the past two and a half years she has been allowed no paid holiday at all despite being regularly promised. In July this year she made a trip home to see her parents, with her boss's consent (in fact she bought the tickets from him so he was well aware of the dates of her travel). On returning in August she phoned the office to ask when she should return to work. She was told that she should rest at home for a few days as she had had a long journey. 3 days after this, she was ill and called the office to tell them she wouldn't be available for a day or two. After this, she called and said she was better and was still not given a date to return to work. On Monday of last week she went to the office with a letter saying that she was well and available for work. She kept a copy of this letter though it is unfortunately not in English. She was becoming more and more worried as she had not received any pay for July.
On Thursday last week she was asked to come to the office in the evening to talk to the boss, she was met instead by a manager. She was told that she would be paid for July but her money was not available yet. She was also told that before she would be allowed to return to work she would have to write a letter detailing all the mistakes that she has made in the past 5 years and promising to work harder in the future (she is a very hard working young lady already).
She is reluctant to write such a letter as she feels she has been mistreated by her employer. We have contacted a lawyer through the CLA and have been told she has a good case against her employer for withheld wages and possible unfair dismissal (or constructive dismissal). Her employer also has a record of not paying wages to employees who are returning to their home countries and has several full time employees who are currently only holding student visas. I have a contact at the HMRC and am considering passing all this information on if all else goes wrong.
Basically, at the moment she is very concerned about the implications for her visa if she does proceed with action against her employer. Is it possible she would have to leave the country before a tribunal could be arranged. Another complication is that her visa has the address of her actual place of work. at the moment business is not so great and her boss is thinking of closing the branch she previously managed at the end of September. Would this automatically bring her visa to an end or does it relate to her company?
Thank you very much for your patience if you've made it to the end of this post. Any advice gratefully received. Her nationality is Chinese if that affects anything.