EU workers in UK: where do I stand?

I’m an EU national, from Spain. I work as a hotel cleaner. On June 24 after the UK voted for Brexit, my employers gave me a pay cut. They said if I don’t like it I can go back to Spain. Where do I stand legally?

Your employer is not entitled to cut your or anyone else’s pay because of the Brexit vote (or for any other reason) unless you agree to the reduced pay rate. The same employment laws apply to you as an EU national working in the UK, as everyone else working here. If your employer cut your pay without agreement, this would be an unlawful deduction from your wages.

It is also unlawful to treat you less favourably because of your nationality – this constitutes race discrimination. Paying you a lower rate than UK nationals and making offensive comments as you describe, would certainly appear to be discriminatory.

Both wages and discrimination claims have to be lodged in the employment tribunal within 3 months of the pay deduction or discriminatory act. You should raise the issues with your employer before pursuing any legal claim and a grievance should be raised. If there is a more senior manager or a HR department, it is probably best to raise the issues with them rather than the person who said this to you.

If you are in a union, your union rep can raise this on your behalf to try and resolve the problems and get further advice if your employer refuses.

This article first appeared in the Mirror on July 8.