Beauty salon boss took 55 per cent of young mum’s wages before sacking her by text

A mum has won an employment tribunal case against her former boss after she took 55 per cent of her earnings before sacking her by text.

Megan Lloyd, 22, used to work as a beauty therapist at The Headonist in Sheffield and had been working in the job between August 2019 to February 2020.

She was a new mum having given birth to her daughter just a few months before starting work at the Campo Lane store in the centre of Sheffield.

Megan was hoping to earn some money to help towards the cost of raising her baby, reports Yorkshire Live.

However, she ended up earning very little with her boss Jordanna Nichols-Turley taking 55 per cent of her earnings instead of an hourly rate before sacking her when Megan raised concerns.

Megan said in her final month she took home just £104 for four weeks’ pay and she claims she was dismissed by text the day after she flagged the issue over her employment to Ms Nichols-Turley.

“I questioned me self-employment status as the owner of the salon wanted me to work all the hours on Friday and Saturday rather than coming and going like a self-employed person would,” Megan said.

“I questioned her and didn’t accuse her of anything. I was more than reasonable and just asked if she could look into the advice I had been given and the following day she sacked me.

“I think she knew exactly what she was doing and she didn’t like it when somebody called her out on it.”

Determined to push for answers and get the money she was owed, Megan, who lives in Sheffield, took her case to an employment tribunal.

There were two hearings with both ruling in her favour.

She was given £283.38 in respect of Ms Nichols-Turley’s failure to pay her the minimum wage, £554.90 as a result of her boss’ failure to pay her nine days’ holiday pay and an extra £4605.54 in compensation for the unfair dismissal.

With an extra £246.40 also given to Megan, it meant in total she received just shy of £5,700.

Megan always said she was keen to win the tribunal to highlight how salons can employ people under a “false employment status”.

She said she felt like she was taken advantage of and has now decided to steer clear of a career in the beauty industry.

“It’s put me off and I don’t think I will go back into the beauty industry again,” Megan said. “I have been in the industry for a long time but I’m now studying law and going down a completely different path.

“I didn’t open this case thinking ‘I want loads of money’. I don’t have that attitude – I just wanted to highlight what is wrong because it’s taking advantage of people.

“I really wanted to do this to highlight that false self employment is a thing. I don’t think people are aware and it’s still happening in salons.”

The Mirror has contacted Headonist for a comment.