International jobs and UK minimum wage question

Hello all! Brand new here, so please let me know if I do anything incorrectly.

I've been living in Cornwall since 2018. I had a really hard time finding a job. A friend hooked me up with a work-from-home job with his Florida-based company, which has "employees" (we're misclassified as 1099 contractors) all over the world.

My contract set my hourly wage at $10/hr (FL minimum wage).  I'm paid in GBP through TransferWise. After conversion, $10/hr = £7.67/hr. From what I understand, the minimum wage for the UK (as of April 2022) is £9.50.

I am not yet a citizen of the UK, I'm currently living here on a Residency Permit. I still have my US citizenship.

I spoke with two colleagues who are UK citizens. They told me they negotiated their contracts to UK's minimum wage before taking the job, contending that it's illegal for the USA company to pay them less than UK's minimum wage. Finding legal citations for this is very challenging, especially in my case.

What I desperately want to know is this: As a non-citizen resident of the UK working for an American company, am I entitled to receive the UK's minimum wage from my employer?

Hello all! Brand new here, so please let me know if I do anything incorrectly.

I've been living in Cornwall since 2018. I had a really hard time finding a job. A friend hooked me up with a work-from-home job with his Florida-based company, which has "employees" (we're misclassified as 1099 contractors) all over the world.

My contract set my hourly wage at $10/hr (FL minimum wage).  I'm paid in GBP through TransferWise. After conversion, $10/hr = £7.67/hr. From what I understand, the minimum wage for the UK (as of April 2022) is £9.50.

I am not yet a citizen of the UK, I'm currently living here on a Residency Permit. I still have my US citizenship.

I spoke with two colleagues who are UK citizens. They told me they negotiated their contracts to UK's minimum wage before taking the job, contending that it's illegal for the USA company to pay them less than UK's minimum wage. Finding legal citations for this is very challenging, especially in my case.

What I desperately want to know is this: As a non-citizen resident of the UK working for an American company, am I entitled to receive the UK's minimum wage from my employer?

If you're a contractor, you're technically self-employed and so minimum wage laws don't apply in the same way - you technically work for yourself.

Do you receive a payslip?  Is it gross wages or net wages (do they withhold taxes?)?

If you are a self employed contractor, are you inside or outside IR35?

All that matters is WHERE you are when working.  You are in the UK, so UK employment law must be followed, whether it’s you as an independent contractor or your employer as a registered employer.

Do you receive a payslip?  Is it gross wages or net wages (do they withhold taxes?)?

If you are a self employed contractor, are you inside or outside IR35?

All that matters is WHERE you are when working.  You are in the UK, so UK employment law must be followed, whether it’s you as an independent contractor or your employer as a registered employer.

We don't receive copies of the payslips unless we request them (for instance, I had to get copies of them for my visa renewal application).

No taxes are withheld -- the tax burden is completely on the workers, thus the employer benefits from the misclassification. The contractors located in America have their 1099s sent automatically to the IRS, whereas I have to request a copy of my 1099 from my employer directly, because international employees are not paid through the same system as the American-based staff.

I was not familiar with the IR35 until now, looks like a mirror of the IRS's misclassification legislation. I will read more about this, thank you for leading me in the right direction.

The company owners seem somewhat clueless about US tax law and have no idea about international tax law, so anything I can bring to the table regarding this is extremely helpful.

One of our members, jimbocz,  frequently recommends this forum in situations like this.

https://forums.contractoruk.com/contracting/

We don't receive copies of the payslips unless we request them (for instance, I had to get copies of them for my visa renewal application).

No taxes are withheld -- the tax burden is completely on the workers, thus the employer benefits from the misclassification. The contractors located in America have their 1099s sent automatically to the IRS, whereas I have to request a copy of my 1099 from my employer directly, because international employees are not paid through the same system as the American-based staff.

I was not familiar with the IR35 until now, looks like a mirror of the IRS's misclassification legislation. I will read more about this, thank you for leading me in the right direction.

The company owners seem somewhat clueless about US tax law and have no idea about international tax law, so anything I can bring to the table regarding this is extremely helpful.

I have did some consulting work for a small company who had this vision of employees all around the globe.  They just COULD NOT grasp that hiring in other countries opened up MASSIVE cans of worms for taxes and employment law for both the company and the individual employee. 

They are NOT doing anything wrong by paying you gross wages.  The burden then falls to you to file your taxes in your country of residence (and then report your tax paid to the UK on your USA return).  Your company is 100% in the clear due to the way they've set things up.

I would have an open, honest (non-confrontational) conversation with your employer and say that you'd like to be paid UK minimum wage at a minimum.  Break it down for them.  Show them what your taxes are and what your take home pay is.  They don't have to agree, but if you've been there awhile, know the job and are dependable, they should want to retain you.  You can also say you've learned the other UK employees make far more than you.

Just as an FYI, paying through Wise is perfectly normal and again, nothing shady or illegal about it.  The company (while no doubt they have no idea what they are doing), are actually doing nothing wrong.

I have did some consulting work for a small company who had this vision of employees all around the globe.  They just COULD NOT grasp that hiring in other countries opened up MASSIVE cans of worms for taxes and employment law for both the company and the individual employee. 

They are NOT doing anything wrong by paying you gross wages.  The burden then falls to you to file your taxes in your country of residence (and then report your tax paid to the UK on your USA return).  Your company is 100% in the clear due to the way they've set things up.

I would have an open, honest (non-confrontational) conversation with your employer and say that you'd like to be paid UK minimum wage at a minimum.  Break it down for them.  Show them what your taxes are and what your take home pay is.  They don't have to agree, but if you've been there awhile, know the job and are dependable, they should want to retain you.  You can also say you've learned the other UK employees make far more than you.

Just as an FYI, paying through Wise is perfectly normal and again, nothing shady or illegal about it.  The company (while no doubt they have no idea what they are doing), are actually doing nothing wrong.

I certainly don't mind being paid through Wise, I really like Wise. The only reason I brought up Wise was in response to other user's question RE: payslips/tax withholding. Nothing shady about Wise payments, I definitely agree.

The main reason I mentioned the misclassification comment in my original post was to vent, more-or-less. From everything I've been reading this past week on employee/contractor misclassification, the way the company operates is cut-and-dry misclassification, which the IRS definitely takes issue with. However, I'm not trying to lose my job by complaining out loud/doing anything about it, so I shouldn't have mentioned it in the first place. 😅 My mistake.

The affirmation that I shouldn't be afraid to ask for UK minimum is reassuring.  Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply and for the resources that have been provided. 💖

Are you sure £7 an hour is worth all that hassle?  There's lots of remote jobs available and all of them pay more than that.  Some considerably more than that. 

Completely agree with Jimbo.  Everything from call centre to administrative work, can all be remote now.   My husbands company who insisted for 18 years that there was no flexibility and everyone needed to be on site now does a site walk around one day a week.  Otherwise he’s from home and doesn’t even have a desk anymore.