Sheffield beauty therapist, 22, awarded £5700 in damages for unfair dismissal against salon

Megan Lloyd, 22 said she began working at the hair salon in August 2019 as a new mum, after she had her daughter in February the same year.

The law student, who has been in the beauty industry for eight years, said the job was under a self-employment basis, which is something she is familiar with.

However, the owner of the salon, Jordanna Nichols-Turley, would take 55 percent of her earnings instead of an hourly rate and sacked her from the job after the matter was brought up.

She said: "It was hard for me personally because I just got out of maternity leave, and went to a salon that was new for me.

"There was just far too much control over my work and the way that I should work, especially since I'm self employed.

"What triggered me to ring HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) and ACAS (The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) was when I was told I needed to be in the salon all hours regardless whether I had appointments or not.

"I was supposed to work on Friday and Saturday, 16 hours a week, but obviously the idea of self employment that I should be able to come and go, she didn't like that. She didn’t want me to do it.

"She also took 55 per cent from everything that I earned. It's a lot," she said.

Megan said she had raised the issue with the salon's owner by asking her to look into the advice given by HMRC and ACAS, only to be sacked a day later, six months into the job.

Based on the reserved judgment from the Employment Tribunals dated March 22 and made available to The Star, the owner was ordered to pay Megan £283.38 for unauthorised deduction from wages.

The owner was also ordered to pay a compensatory award of £4605.54 for unfair dismissal.

A total of £554.90 also needs to be paid for unauthorised deduction for holiday pay and the court also ordered the owner to pay £246.40 for her failure to give Megan a written statement of employment particulars at the start of the proceedings.

Megan, who was happy with the judgment as it worked in her favour, said this wasn't about the money or the money she was owed.

She said: "It was about the fact that this happened all the time and it's still happening now and people that are under self employment have no control of any of their work, people who are exploited especially in the beauty industry, it happens a lot.

"For me, it was about raising awareness, so winning the case is great. The fact that people can't stand up for themselves is scary. This is definitely one of the scariest things I've done but I think it's about doing what's right," she said.

Attempts to reach The Headonist's owner have been made.