skonk, Whilst I am sure many people will consider you a thoughtfull friend looking out for your girlfriends mate, the thing that strikes me is that after the six months that have passed you state she has had her benefits recently stopped. Is it only coincidental that it taken just over six months for your friend to now want to be considering compensation from her former employer? Has she been applying for new jobs during the last six months? Did she become too dependant on benefits and forget to look for alternative employment? I am sorry if I appear negative, but I do not want to see your friend waisting her time and day dreaming about a windfull that more than likely will never come! You see, a manager who shouts or gets jealous of someone else socialising does not constitute bullying. Also you say your friend was forced to work 15 hour days - how was the force carried out? Was it physical, was it blackmail, what force was used that made your friend work these long hours? Now had she have made complaints or sought advice within days if not at least several weeks of the incidents you quoted then maybe she may have had a better case! I think as her friends, you need to tell her to demonstrate to the benefits department that she is actively seeking alternative employment, and maybe they could consider re-instating benefits once she has exhausted every opportunity. You also go on further to mention that your friend can not pay for heating as well as eat. I recomend she eat as priority, and sadly she is not alone in this dilemna as many elderly people also face this scenario due to low pensions! Whilst you and your friends are giving her hand-outs, does she offer anything in return? i.e maybe doing your ironing or cleaning your homes or babysitting (things that would show grattitude) and a willingness to work? Again I apologise for being negative, but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind!

If you have already requested your dads charges back then do not worry about the 6 year limitation period. Your claim is already in. Advise your dad to get a new bank account and pay his wages into that.

Don't people have to book in or sign in when entering these places?

As said on the other responses, Once a judge determines one payment was made then your sisters ex will get his come-upance! But don't let him know this- the judge will catch him out.

lisaf, The issue here, is whether or not an employee can have private mail sent to an employers workplace. When I say private mail-I refer to non work related.

Skonk, I appreciate your past experience. My circumstances were totally different, but to put it simply, we can look back and learn from the experiences. To cut a very long story-very short- I would complete a 12 hour shift, return home and get phone calls telling me that I had a four hour sleep (which they deemed sufficient)and would I please come back in to help catch up with the workload that was a result of incompetent senior managers! Many years later under legislation I would have easily been able to sue those employers for many thousands. The only comfort I have, was that after writing my concerns to the head office explaining why I had resigned and that I believed this new general manager would cause a serious situation for the company- They responded to me, dismissed most of my claims and said my resignation deemed that I would not be receiving owed holiday pay and they would never give me a reference ! But going back to my only comfort, was discovering 12 months later after I left, the whole company lost all its airport contracts! And no longer exists!!

I have seen this issue come up before and I understand that your company is entitled to open any parcel delivered. However it only takes a simple request to ask a manager or post room staff if they would mind you having deliveries to your work place.

You don't mention if your neighbor is still working for this cleaning company. In addition how long has she worked for them and what are her typical working hours each week? I am currently helping a work mate who has been chasing errors to his wage slips that has resulted in a loss of almost £400. Having studied his pay slips I have worked out where the errors were made and what he is owed. What we have done is sent a letter to head office (special delivery) so that the issue will be dealt with. Your friend should do the same. Sometimes managers can not be bothered to deal with their staff issues and head offices are not aware of errors so you need to go direct to them. As of October 2007 your friend will be entitled to 23 days holiday pay (pro rata). From April 2009 all staff will be entitled to 28 days holiday (most stingy employees will have bank holidays included so 20 days + 8 bank holidays) Also is worth pointing out that your friend should make sure her holiday pay did not come under another heading ie( additional hours). As an example if a manager forgot to put in request for holiday pay they may have got the issue corrected under a different heading.

Monty 2007, At my work place a VERY SENIOR MANAGER was poached by another company. After several weeks he was back at my company! Do not be shy, try to get back to your old company is my advice.

I don't want to be nagative but at 72 I think your father needs a well deserved break! I appreciate that he may be fit to work but think his life deserves to have some real fun in retirement.

I would have thought this issue was simple! If your direct report is the floor manager and is aware you have requested the day off, then it is their responsibility whether or not their is cover! Your floor manager should admit to the error on their part not yours!

For me personally I would agree to the meeting and also insist that the police are called in to carry out a full investigation into this matter of theft. Your son is innocent so should therefore fear nothing! Co workers do sometimes play stupid tricks and do not use their brains to consider the consequences! Tell your son to ask the employer to call in the police to investigate this person trying to set him up.

This is a very interesting thread. I am wondering how many of us are thinking we are entitled to only 20 days holiday and with time running out we will lose those last extra new days? Why have our employers not told us this?

Sorry I forgot to say im sorry of you redundancy. You should chase this refund and request interest! Its taking far too long.

You should check out your train companies terms and conditions on-line. Not wishing to be the bearer of bad news but please consider that season cards take into account weekends and I am advised these are included when refunding! So in effect your refund might not be as much you are hoping for.

bigandyuk1-As per some of my threads, I assure you that your wife writing to the tax office asking them to check her deductions is very easy! I do it quite often and been refunded several thousand pounds for the trouble!

catwomen5 Not sure where my threads are lol-but during the time ive been a member of CAG ive admitted to being responsible for various bullies in my work places resigning over my complaints. One manager was on £50k a year but I was fed up with him bullying staff so eventually I kept a diary on him and he was one afternoon summoned to the HR office and then he walked away... On a recent thread of mine I explained how I wrote an angry email to my HUGE companies head office in another country that resulted in the UK division with tails between their legs! Only recently a very senior manager told me that he respected people who stand up and have a high working ethic! Please stand up to these people-its done me no wrong and I get put forward for promotions! Four years of employment gives you more protection than you realise...

This reminds me of an incident many years ago when someone left something in my locker that offended me. Today I could have sued for Thousands! With the other CAG member comments I too agree that you should demand the coat back so that it can be indepentantly analised and tell your employee this. As you are innocent you certainly do not deserve this treatment!

AS a guide I usually tell my staff they are entitled to 1.66 days holiday for each month they work. Hope this helps.

Monty2007 your points are very valid. It should be noted that after this debate- we all agree that rats if when caught should either be re-settled or be disposed of humanely. Not via being boiled to death!

Monty is right to suggest that we all live within 10ft of rats because some selfish humans discard their unwanted take aways on the streets! With regards to the diseases caused by them, I am still 41 years later looking to find a human that has been infected by them! Gilberts comment "no ifs no buts" frightens me-but hey I believe in what goes around comes around- I picture a 8ft mega rat chasing Gilbert down his highstreet...

Schrodingers cat- You'll be please to know that I am compassionate to all animals. Whether it be rats or insects or anything. At a place where I once worked, there was a slightly injured pigeon and facilities asked for someone to kill it. After raising my horror the bird was eventually released into Bushes whereby I felt it had at least another chance. With regards to the rats, the point of humane traps is to not kill them but release them at another time and location many miles from where they were caught. To as you state they then are not released but put into boiling water is a hideous act and could only be carried out by an individual who has a killing instinct! I would make a formal complaint about this at your workplace demanding action! In fact this must be very distressing for you and your other work collegues though some might not admit to it! Gilbert's comment "that if he were to catch Aids" should be addressed also as Aids can not be contracted but the virus hiv can which may or may not lead to Aids.

It is also worth asking how long you have been employed by this company?

Have to state, that irrelevant if your so called contracted to 9 hours a week but usually work 20 hours, your holiday pay is based on your average hours therefore you should get holiday pay based on 20 hours! If they tell you different REPORT THEM!!!!!

I personally believe that he has to have a 28 day consultation period before they amend his contract. I also believe irrelevant of no work available- he is contracted for that set of hours so should be paid this! Flexible usually means to work in addition to hours contracted to and maybe a slight change in working times. Im sure other CAG members will shortly give you the facts. My only suggestion is he write to HR at his head office and request in writing the reason for the situation that has occured. Make sure he sends his letter recorded.