Right I first gave intent to take maternity leave by filling out works form. This was back in March. The only contact I heard was via my manager saying that I needed to give them my Mat B form and then they would contact me. As I understand it they were to contact me within 28 days of reciept of this form saying if I can take the leave and the confirmed dates? ... I sent in my form at 24 weeks and they said they did not recieve this. I then sent another recorded delivery at 29 weeks and have only just heard they recieved it last week. I am now waiting for the official what happens next ... They have said so and so will contact me ... and I never hear anything. Now tomorrow is my last day! And still so and so will contact me. I have had nothing in writing. I am scheduled on a working shift Friday. This is the first day I have given as my maternity date. What am I do to? Go with the fact I told then just stay off or as I have not recieved a confirmation that I can take the leave do I have to go in? If I don't where do I stand in regards to disaplinaries etc when they say I never turned up for my shift? ... If I had had a baby before I would know what was happening! However as I haven't I don't know where I stand or what I am meant to do next. Especially as they were meant to get back to me within 28 days ... Thanks in advance!

Can my representative ask questions on my behalf? My manager is implying they can't? I thought they could ask but not answer any that are directed at me.

Ok I have had a reply he has amended the notes. And also replied that nothing exists in his possession to ask for formal permission. I have a statement I have wrote. I don't think I am going to win they are fighting this term of usual location to mean I need to work here hard. Also I have a list of questions for them to clarify procedures. Do I have to ask these my self or can I get the person present with me to ask them? Am I aloud to say I disagree with the clause in the contract meaning I can only work at my home location?

All sent to his email this morning. I hear he is not in work today and maynot be tomorrow either. So it looks like I will need to either print this out to read before I read my statement or add it into my statement somehow. I am just scared of sounding rude however I word things! Time to start writing ...

How does this sound? In the conversation attatched you said "We will need to have a investigatory meeting within the next few days to take some notes for Name. We can do this now or later if you prefer." I had said that I don't mind doing it now to get it out the way but you said you would actually need time to get some questions together before this could happen. So I had said that is ok just let me know when. And you said you would contact me. But as we have had no further discussion since then I do not understand why the informal chat turned into the investigatory meeting.On the 30th Decemeber you were unclear as to whether this was going to me made formal or not as NAME had not returned from leave to ask HR. You only confirmed to me on Friday 21st January that Leisha had confirmed this was to be treated formally. In regards the post above I have also put this: "I did not say I got permission last time. I have said to you from the beginning that I never knew we had to have formal permission. And I said that on previous occassions I had mentioned in chat that I was going to be working from the inlaws as passing conversation. But I have never ever before asked for formal permission to do so. I never knew we had to. But I did say I assumed I could do so as I have been doing since I joined 3 years ago and that you knew about this previously from when I had mentioned in passing chat. Please can you update this? Can you also send me a copy of the email/document that says we need to ask for formal permission? I don't recall this at all." Is that ok? Have added in the comment above also.

Grrr can't be;lieve they left it so long! This was from 3 1/2 weeks ago!

Hello all, I have finally recieved the invite to the formal meeting today. The only problem is my manager has made up the informal investigatory meeting! I had spoken to him in an informal chat asking him questions and he asked me some and the said that he would need to put some questions together so that we could have an informal meeting within the next few days. But I never heard anything. Now there are copies of the notes from our chat and he is calling this the investigatory meeting. Also he has twisted some of my words. I had said I was not aware of asking permission to work elsewhere and that I assumed it was ok as I have done so for the past 3 years and on those occassions mentioned it in passing conversation. So he had already known about me doing it before. He twisted this into: "I assumed that I could work from my in-laws house as I had done the same previously. I got permission the last time to work from their house." I am guessing he is trying to cover his back. As if they knew he knew I had done the same but he had not got permission for me then he would be at fault? This will take place on Friday afternoon. I am trying to compile an email to dispute what he has said. Should I demand another meeting? Where do I stand? What do I do now?

No updates as yet. Apparently my managers manager is speaking to HR as they are unsure as to what they should do. I am meanwhile fed up of waiting. Can they keep me waiting this long?!

My manager advised me that he going to perform a investigatory meeting before the formal one. This may or maynot be today. He says this is just to gather evidence and information.

Ok so I tried to log in at 4pm. Logins still suspended. Emailed to say I had tried to log in. Reply 30mins later telling me to log in. Spoke to manager who said it is all official. They are taking it to disaplinary. My manager said it has gone to higher level above him to his manager. She is off until Monday. So I won't hear anything til then. He says the shared connection is to do with not with security but stability of systems. And that part of the contract says you need a stable working connection with working systems. And i'ts tied into that. The disaplinary is for being at another location. It seems that despite the "your work location is X" clause you can still work elsewhere. Just you need permission first ... and I will now have full pay.

There is indeed no clause that I says I won't be paid. So I should have full pay and will discuss this tomorrow with my manager. In regards to the working at another location something else says: "You shall not connect any unauthorised peice of computer equipment to any network or other item of computer equipment". I don't understand if that means connecting computer to another network? I will ask for clarification on this in the contract and also what has changed and why. Under schedule 1, whatever that means - it says you are not obligued to work overseas for a period exceeding one month at at time and accordingly there are no particulars to be entered in this regard. Does this mean I could work overseas and not a home location?! As for the network connection via internet and saying I must not have a shared connection there is nothing in the contract about this at all. "You also need clarification on the security aspect of using the broadband connection at home. I suspect that they do not mean 'shared' as in the home connection also being used by others, but more that it is secured and not a wireless hotspot available to the wider public" Unfortunately there intention IS about other people being on at the same time! I always connect via ethernet. As when the cd boots up it won't let you connect without it. There is no option to connect over the wireless at all. They used to use the excuse that when others are on the internet also it can make the connection unstable and cause technical issues. "If they are though requiring a dedicated broadband connection, then it is only fair that they pay for this, but I doubt that this will be the case." I will get clarification on this also! What happens if this is the case but they refuse to pay? I can't kick people off my own personal connection lol. I will post back when I have more info. I will try and log in tomorrow as normal now I am home. If I am still blocked I will send an email to say I have tried to log in from home. And for them to contact me once I am unblocked so I can return.

Yes I do have access to customer accounts and sensitive information so this I can also be of concern. But no physical changes. VPM over ethernet only. It doesn't work over the wireless. They did know about me working from another location as I said when I was in work having some technical issues. And this is when they told me to go. I am using my own machine as I always do. The VPN is run from a cd via linux. I don't understand how that term can be as only being able to work from X location, It just says that X is your usual location Not the only location that you must work at. And it is indeed my usual location 99% of the time. This is indeed a full regular salary paid fortnightly. I don't think I have been officially suspended due to the lack of letter telling me such. I was just told due to security I can no longer work until I return to my home location and not to sign on and that my work id's will be suspended so that I could not log in. But tbh the company I work for is so disorganised that I really don't know if I am or not. I have informed my manager on previous occassions where I will be working and mentioned to him whilst at work where I am. I cannot remember ever asking for permission. So this was verbal/over company messaging program. This time my manager asked what I was doing for christmas and I had informed him we would be staying with the inlaws. He knows they live hours away and that this involves me staying over and working from there. So mostly it was all in passing converstion. But I have a feeling several years back we were given permission if it was kept on the quiet and not made public knowledge. I cant remember if this was whilst in training or not long after I started. But there is a lot of rules for some and not for others that goes on and thngs change over night.lol. I prefer to be honest so have always informed my manager when I have been elsewhere.This time he was on leave so it was a different manager that picked up on this. Issues in the past was suspension for a completely different matter. I was just basing this experience on that. I don't know whether this is suspension and suspect not due to the lack of letter. And at that time I recieved a letter within hours.

Unfortunately not as i'm not back home until tomorrow night. But I have had other issues before and got paid the whole way through. Then I was issued with an official letter into my email box within hours saying what I had done, what would happen next etc. I didn't even get a letter and this was christmas eve. Heard nowt since.

Hello All, 1st time posting here. Just wondering if you can shed any light on a issue i'm having at work. I work for a work from home company and have worked at 1 other location other than my home and they have known this. I have basically been sent "home" or suspended without any letters from work until I am at my home location. I was told that this is due to security and that it says in my contract that I should only work from my home location. I asked for where it says this in the contract and was given this: "Regarding the policy it is actually clause 5 of your terms & conditions of employment which states:- Your normal place of work will be your home address which is stated on the first page of this contract" This is true. On the 1st page of the contract it does indeed state where this normal place of work is. However it does not say you cannot work elsewhere or that this is your only work location. I don't under stand what has changed in 3 years. I have done it many times before and they have known it and not said anything. If anything has changed I have not been informed or given an ammendment to my contract. I was told my logins had been suspended until I am at my home location again. TBH I don't know whats happened or where I am now. Is being send home and told not to log in (and blocked from the system) formal? If so I have not recieved any offical letters to state why I have been sent home and what the next step is. We connect to the internet to work via ethernet cable and VPN and this is for security. I am concerned that apart from location nothing else has changed. And that if this is such a big deal then they need to review the whole working at home thing. Another thing they come up with is that we should not work on a shared connection. And yet we are expected to use our own personal broadband connection to log onto the vpn. A personal bb connection is going to be shared at times. Where do I stand in regards to this? Should they provide the bb and a seperate line to guarentee a seperate connection? Is there any law on this at all. I don't know if I have been officially suspended and even if I will get paid. I am guessing I won't. But should I be paid if they are the ones who have "suspended" and blocked me from coming into work? Sorry for so many questions. I'm just feeling highly confused! Thanks in advance.