Hi All, I left work with a popular health service organisation back in July 2013. Over the course of the last week I've received letters stating that I was overpaid for annual leave in July, and the organisation are demanding £410, repayable immediately. They have enclosed an invoice and very crude excel breakdown of the financial aspect of this, although it isn't well presented and is difficult to understand what the calculations mean. I'm thinking that, as this overpayment supposedly arose due to annual leave being overtaken, I should first of all request a detailed breakdown of what they have on file for my annual leave entitlement/taken to make sure that there hasn't been an admin error (although I don't have a personal record of annual leave taken and therfore have nothing to check it against other than my own memory) Assuming that their calculations are correct and I do owe the money, what position am I in legally? I left the organisation over 8 months ago, so for them to demand instant repayment having not mentioned this in the months since I left seems unreasonable -and unrealistic considering I'm currently looking for employment. any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated with this thanks

Hi peeps, I put in writting a formal grievence to my employer and gave them 14 days to respond, (this is after they had 3 months to respond informally to a enquiry) and basically I keep getting told it's been shown to this person then that person but nobody has got back to me. I've been told a manager intends to arrange a meeting with me but they haven't as yet contacted me, 5 days after my deadline. Do these notifications of who it's been passed to count as a response? What are my options now please? Many Thanks

Please, can someone offer me some sound legal advice regarding M.E/CFS and employment law? My situation is that I have officially been diagnosed with CFS (and therefore am most likely covered under the Equality Act 2010) and the condition has meant I have taken quite a bit of time off work in the last few months. This is due in part to me having to 'hide' the condition in fear of my job, something which I have found quite difficult to do, and which has meant no life for the last two years. A change at the top with my employer bought in a more 'sympathetic' viewpoint, but with a culmination of other events in my life which caused me a lot of stress, plus the build up over many months of my condition, CFS really reared it's ugly head. I have had some relapses where I sometimes just can't function and ultimately took time off work. We are allowed 6 weeks per rolling 12 months on full sick pay, but I have been advised I am close to this limit and will go onto SSP if I have any more time off. Fine. However, the informal letter I have received says "I need to sustain a more regular attendance, irrespective of cause, to the adverse effect this can have on service delivery". The letter finishes, "I hope that you will soon be able to return to work (edit note : I already have) and sustain regular attendance to avoid the need for any formal action in this respect". I have no issue with going onto SSP as required, however, I do feel my employer is putting me under undue stress by informally warning/advising/making note, that further absence will result in formal proceedings against me. Under the Equality Act, can they do this? I haven't asked for any special measures at work, I just try to get on with it, and do my best. They are fully aware of my condition, as they even sent me to Occupational Health for assessment! Should I just accept this? Should I ask them precisely what 'formal action' will entail, or am I within my rights to tell them to place it somewhere dark? I really don't feel my employer has been at all fair with me, particularly as the most recent absence which triggered this letter, was down to a serious car accident for which I was not to blame, the circumstances now surrounding which are causing me intense stress, and I am fearful will lead to another CFS relapse. I also suffer with (and am being treated by my GP for) anxiety and depression, and an waiting to see a psychiatrist.My employer also knows this.

Hi Guys, I'm hoping one of you wonderful people can give me some advice please My husband has been awarded contribution based JSA & today my employer has received a letter asking for my income details, stating that I have given them permission to contact them. This is my husband's claim, I am not claiming JSA as I work 16 hours per week & I have never signed anything giving them permission to contact my employer. Can they do this without my written permission & does my employer have to provide this information for a contribution based claim? Any advice gratefully received

Thread should read - "Pay in lieu of notice; (unscrupulous) employer avoiding exceeding 2 year employment term & related redundancy pay". My partner along with 12 other staff engaged at end Feb 2012 - all aged in early to mid 50's- have worked for her employer for 1 year and approx eleven and a half months. Her department (approx 35 staff) is no longer needed and thus the department is to close and the positions are to be become redundant. My query relates to rights/ tactics available to my partner and the above 11 colleagues who are at the cusp of their key 2 year term of "continuous employment". Her/their employer will (lawfully)attempt to do whatever they can do to "contractually" avoid having to pay statutory (albeit modest - 3 weeks x £450 = £1350) redundancy pay. That assumes the employer can (conveniently) make the effective employment termination date to be on or before end Feb 2014. That may be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve if there has by law to be a minimum 30 day consultation period !? Nonetheless, reference has been made by her employer to "pay in lieu of notice" (PILON). The employer's believe that a payment in lieu of notice clause is included in their employee's employment contracts. Thus they claim they may (conveniently) be able to end staff’s employment with no notice on or before end Feb 2014. They can then make a payment to cover the notice period my partner and her colleagues would normally have had to work. I have, however, read my partner's employment contract and looked at the section entitled "Notice". The only reference to PILON is as follows - " Your employment may be terminated without notice or PILON if you commit any act of gross misconduct." Such wording makes no reference to PILON and redundancy. Despite currently being allegedly employed for less than a full two tear term the employer will presumably have to offer redundancy candidates alternative employment . That said, it is rumoured that this will comprise a (joke) position in London with no relocation allowance. My partner and her colleagues currently work form home in Scotland and the North West of England. Any feedback warmly appreciated. Have liaised with ACAS, but they could offer no guidance re above . Said ask a lawyer, who when asked they wanted £500 on account. Based on previous harrowing experiences we have little time and respect for solicitors.

Hello all, I have worked since beginning of december for the oil Company X through the employment agency, let's call it Company Y. The problem is that the agency I worked for went into bankruptcy in the beginning of january and they are not able to pay me the money that they owed me since the end of december. Three weeks ago, I went to ask Company X about the money but they said that Company Y was not solvent anymore, and the company X would pay me the money outstanding as soon as possible. They promised to get my money settled the week after which was 2 weeks ago. I keep asking Company X for the money every week but they keep telling me that they can't do nothing. I am fed up waiting. Could anyone help me with my problem please. Is there any legal way I could take to resolve this? Is it possible to hire a lawyer to speed up things?

Evening CAS Any advice from you all would be helpful. Thank you in advance. I will keep this short. My previous employers are in breach of my employment contract and I will shortly be writing to them to advise them of this. I suspect they already know but think I won't do anything about it. (They are an extremely small business - and I did have a contract of employment but they asks me to leave or "call it a day" as they put it, no formal grievance just my face didn't fit anymore). Although my contract says 3 months notice must be given either way. They haven't paid me (or given me a letter of termination/or put me through any grievance process/or submitted my P45) hence me writing to them. What would be my position re references when I try to apply for another position? I'm sure my new employer will want a previous references, and through them thinking they are a law onto themselves, would try and make my future career prospects as difficult as possible. If they gave me a bad reference do I have any grounds to do anything about it? I was only there for 5 months and would prefer my new employer not to write to them at all but not sure I have much control over this. I appreciate any comments...

Can anybody advise me as to what to do? I found a job advertisement on the 'jobsearch' website, and sent off my CV to which I was asked to attend an interview. During the interview I was at no point advised that the position was one of self employment or that I would have to supply the business with a self employment number and invoice for my wages. I was told I would be paid straight into my bank account on a weekly basis and never advised that I would have to do anything in order to receive my wages. However a month passed and I didn't receive payment, I was told various excuses on different occasions and even advised that payment had been made when in fact it hadn't. When I said I would be taking the matter further in order to receive payment I was advised that I can not legally be paid without a self employment number and that "I was being given a favour by not doing this previously" when I had never previously been advised of this. I have sent a letter to the company advising that they have committed an act of 100% deduction of wages but have not heard back. I received a text this evening saying that payment would not be made until they receive an invoice and my self employment number. What do you advise I do? As I am unsure where I stand legally for the money I am owed.

Hi, Just after a bit of advice, I informed my employer that I would not be returning to work following maternity leave. I received my P45 which did not include any holiday pay. I contacted ACAS who said that yes, you continue to accrue holiday whilst on maternity leave and to contact my employer and request that the pay me for this. I spent 3 weeks on the phone everyday to my manager, HR department, payroll department kept getting passed around from pillar to post, to find out I am owed 73 hours holiday pay, but they haven't paid it me. I sent a letter over a week ago saying I wanted confirming the date when this would be paid or I would be taking it to a tribunal, I gave them 7 days, no response, no pay, and the december pay date has been and gone. Only thing is I really don't have the £160 fee to file a claim, and I highly doubt I would qualify for remission, only option I have really is to put this on a credit card, unless any one knows of anything else I can do? Thanks

Hi i hope someone can help because i dont have the first clue about traineeships and the government courses etc. But my daughter and her friend are being treated so badly by their employer that i am sure that it can not be legal what this woman is doing to these young people. First of all my daughter is a fully qualified beautician and is 19 and left college last year. She came across a shop that was opening and they wanted a beautician and she applied and got the job. My daughter like a lot of young people these days was so made up she got the job she never asked the woman what she got paid and there was no mention of any trainee scheme or apprenticeship she was just told to come in on the following monday, which she did. When her boss came in she asked her if she could have a word in private. This is when she dropped the bomb shell that she wouldnt be getting paid for 6 weeks, and she would only be doing sixteen hours and the reason the woman gave for this was that she needed to train my daughter to her standard before she would allow her to have her own clients. Obviously my daughter was a bit confused that she hadnt mentioned this but because she wants to be a beautician so badly she agreed that was okay. My daughter was not on jobseekers she had a night job in a pub. When the six weeks finished the boss turn round to my daughter and said she needed further training and wasnt ready yet so she would have to do another 6 weeks of training and not get paid, but did promise to give her bits here and there when she had done well and after that period her hours would go up and she would get a proper wage. My daughter agreed thinking at least she would be getting something and in the mean time quit her bar job because she was so tired and also because she thought in a few weeks she would be on a proper wage. but in the following six weeks she received about £30.00. By this time she was now working unsupervised and already the hours had crept up to her working over 40 hours a week some weeks and didnt see the boss from one day to the next. The boss just seems to saunter in and out whenever and the girls are running the shop for her but only getting paid for 16 hours work when they are all doing nearer 40 or more. my daughter has worked there since May this year so thats 6 months and last week she finally confronted her boss about the hours she works for such little pay. she gets a hundred pounds a week for 40 hours work. She worked for 3 months with no pay at all. then she got bits here and there and then about 2 months ago went on to hundred pounds a week for 40 hours work. which is £2.50 an hour which I thought was disgusting. From that point she said she couldnt afford to pay her much more and said she would give her another £40 a week so thats £3.50 an hour and promised when it got busiier she would give her more. my daughter accepted this as it was at least something. However that was 2 weeks ago and she has only recieved the £140 for one week and last week it went back down to £100. My daughter asked her why and she said she couldnt afford it and she would have to go back down to working 16 hours and getting £100. I wouldnt mind she has never yet worked just a 16 hour week in that shop not even from the start, the first week she worked over 20 and by week 3 or 4 she was doing 40 hours a week. Its just a joke and this woman is such a hard face cow i could swing for her,. Last week she had the accountant in and asked my daughter to come over for a word and she then asked her to go on a training course which she does at home to do with customer service, and she told her it will lead to a proper qualifications. I am now thinking that this woman has mislead my daughter into giving her a full time job when in effect she is telling the tax people or whoever that she is taking on trainees and getting paid for them hence this customer service qualification all of a sudden because she cant say she is training her in beauty as she is already qualified so she has had to dream up a qualification to comply with the traineeship rules so she can get paid her two thousand ish pounds per staff member. Also that way she can get away legally with calling my daughter a trainee and only paying her the trainee minimum wage which i think is £2.68 an hour. I am so angry but dont know what to do to try and help my daughter, she loves her job and doesnt want to leave but hasnt got the confidence to stand up to her boss . any advice would be fantastic thankyou cher69cher69:-x

I just got a new job working in a coffee shop, and they gave me a load of forms and things to fill in. One of them was a medical questionaire that seemed very invasive and asked loads of personal questions, with no statement of any sort of confidentiality protocalls and a warning that if you were found to have lied on the form you would be fired for gross misconduct. The questions included one asking if you had been to the doctor in the last year and what it was for, what medication you're taking and what it's for, and whether you had ever taken time off work for mental health issues or emotional problems. I understand that they would need to know if there were any issues that would mean you couldn't do your job properly, but this seemed really over the top and unecessary. There are plenty of medical issues that you might not want your boss/work collegues to know about and that have zero impact on your work. An extra thing for me is that I'm transgender, I take testosterone and I've had a couple of surgeries as part of my treatment in the last couple of years. This is information that the form was forcing me to state. I'm generally quite open about it but I don't want the control of who I out myself to taken away from me, and it feels very invasive of them to ask for this. I also feel that if I was indeed suffering from a mental health condition of some kind the form would freak me out and make me feel very unsafe there, despite anti-discrimination laws. I've spoken to a few of my friends about this and they all say it sounds very strange and isn't something they've come across before, including friends who've worked in recrutment. I'm not planning on having the job for very long (though I may end up doing it for a while dependant on circumstances), so ideally I would wait untill I wasn't doing it any more to make any sort of challenge. Does anyone know the legal status of this? How much medical information can an employer make you give them?

I'm self-employed and I'm owed money for work that I've done for a company this summer. Can anybody advise me what my rights are and how I can recover the debt quickly and with the minimum cost to myself? I have invoices totalling £7.5k, the oldest of which is now seven weeks passed due. The company in question charge their clients up-front for services but are telling me that they have no money 'in the pot' with which to pay me. They may have used these funds to develop other projects or pay off existing debt but I'm sure that would mean that they are trading insolvently. Whilst telling me that they will pay, they refuse to commit to a payment date and have left me penniless and desperate.

Hi There, I used to work for a reputed UK company few years ago and I was made redundant some time ago. I did not know of my employment rights back then so I simply believed I could not do anything even though I suspected that it was an unfair dismissal because I was the youngest one and I was on the verge of completing 2 years in the company. Anyways, because of this I had to leave UK and come to Canada because I found it extremely hard to find work there. Now that I am in Canada, I had to apply for Permanent Residence and needed a letter from my previous UK employer stating my salary and otehr details. However, they refused to provide me with the letter for few weeks and upon constant emails and me stating that if I did not receive a letter from them, I will not be able to apply for Permanent Residence because deadline was approaching soon. After 'pressurizing' them with emails, they sent a letter which I received after the deadline. I am so stressed now because of all this. Can I formally make a complaint against them because literally they have ruined my life! Thanks guys!

(On behalf of friend) My friend has been offered a job which he has been trying to get for 6 months and is excited. It is leaving one business media company for another but with a completly different client base/industry However, he needs to start in one week's time and when he resigned last week, he was hoping to negotiate an early exit. Apparently, they normally march resignees out of the office immediately so he was surprised when they told him they want him to work 4 weeks notice (as contracted). He has been back to them to say he would like to work this week to complete a handover so that his clients are properly passed over to another member of staff and so no damage is done in delivering to those clients. He was thinking about simply walking but wanted to be reasonable and leave on good terms Unfortunately for him, they are insisting he works 4 weeks and if he leaves early, they will get an injunction on him to stop him from joining the new comapany and also call senior management of the new company to 'have words'. Can they do these things? It is worth noting that he is not a senior member of staff. This is a sales exec role. I am sure that this is all aimed to scare him but wondered what the CAG advice is? He know's that if he leaves early, he is in breach of contract and will lose commission & notice pay but really needs the new opportunity and the new company offered on the basis that he starts sooner.

Just asking the folks on here that might be in the know. Can an employer legally place an employee into financial hardship? I ask because I was once employed by the Government and in what was called a "Mobile" grade, meaning that I had to work effectively where they posted me. My last posting was made under what was called Permanent in the Public Interest (PPI). Unfortunately, it involved a house move that cost me several thousand pounds in Negative Equity. In order to discharge the NE I was given an advance of salary - interest free loan (although I was taxed on the Interest not paid, as a benefit in kind!!?). The "advance" was not enough to cover all of the NE, and I had to top up through my mortgage (110% of the purchase price) I was repaying the advance back through monthly deductions from my salary. However, before the advance was repaid in full, I was made redundant and I assumed that my severance pay would have been reduced to pay off the outstanding amount. However, some 5 years after I left their employ, they came back to me seeking the balance (£9k including interest etc) After lots of to-ing and fro-ing, it has culminated in them gaining an attachment of earnings order from my current employer. Despite me asking for a set aside, they have gone ahead, and I am assuming that my application has been lost (should have sent it recorded!). Although the house move was 16 years ago, the award for the employer is not statute barred, because they started their action within the 6 year limit. I can't afford to repay the amount that they are taking from me (the equivalent of 2 weeks travel costs each month!) can I challenge the judgement on the basis that the original reason for the advance - i.e. forcing me to move house and incur a large amount of Negative Equity, was unreasonable? I realise that this issue sits between debt and employment, but I posted here because the basis of the debt was due to an employment issue.

I need some help and advice for a work-related problem. This one is quite the reverse to the usual scenario whereby the employer is constantly contacting an employee on long-term sick leave. I work for a large company and have been off work for over twelve months because of ill-health , during this time I have kept in contact with the company through the payroll office on a regular basis by telephone and email to ensure that I was paid. Having been off for so long I have used up all my sick leave and long service leave and have only been getting paid one day per month through annual leave days which I have accrued over the time I have been off. Without any forewarning the company now have not paid me for the last 4 weeks even though I have sent them sick leave forms and doctors certificates and well as annual leave forms. Not once during the entire 15 months I have been off has anyone from any level of management contacted me to inquire when and if I was returning to work, did I need any assistance?, could I perform other duties?, could they do anything to help me?. I have been with the company for over 20 years and my employment record is solid with no black marks of any description on my record. If any anyone can offer any advice on how I should proceed from here that would be greatly appreciated.

hi everyone so i finished work on 17th September and have contacted my employer several times requesting my p45, final payslip and monies owed and they kept telling me they dont have my p45 so i rang their accountant today and the lady on the phone stated that my ex employer has had my p45 since the 10 October. So obviously my employer has been withholding this. The accountant said they would send me a duplicate but im still unhappy about the fact that my ex employer had had this since the 10th October. Can anyone give me some advice about this please.

Hi everyone, Any advice would be highly appreciated!! The situation is as follows less than 3 months ago I have started as a subcontractor for a company initially I was given training for which I have signed a training contract stating that if I leave earlier then 6 months I will have to repay for the training! Because the work is on price, I was promised 6 jobs on average a day, not in the contract, but I have a letter saying that "Their engineers complete 6 jobs on average a day", that is the only reason I have started the job for, them 6 jobs. But after month and a half and less than 4 jobs on average a day and not making enough to support my family I have decided to quit. I have told them this is the only reason I am quitting . My question is: Is there a legal way for me not to pay for the training? Thanks for your help in advance!

Hi all, firstly, thanks in advance, I get a lot of good advice here I have been offered a new job, which I have accepted. They would like me to start in just under 3 weeks, however. My contract states that I must give 8 weeks notice, and that they (my current employer) could give me one week if they wanted to let me go. I want to just give the notice to leave in 3 weeks, is there some way they could penalise me? I can scan a copy of the contract tomorrow if that helps, thanks! andy

Hi, I have a few payday loans which have got out of control and with my current financial situation I am unable to make a repayment anytime soon. I have a couple of questions. 1) How can I stop these DCA from contacting my employer? as I am getting multiple calls each day? 2) How can I find out what DCA my debts are with? 3) At what point is it deemed to be harassment and who do I contact in regards to this? 4) I sent a denial of access letter to one of them and they continue to leave me voicemails and letters saying they are going to arrive unannounced, what can I do? Thank You in advance

Hello everyone im looking for some help if possible please i work for a tyre wholesale company there is 10 drivers all together and everyone of us have had enough of they way we are being treated by our employer and would like some legal advice please. We work 8am-5.30pm mon-fri & 8am-1pm every saturday so 52.5 hours a week the company only allow us 30mins break a day yet we all believe that they deduct 1 hour a day from our wages for breaks. Not 1 of us have a employment contract when we all started we were made to sign the back of a booklet agreeing to the policy's in that book we have nothing stating what our hourly rate of pay is etc or anything like that, we have asked a number of times and just told your contract is the booklet Also we are being told that any damage that happens on the work vans the drivers MUST pay a £500 excess charge from his bonus. Can they legally take money from us for accidents when we are on minimum wage ??? Also the manager of the depot took his son on as a store boy 2 years ago and the place has turned into a father and son business well they seem to think so e has given his son promotions without asking or advertising the new positions when there are better people for the job is this allowed ? Also with our wages we believe we are on minimum wage we get a so called bonus every month and a attendance bonus of £50 if we miss 1 day in that month we loose the attendance bonus we are also concerned about health and safety there the place is very badly run and we dont know what to do so any help would be great thanks in advance

I am definitely going to ask for a review as the main witness, the manager who sacked me, told a complete lie about a similar case where a fellow worker was not sacked for doing the same thing. In the final submissions, which were done in writing, as the case couldn't be completed on the day, I made it clear to the tribunal where the manager had lied ( I stated clearly it was a is a complete fabrication and therefore a perjurious statement) and there is documented evidence to back this up so it is pretty darn clear that he has done so. I am wondering why the tribunal judgement (fairly detailed at 18 pages) has not even mentioned the issue of perjury and they have simply ignored it. I assumed this was a serous offence and as he was a key witness for the employer's defence and he lied about a key comparator case, can any advise if there is a clear case for not only review but an appeal as well? thanks alot

hey CAG, hope you're all doing well! First off I'm in a bit of a pickle just looking for some advice please. I work for a cleaning company inside a retail company; I usually work 7am till 6pm every Saturday. We have a clock in machine that's bio-metric and we're supposed to scan in and out for everything. I clocked in at 7am and out at 6pm but forgot to clock out for my break, it was an honest mistake and it's not that big of a deal; it can easily be amended but the company I work for is refusing to pay me for the whole day. I've spoken with my managers manager and she said she can't do anything, I'm going to lose them. Are they allowed to just refuse to pay me for that whole day? I haven't received any kind of written information stating that incorrect clock ins will result in deducted pay. There's easy proof that I worked all day because I clocked out at 6pm but just forgot to clock for my break. I tried so hard today but my manager refuses to support me and she won't help me try to get those hours paid. Thanks for any advice.

http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/Cheshunt-and-Waltham/Suspended-sentence-for-bailiff-who-stole-10k-from-Waltham-Abbey-debt-collection-firm-20130923104950.htm

Hi all, I have recently had several weeks of sick leave, that were backed by a 'fit note' from my GP. Upon return to work, my employer requested a GP report, which I approved. After signing the relevant forms, I thought no more of it and awaited a follow-up with my employer after they had the info they needed from the GP. Fast forward a few weeks and my boss and an external HR consultant (I work in a small company, so we have no HR team/person) called me into a meeting, in which they said that they had spoken with my GP (or the surgery) several times, to check if they had received the request to provide the info needed and whether I had been to the surgery to give the final authorisation to my GP (which I did not know I had to do). They then said that upon doing this, they were informed that I had ignored numerous calls and requests to visit my GP and therefore appeared to be blocking the release of the form. My employer did not believe me when I explained that I had no knowledge of this and had received no contact from the GP (which was true). I did go to see my GP last night to give the authorisation and he categorically stated that under no circumstances would he, or the surgery speak with my employer about the form or tell them about any contact or attempted contact with me, as this is confidential information and therefore illegal. This has obviously led me to believe that my employer is lying/exaggerating the truth in an attempt to try and pin a lie/falsehood on me (they were not happy about my sick leave, but as it is backed up by my GP, cannot do anything about it - other than put me on SSP, which they have). I guess my main questions are: 1) What should I do about this apparent lie/exaggeration by my employer? 2) If they have contacted the GP attempting to find out confidential information, are they in the wrong/is this illegal? 3) After being backed by my GP and the forthcoming information etc. can my employer do anything along the lines of giving me warnings/sacking me etc? Thanks so much to anyone that takes the time to read/reply and sorry for the essay!!