Hi guys, I would like to ask You about such thing, I'm working for some company , now I'm on probation period for 2 months more (6 at all) my contract contains "it is a condition of your contract of emplotment for overtime to be worked in order to meet customer requirements" , I'm working 4 on 4 off shift 12 hours each, but usually I don't have my 4 days off cause my employer always wants me to do overtimes saying like "you have to" not asking if I can, when I said I'm busy on last days off and can't do this 5 minutes later he came and said like "You are on probation period, if You would not do this overtimes You would not receive permanent contract" is that bullying? Do I have to do always overtimes for him? Looking forward for Your answers, thanks a lot.

My son worked for a concession within a department store and has been dismissed from work after shoplifting items worth around £400 on his day off. A fellow colleague of his had helped him during the process and this lead to the dismissal of his employment as well. All items were recovered on the day. No police was involved, they both pleaded guilty and were sent home. They were advised to resign, resignation letters were accepted, p45's were posted to both addresses. 2 weeks after, his colleague had received two civil recovery fines from drydensfairfax one for himself and one for my son. My son had asked him to open the letter and scan the content via email. He got fined £250 and paid the fine in full My son got fined £607, but is now confused about whether he is obliged to pay the fine as he technically hasn't received the letter at his address but the letter was sent to a different address. Also, can they take further actions from here on? Many thanks,

Hi everyone I need help!! The other day one of my two owners came over to my work from the warehouse and told me the shop isn't making much money. I asked what I should do and explained all the things Ive been trying to do to get more customers. She then said that as Im the manager it is my job to know what to do and then said that If I don't know then I shouldn't be there. She then made a phone call to who I think was the area manager and said to him "where are you working tomorrow,,,,,, No I haven't yet but I will be. She then asked me why the promotional leaflets that were sent to me haven't been delivered to customer houses and said that the other owner told her I was going to deliver them on my day off. I asked if I would be paid for this and was told no. After this she then began to look at my sales and I had sold an item for £600. She then looked at my till sheet from the week before and there was only £580. She asked me where the other £100 was and I said that it can only be £20. She then told me to stop treating to her like an idiot and I said that perhaps I have cashed up wrong and the remaining money will probably in the till and I hadn't cashed up that day so if she checked it would probably be in there. I asked her to cash up and she refused, at this point I felt like she had made her mind up. She then asked me what I have to say at this point I said I don't know what you want me to say and she then asked me for my keys and suspended me. A few days later I received a letter saying the reason for my suspension was theft and they had written statements from customers, receipt books and stock control as evidence. However no evidence has been supplied to me. The following day I received a letter to come in the next day for a disaplinary hearing which I could not attend as I cannot travel to the warehouse. She has now rescheduled this for next week. On my letter it does state that the owner is the complaitent and will be chairing the hearing which I thought would be byased against me. I need help because of this and that I find it a bit of coincidence that one owner told me if the shop doesn't start making much money then they will shut the shop and I will be first to know which he said with a smile on his face. I feel I have been treated unfairly as I was made to work on my own, I was never provided a seat to sit on or given any breaks, however they only paid me for 8 hour day and I was there 9 hour. Also when I was on holidays and off sick other people were there to cover me one of which has his own job on the side doing the same thing. There was also the fact that when I did return from time off items were taken to other stores but not put in the transfer book. I have felt like I have been bullied and feel they are intimidating me as from what I've explained and when they changed my hearing date both the owners came to my house to deliver the letter instead of just posting it.

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.

Hi everyone, I'm wondering if anyone can help me with a couple of things at my workplace that I am unsure of. I work for a toy retailer and have worked there for three years. We must arrive in good time for our shift- ten minutes before our shift start time, or else this is considered late and can lead to disciplinary action. I have no issue with this, however, we are told that we have to have our briefing for the day five minutes before our shift so that we can rotate the staff on the shop floor without delay. This five minutes is unpaid. I can understand that this, in theory, makes sense however rarely does the daily briefing last five minutes- often lasting between ten and fifteen rendering the whole point of starting five minutes before useless anyway. This briefing is obviously a benefit for the employer and certainly not something I'd care to do in my spare time, I consider it as working. A couple of months ago I read an article about Apple stores being sued by staff for keeping them after their shift unpaid to perform bag searches, which was of no benefit to the staff and they were often kept for more than thirty minutes to do so. This made me think about the other issue that concerns me more- my manager informing us that they can legally keep us fifteen minutes beyond our shift end time unpaid. Now considering I'm only contracted to four hour shifts, fifteen minutes is a relatively large amount of time that I feel I should be paid for. They do not use any time in lieu to compensate either way, but what would be my rights if I refused and left the premises? I estimated that the briefing time over the past three years has equated to roughly over three weeks pay, so over a week a year I am not being paid for. Obviously this does not include any time our duty manager deems it necessary to keep us after shift. What if I have plans? Or an hourly train to catch at night? Doesn't the employer have a duty of care if I'm walking the streets at late hours? I cannot find anything online that would indicate that they are legally allowed to do this, nor is it written in my contract. Could they simply change my contract? I would really appreciate your help on this matter, thank you for reading my post. Regards.

Looking for some advice if anyone can help Currently working my notice till the 4th Sept. I have holiday booked for the 26th,27th,28th &29th August, therefor i have to return to work for the 30th Aug, 2nd,3rd,4th Sept. ive got the potential to go on holiday during the days im supposed to be back. if i had my holidays and didnt return what can they do?

Hi, my nephew wanted to complain about a serious matter on the building site where he works. I told him to ring up and ask for a copy of the grievance policy (as per our Stu007!), he simply asked for a copy to be posted to him and did not discuss what it was about. We wanted to work out if a grievance was the correct way to go. Even before the document arrived in the post he was approached by several people on the site asking him what his grievance was! He's livid, as it was to do with someone using drugs on site, and he wanted this to be dealt with in confidence to start with. He was really concerned about health and safety, and this person can be quite volatile, hence the need for confidentiality from the off. Now he feels he can't say anything, for fear of retaliation from the person concerned, who is already suspicious that the grievance was going to be about him. I feel now that it matters not what the grievance was about; that's not the point, the issue here surely is trust, confidence and confidentiality. Any thoughts? Would this be grounds for a grievance on its own?

Hi, my wife came home from work today and told me she is getting put on a 3 day week. She has worked there for 8 years with no problems, its a small car recovery firm and 2 weeks ago they took on a new girl in the office to help her. Today they told her she is getting put on a 3 day week and the new girl is getting the other 2 days, surely this is wrong, can anybody give us some advise, cheers.

Hello forum.. I have been working for my company for 13 or so years, that requires heavy lifting from the ground up. I ended up with a lower back problem that put me out of work for 1month at a time with a sick note from the gp, over a 6 month period. This was the first 6months of 2012.. By june 2012 I slowly got myself fit enough to work again and had no time off since. This year the company have made some people laid off due lack of work and the "wrong sort of employee's",, me being one of them!. I asked my employer "why am i being selected" to which he replied "absenteeism".. My question is,, is absenteeism a valid reason and if so,, how long can it stand as a valid reason?? Thanks

Hi all, My daughter called me after work today in floods of tears. I am actually one of her Managers at the her work place. Just recently we have had a few new starters, and to cut a long story short one of them has A problem with taking direction from either myself or my daughter. The problems I have had are nearly all sorted out by the processes in place. I move on to my daughters probs. Over the last couple of months she has had problems with one person who will not do anything she asks him to do, and will even argue with her in front of her direct line manager and even the store manager. She has made several complaints to the management team but nothing has been done about it. I have tried to stay out of it as I feel compromised by being her father. Again today she had attitude from this guy in front of the deputy manager, nothing was done. She has worked here for 7 years and worked her way up to supervisor level. After I left work the deputy manager took her into a room with the other guy and ordered her to work it out. She felt totally humiliated by this and very intimidated. Prior to this the department manager and the other guy had been out to lunch together. This is the third time this week this has happened , as well as socialising in the evenings. My point would be that you can't socialise with staff and then manage them correctly because of the friendship that has been formed. I have decided to now take this on as a manager and intend to get it dealt with in the proper way. Any advice I can get on this would be most helpful. Many thanks.

Hi there. I don't know if I am posting in the right forum, hopefully a moderator can help me if not. This is bit of a long story so please bear with me. I got made redundant through no fault of my own September last year and have been on Jobseekers Allowance since then. Everyone knows that when you have a job you have a better lifestyle, and when you lose that job, the lifestyle dramatically changes and you cannot afford the little luxuries anymore, this is where defaults start happening on your credit file and start to get harassed by the DCAs. Anyway, I was placed on a 2 week course with a provider called Working Links. I was told that if I completed the course to their satisfaction, I would be guaranteed a job interview whether in person or phone with the Student Loans Company. Apparently they do CRB checks, person checks and credit checks even though it is a temporary admin job. (talk about paranoia and the snoopers charter). I have an Enhanced CRB which is clean so that isn't a problem. I mentioned in the first instance on the course that we, as unemployed people who had lost their jobs recently would not have squeaky clean or positively glowing credit histories and if their selection process was so rigourous, why on earth are they recruiting this way. I was told as long as debts were being paid, everything will be fine. Now this is the gist of my problem. I have defaults and a CCJ, all but two are being addressed, the two I am in dispute with consist of:- One is a mobile phone where a DCA added an extra £300 to the balance, I have requested all paper work and everything associated with it but they will not give me this information. Secondly, a credit card to Vanquis Bank. The card had payment protection on it (or whatever version of payment protection they call it) and have refused to acknowlege it and have sent Moorcroft after me, I said to them that I would not pay anything to them when payments were supposed to be protected for 2 years. So the course finished, got glowing reports and going forward to next stage. However, the course manager phoned me today and the subject of the credit check came up. he said don't mention your defaults on the phone as they will turn you down flat. I said what the hell, I told you about my defaults and my situation, why on earth did you let me finish this course if I had no chance of the end result. Heres my quandary, should I just make the creditors I am in dispute with a token offer and hope for the best as this is not a guaranteed job offer, just an interview, or just totally forget about the interview and carry on being in dispute with those two creditors. And explain to the JC+ that my credit record prevented me. Otherwise I could be admitting to these debts and still have no job. So sorry for the long post. Has anyone out there on CAG been in the same position and can help me out? Many thanks jb000

Hi, I have been arrested while at work because my previous employer made an allegation to the police claiming I stole £ 8k from their safe. Taken to the police station interviewed and released on bail, I then been dismissed by my new employer (fair enough). I have now been informed by the police that no further actions will be taken because there are no evidences. Because of this, I have lost two months of earnings (I still could not find a new job), I am in arrears with my rent, and I have been under a lot of stress. Further more the arrest happened during trading hour in a busy department store, so it was witnessed by many people. Now that the case is closed, can I claim compensation for these damages to my previous employer who made the allegation? And if so, how much could I claim?

I have been working on a ad-hoc casual basis for my employer for the past 2 years, in the first few months the work was a few hours a month but for the past 17 months I have been working between 70 and 100 hours per month. The work became so regular that my employer no longer told me when to come in it was taken that I would turn up on the same days for the same hours each week with additional hours being agreed as and when required. 3 weeks ago my line manager suddenly announced that there was no work and not to turn up unless asked, so far they have not asked, therefore no work. However I have just found out that someone else, also employed on a casual ad-hoc basis, is now coming in to do the exact same work as I was doing. They are working less hours than I was but they have basically taken my job. It is obvious that my line manager was lying when she said there was no work, which I find quite sickening and would like some answers as to why but before I write to the HR department I would like to know if according to employment law I have a case to be deemed an employee & not a worker thus giving me more rights including being able to claim unfair dismissal? If it makes a difference to anything they hold my P45 and pay me monthly deducting PAYE etc. Any help would be appreciated

Hello, I am posting her on behalf of my mother she along with all other employee's have recently received a letter outlining details of a new Employment contract with reduced Sickness and Maternity benefits after the current benefit system has been abused by many of the employee's. They have sent a proposed contract out for all staff to review, on the Proposal it says if you don't agree with the proposal you may be dismissed from the old terms and given a new offer of employment under the new terms(in which case she would also loose all the extra holidays she has accrued working there for 5+ years). She's been employed with them for 5 years in which time she hasn't taken a single sick day or maternity leave can they legally do this or does she have some form of protection?

Evening all, I am sure I have seen this mentioned previously on the forum but not sure where. I am looking for further clarification that indeed employers have a inflated version of their own employee handbooks, which can be issued upon request? Ie more detailed version of their condensed version of the employee handbooks issued to staff. In addition to the above I am seeking to obtain the Company’s Data protection policy and procedures. Does this make sense? Regards BB

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012...sell-insurance

Hey everbody, Im stuck and I have no idea what to do. Basically back in 2009 I hired a van with a driver from a company (usual van hire company, locally based not a national company). Me and a friend bought a load of dental chairs that were on pallets, and basically we had to pick them up from a joinery shop, put them into the van and then offload them at a storage unit I had taken over. At the time of hiring the van I told the company the chairs were approximately 80kg, but I realised they were heavier when we got there (probably around 120kg each). But either way we did not have to physically lift them, we used pallet trucks to manouver them. The driver stayed in the van at all times, and only used a pallet truck to manouver the chairs and place them where he thought best in the back of the truck (he was obv trained and had done this sort of stuff on a daily basis). We got this all done within 2 days, and at no point did he ever say he was injured etc, he even came and picked some food that my mum had made for him. However, he is now claiming against the van company, that he injured himself during that trip. So the van company family members approached me (harassed really, as they kept turning up at my house and workplace) and said they would need a statement from me, and that I would not have to go to court etc, so me being naive helped with that and signed a statement they had made (not a statement of truth though). There insurance did not cover the driver to drive off the premises so if they lose they will have to pay out themselves. Then the van company's solictitor turned up at my work and said sign a statement of truth, I said thats fine, but just asked again that I would not have to go to court, and he said I may be compelled to! At which point I refused to sign the statement. He then left and I heard nothing from him. I then received a letter from the claimants solicitors asking me for my insurance etc I just didnt reply (stupidly) and then i received another letter saying I had to attend court as they were trying to have the judge add me a second defendant. I was like what have I got myself into! Court day was today, I went myself (cant afford a solicitor), I thought the judge would understand and know its utter bull that they can add a customer to a case where I was not the employer. The defendant had a barrister turn up, the judge asked him to say what he had to say. He spoke about why I should be added, mentioned that the van company may have to close so they may not get any money from them, but that they may get money from me (like I was some sort of guarantor even though im broke and have defaults on my name!). The judge listened to my side for like 2 mins, I told her how I was just a customer, and gave an example, something along the lines of this> Just say I was going to post something at the post office, I pay for the service and now lets just say the person handling the parcel hurts his/her back, how does that make me as a customer, liable? After I was done, she basically moved on and had already made her mind up to add me to the case! I was fuming, but obviously I kept calm because I was in the county court. The judge had made her mind up before I'd even got into the room! Now they started talking and she asked would 2 weeks be okay to get a defence together, I was going away for a week, so I said no so she has given me 3 weeks to submit a defence?! I asked her what I should do if I cant afford a solicitor, she said to represent myself! Now I have no idea what to do, my friend (who was with me the whole time of the actual delivery process) said he would happily be a witness for me. But what do I do now? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and now I know why my parents always told me never get involved with this sort of stuff, law is a dirty game. This has really really put me on a downer, really lost as to what I should do. Please help anyone. Thanks

I recieved a letter back in October 2011 stating I had been successful in my job application and interview, this letter also stated my starting wage would be £5.80 and that following a successful probationary period of 440 hours my pay would increase to £6 per hour. As NMW is £6.08 I rang up the employer to question this hourly rate and was told it should have stated £6.08, the letter just hadnt been updated following the increase in the NMW (£5.80 was NMW in 2009) I have now worked 1100 hours passing my probationary period months ago (approx feb/march 2012) still with no wage increase Last week I spoke to the lady in charge of wages & was told I will not see a wage increase as the original letter I recieved was "outdated" and I should not have received it. Apparently people in my role used to be paid above NMW but this has since changed. I am the ONLY person in my role (there are 5 others) on NMW and want to know if I have a leg to stand on taking this further? I know its "only 20p an hour" but I took a £1.50p/hr pay cut for this job. I am working 32-40 hrs per week & am a "mature student" in full time education studying for a degree along side. I need every penny I can get!!!

kwik fit payroll told me last week that i was owed 2 week pay as for some unkown reason i had not been paid for weeks 17 and 18 and i was also due some holiday pay and they would send me a letter explaining it all to me guess what no letter received so i tryed to contact payroll again only to be told that they do not owe me any more money no explaination given what a rip off kwik fit are a right rip off company

After working for a business for several years a friend of mine told me that i was required to be given payslips by my boss, this i was always unsure of so i questioned my boss as to why i never had payslips to which she stated that she didnt have too, i felt quite intimidated by my boss and even though I knew she was lying, I didn't want to question her back as she would make my life a living hell. After working under her for several years, i left a couple of months ago as the relationship with my boss could not go on any longer due to certain reasons. On leaving i decided to go self employed and around about the same time i found out i was pregnant. As a result i requested my payslips and P45 from my ex boss through a 3rd person as i couldnt get in touch with my boss. Several weeks later i was informed through this 3rd person that my payslips and P45 had been sent through to an ex boyfirends address, an address i hadn't lived at for nearly 3 years and my boss knew this as she used to pick me up from my home address. I am now in a situation and i dont know what to do as i require my payslips as part of my maternity pay. Any advice would be great.