A teacher who drove into an airport worker following a row over a new £3 drop-off charge has been spared jail after a judge said he agreed the levy was an "absolute disgrace". Graham Benbow, 55, flew into a rage at Manchester Airport when he was told he would have to pay a fee for dropping off a passenger at a departure terminal. An airport official tried to stop Benbow from driving his Mazda through an open barrier but ended up on the car's bonnet before he was carried along a road for several hundred yards, Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court heard. Benbow, a psychology teacher at Altrincham Grammar School, went over a roundabout before he stopped for police. The unnamed worker was uninjured in the incident but said he "genuinely believed he could die from falling off the bonnet." https://uk.news.yahoo.com/judge-calls-airport-apos-drop-172437507.html

My uncle has learning disabilities and has worked for a major supermarket for over 20 years. The company has now introduced minimum service levels and say he is not reaching these. One problem is getting cages out and the other is customer service. A mystery visitor gave a damning report of his interaction with my uncle who apparently blanked him. The manager says that he does know what to do but doesn't always do it. The company have offered my uncle a different job doing the trolleys but our family doesn't want him to take it. The company have also brought in an in work support advisor from a charity to help support him and given extra training. My question is can they change his hours and duties as they say he is not achieving these new criteria? There are not as many hours available to all staff as there were last year due to the supermarket not taking as much money as they did. Is it discrimination if they change his job? Thank you for any help.

Hi I own a small company with 3 employees only been running since April this year I had booked a holiday and 4 days before I went away one of my employees left without warning. I had no choice but to contact my local agency to employ a temp worker to cover the period I was away 10 days in all . It was quite a straightforward process with just a couple of forms to fill in and sign one of which was thier terms of business . All done over the telephone with the forms being emailed back etc . I queried the hourly rate whilst on the telephone as it wasn't written anywhere (I have never used an agency before ) and the administrator put me through to another lady whom I assume was the manager she told me that the hourly rate was £12.80 for a min of 8 hours a day and then after that it was time and a half. The ten days would include 2 saturdays and a bank holiday . The agency asked me to pay up front as apparently they take a line of credit to ensure that each worker is paid but thier credit company wouldn't lend agaginst my company as it had been newly formed . I thought this was a bit strange and said no I'm not prepared to pay upfront but would pay for the first three days after they had been completed and then the remaining 7 days a couple of days after they had been completed which they agreed to . Due to the nature of the work I insisted that I must have the same person for the duration of the contract which again they agreed to. The agency worker turned up as arranged and I went on holiday.... after the first three days I received an invoice from the agency as promised but to my horror they had charged the whole of sat as time and a half. I queried this by email as I was away and corresponded with the lady who had told me about the hourly rate. When I asked why the whole of sat was charged as overtime her written reponse was sorry I didn't mention it but this practice is common knowledge within the industry everybody pays sat and bank holidays as overtime otherwise they wouldn't get people to work.so I replied that she knew I was a new customer she knew I was having the worker over the weekend and bank holiday so why not mention in the telephone call that sat and bank holidays are classed as overtime ?? To which she apologised again for not telling me but she thought I was not new . Thier terms of business says hourly rate etc to be agreed in writing I have nothing from them in writing stating what the hourly rate would be just the verbal confirmation during the telephone call backed up by her email apologising for not telling me about the changes on sat and bank holiday . I'm away on holiday and am panicking that if I kick up about the invoice that she will pull the worker and leave me in the right brown stuff. So against my better judgement I pay it but send an email complaining I'm not happy .To which I get no response So 4 days later I get a phone call from the agency saying the original worker is leaving today but he is going to be replaced by another worker who will be doing the rest of the week (3 days remaining )....as you can imagine I kick off big time especially after I'd gone to all the effort of insisting that I needed the same worker for the 10'days apparently the worker had been contacted by another employer that he Temps for and wanted to go and work for them apparently the agency can't stop him from doing this which again I was not told about especially as I had lengthy conversations with the agency about this . So I eventually agree to having the replacement guy and then when I speak with the new guy on the telephone in the evening he tells me that he can only do the last two days as he has commitments on the last day which apparently the agency knew about !! That is the final straw so I have cancelled the work for the last day as don't want to use the agency again as too much grief . I will be getting the invoice for the last period of work soon so would like to know if I can deduct the rate increase that I paid originally whilst I was away from the new invoice ,and go down the line I wasn't told it's not written down anywhere etc and can I do anything about having to cancel the last working day and being mucked around etc with different staff etc this company are a joke and I will never use them again Any thoughts greatly appreciated !!

My partner has been working for the same employer for nearly a year but is an agency worker as a Forklift Operator. He is allowed annual leave but not sick pay. His role involves moving pallets of soft drinks and loading and unloading them. A few months ago he was asked to pick up a pallet but as it was not balanced properly due to the way it was originally placed he dropped it when trying to pick it up. It was reported to the Manager who asked him to complete an incident report and asked what happened during the incident, at no point was he informed that he has a warning or anything just a discussion about the accident. A few days later he was retested on the Reach forklift and was allowed to use the machine again. On Monday he was driving the Reach Forklift again and a trainee was also driving a forklift, the trainee was in front of him but did not honk his horn to let him know that he was coming, as he was meant to do, as my partner briefly turned around to check that no pallets fell, he hit his Reach forklift into the trainees but no damage was caused. He was taken off the Reach and asked to complete an incident record again and placed on another machine. On Tuesday he was called into the office to discuss the incident, he was then informed that he has a Final Written Warning. My partner informed them that he didn't know that he even had a first warning and was told that the first incident was placed on his record but he was never informed of this. I am sure that this is not the correct way to do these meetings. Please could someone advise and does he have any rights?

got a friend popped around says he thinks hes being short changed has asked several times about his holiday pay rate and is being stone walled or constantly fobbed off. can someone please check his workings attached and point me to a suitable letter to give them a good poke to sort it please.. not my bag this. dx

Hi there I am a Support Worker employed by a city council. I support someone with a very mild learning difficulty, but they are totally independent. They are able to cook, clean, self-travel, etc. by themselves, and our team is present 24 hours a day to ensure the service user does not make unsafe decisions about relationships, or get in trouble with the police for anti-social behaviour. They live in reasonably small, modern 2 bedroom flat on the 4th floor. The single bedroom is designated as the staff sleepover room. The flat is owned by a housing association, which the city council then rents. Therefore, the service user is not directly the tenant. We do not have guardianship of the service user. My question: The service user is a smoker of around 110 to 20 cigarettes/day. They choose to smoke inside their bedroom - sometimes with an open window but often fully closed up, particularly at this time of the year. If they are smoking in their bedroom, the smoke can be smelled by staff in the sleepover room - even with an open window. We have been told we have the right to leave their flat for 1 hour if the service user starts smoking. Upon re-entering after 1 hour, the smell of smoke is still noticeable. I understand 2nd hand/passive smoking is dangerous as its unfiltered, can linger in the air for many hours and the dangerous stuff is invisible. As I am working 12+ hour shifts each day in this environment, what rights do I have as a non-smoker? Should I join a union? Many thanks

Hello I'm writing this request for information on behalf of a dear close friend of mine who is disabled. I would be grateful if anyone could give me any information on the following. I would like to ask. Is it possible, and within your rights to change your Social Worker if you feel that they do not represent your best interests? Taking into account my friend is bedridden. My friend has only had contact with the Social Worker once in the last 8 months. My friend has been in touch with the local social services and explained the reasons, but they seem reluctant to help in anyway. Can someone please advise to what can been done, if the local social services won't help? Thank you

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12017438/City-worker-charged-3700-for-parking-in-central-London-for-six-hours.html I would hope he received more than just a refund.

I'm currently working for an employment agency, as a Class 2 (Cat C) driver. I've been on an ongoing placement for the last 8 weeks, and a couple of weeks ago requested a day off, thinking that I'd accrued at least a day's holiday by then. When I asked if I was going to be paid for my day off, I was told if you're not working, you're not not earning, so no holiday pay, I am PAYE not self employed or paid via an umbrella company. Having discussed this with a colleague who also works for the same agency, (he is on the same placement as me, but has been there 11 weeks) it turns out this seems to be common practice with this agency, which I understand to be illegal. Having pondered this for a few days, I rang another branch of the agency, and posed the question of holiday pay, to which the chap who answered the phone became very defensive and refused to discuss it with me. I hadn't disclosed to him who I was, or what branch I work for, but he wanted to know who I was, why I needed to know and refused to discuss 'sensitive company policy' with me, then put the phone down. My colleague has spoken to the CAB, and has drafted a letter to the agency, so here comes the question.... Can someone tell me how I find out who the directors are of the company, so we can bring them into the equation, as we both feel we won't get anywhere if we just send the letter in to the branch we work for. The company name is Reliance Employment, just in case anyone might already have, or know the information we're after. Thanks in advance, KregRS

Hi there. I have been in my new job as a support worker for a well known, national care company since May of this year. I support people with physical and learning disabilities. My job requires me to occasionally take "sleep-in" night shifts. The sleep-in shift begins at 22:00 and ends at 07:00, but most employees then do another full or half day shift. For a sleep-in, the employee is provided with a single bedroom (which is incredibly dirty and untidy with mess/equipment everywhere I might add!) with no entertainment facilities, e.g. a TV. For the duration of the sleep-in night shift, the employee is forbidden to leave the building and must be physically present, on site, at all times in case of an emergency requiring them to wake up and lend a hand to the waking night staff. The employee must clock in at the start of the sleep-in shift, as they would on any other type of shift, and of course clock out. For this 9 hour shift, the payment is only a single £35.00 amount, but if the employer is called upon during the night and woken up, they are paid their standard rate of pay for each hour they are awake (which is £6.64/hour for me). In reality, 99.99% of the time, the sleep-in staff are never woken up. The only part of my employment contract which specifically mentions sleep-in shifts, is the "Pay" section, which states "Your rate of pay for each sleep-in worked is £35.00. This payment is for 'on-call' services only." This equates to £3.88 per hour, for a 9 hour sleep-in night shift. Subscription to Unison is an unmanageable expense at the moment, given the cost of living and my current wages, so what is the most effective way to deal with securing the minimum wage (at least!) for sleep-in shifts. Any advice is very welcome. Thanks for reading.

For many years I was a serving probation officer. When i retired i applied to work at a probation hostel. I was taken on in 2013 and worked between 4-8 shifts a month. Suddenly i am told in April 2014 there have been incidents (never explained) and my services were no longer needed. No explanation at all for my termination. Can they do this?

Hi all, I have been on a temporary contract with my current employer since June 2013. The contract is to expire in December. The employer changed the way we provide the service which involved creating new teams, change of responsibilities and teams for all employees. All permanent employers were offered an opportunity to express 2 preferences which team they want to go. Every staff group (admins, support workers, managers etc) were asked to express their preferences in turn. Temporary workers were not offered the same opportunity. Instead, we were offered internal interviews (if successful, to be upgraded to permanent posts) and then allocated to vacant posts. I expressed my preference during the interview, but was told in feedback that there were no vacancies in this team (which I know is not true as someone is leaving in November) and, subsequently, I was offered a job, which I would never consider applying for if I had a choice. I was very surprised with this choice as there were emails exchanged and discussions on a senior level that I could (not would, though) be allocated to a team of my preference. The job I'm doing now is making me stressed to the point that I had to take two days off. I am meeting a senior manager tomorrow for an informal discussion to talk about who, why, and how it was decided that I would be allocated this vacancy. I am going to tell them that it is making me stressed to the point that I cried first two days at work and I am considering handing in my notice/not signing a new contract after my temporary one :???:expires. My question is - under the 12 week rule, shouldn't the temporary workers be offered equal treatment and therefore the same preference exercise? We were not agency workers, but working for the same employer, but on temporary contracts. Legally, have I got any leg to stand on?

I used to work on a full time basis for a firm for 3 years - from early 2010 to end 2012 and was termed a self employed contractor under a so called contract for services ( although i never actually received a written contract !). In reality i have now learnt that i was in fact not a truly self employed contractor, but should in fact have been designated as being "self employed for the purposes of tax and NI " ... Aka empoyment status as a "worker". Consequently, under the working time regs etc i should have been paid 5.6 weeks statutory holiday pay per year . Further, i did not earn the NMW and had to shell out £7k per year for direct work related expenses which have never been paid. All this happened prior to my contract (or implied contract ) being terminated in late 2012. It's too late to go to the employment tribunal, but can i pursue a claim in the county court ? Re expenses - the major proportion relates to unpaid car expenses ; i believe i am entitled to 45 pence for first 10000 miles travelled per year and 25 pence per mile thereafter. As expenses are not wages then i understand i could never have claimed compensation for such losses via the Emp't Tribunal in any event. Re unpaid statutory holiday pay ; this amounts to approx £2k per year and over 3 years that would equate to say £6k Any feedback would be appreciated.

Hi,,,quick question (s) ;-) I started an agricultural job a couple of months ago (nothing special and only expected to last few more weeks) and was told the hours would be 20-30 per week (mon to fri). I don't really know from one day to the next what time I'll be finishing work that day because the boss makes it up as he goes along due to business demands. Not including overtime at weekend, i'm averaging about 37 hours during the week. Does this make me a 'flexible worker'? I work mostly unsupervised so that means I'm a 'grade 2'. If I'm a 'flexible', that also mean i'm being paid under the nat.min (agriculture) for that grade by 31p per hour. Also, if my contract (only verbal) was 20-30 hours ,,anything I do over 30 hours is overtime - right? (min rate is 10.44/hr) From talking with a couple of people who have worked where I am for the past 10 yrs, I know my employer is going to try and avoid paying holiday entitlement when this 'temp' job comes to an end. I will give him the chance to 'do whats right', but I have every intention of going to a tribunal if he is paying under the minimum wage and refuses to make it up - and if o/t begins at over 30 hours for me, thats another 28 hours pay i'm owed. I've used the govt. on line calculator to work out my holiday entitlement and as i work irregular/casual hours, and based on total hours worked, there's 44 hours (+51 mins ) holiday pay due. I'm really going to spoil his day when all this comes up. I printed loads of info off the government site for a worker that's been there 10yrs+. Unfortunately, it ruined his afternoon because he can't believe how badly this guy has been 'illegally' employing him for the past decade. example: works 40 hour week, only given 20 days holiday (should be 29) and then only paid at 30 hours per week. Also paid under minimum wage for grade, no contract or any other written statement of employment particulars (i've not got one either), and never had a payslip!

read more: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/civil-servant-david-kelly-allegedly-5764484

Trying to keep this brief and have read a bit on it but still not sure. I started work at the local council as an agency worker beginning of July - the council requested Level 3 (agency pays £8 an hour for this) and as the work wasn't too high level thought it okayish - not great but a job - no one else did this role and it was to help out for 12 weeks. After 3 weeks I was offered a kind of promotion being in charge of Admin for the department and a chance that this will last more than 12 weeks - it's still Level 3 no hassles with that. What I am concerned about is that from my reading on the council jobsite is that Level 3 wages are 15875 up to I think 18500 - as my £8 an hour rate works out less than that, could I potentially ask for in 6 weeks the same rate from my agency that the council would pay a directly employed worker? The agency did witter on a bit that I would get the same holiday rights after 12 weeks but no mention was made of comparable pay. I'm lucky my boss at the council is quite cool - I mentioned something about this to her this week and she said she would show me what the agency were charging me out for and I know she wants me to stay - so maybe I can put something together that I would be better on their books than on the agencies cost wise for the length of the contract. If this doesn't happen - would just like to know if anyone knows where I stand after 12 weeks re what my wages should be. Thanks in advance:roll: Clare

Ok, i'll cut a long story short. Worked for a company for a year, never got paid holidays, was paid under the CIS scheme. Had a pre-hearing last month, and the ET judge ruled "worker" status, and as such indicated i was entitled for 3 months worth of holiday pay. Full hearing date now set - I'm wondering if there can be any loss of rights compensation for a person with worker status ? Thanks in advance !

Hi all, A month ago I was suspended on full pay following allegations made against me that I had consumed alcohol in a service user house and that I had asked to borrow money (none of which are true, and still neither have been proven) I have vigorously denied the allegations made against me, the two individuals who made the original comments are heavy alcoholics and often mistake their facts. I had to represent myself at my disciplinary hearing because my payment to my union (GMB) had bounced and they told me that this had rendered my membership void. I had not had the opportunity to review the notes prior to my disciplinary hearing but was presented with documentation, minutes and interview notes to review prior to the hearing. The hearing lasted for an hour and I was asked to explain the foundation of the allegations, which I did, and I had proof that none of them were true. Upon further investigation prior to my disciplinary hearing, one service user withdrew the allegations against me. Upon my return home I had chance to review the pre-disciplinary minutes my employers had sent me. They had omitted the original incident reports from the notes I had been given at the meeting, one of the allegations was reported at the beginning of March but my employers had not acted on it because the manager who received the original report had left the company, so I worked on site for a month before the allegations were investigated. Today I received a voicemail from my company's regional manager informing me that I have been dismissed for gross misconduct. I feel like I have been totally stiched up. I am stunned, and maintain my innocence. Will this show up on my CRB? I have a lot of questions to ask my employers but I don't really want to contact them without sufficient representation first. Any assistance regarding this matter would be greatly appreciated.

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

the carer of a client has made a complaint against me via a third party. i have not been suspended. if it does not become a formal complaint what are the potential outcomes? is a verbal warning a possible outcome and willi t affect my registration?.

Hello everyone, I will try and keep this fairly brief, I would be interested to hear people constructive views on these issues I have had at work, some are actually things that I was totally unaware of that came back to stab me in the back six months later as no one had pointed it out at the time! I have worked in Local Govt (LG) for 25 years, after 21 years we had a restructure, as lots of places do, this was the first one they had ever had. My team was being totally abolished but we applied for jobs as the waives came in, we all were successful, 2 people left as they were almost at retirement age so it all worked out ok. I however, happy in my new job, skills were correctly matched etc, then after 2 years redundancy came, 2 people in my team went voluntarily which made me and my other colleague safe. Then after another year our section were told we were merging with another department, a very operational department and not in the Town Hall Building, it was half a mile down the road, this is ok. We moved and I was put into a team of people where the job for me was not a job match, but hey, I adapted and was ok. Sadly I had a death in my family of a very close person, I dealt with that on my own with no help from anyone, work became awful, I hated the job, I felt i was being singled out, people were definitely different with me. I was also at risk of redundancy for over a year, however when I asked for redundancy my Head of Service said no. I was off with stress, the doctor took one look at me and knew, I couldnt even hold a cup straight, in total I was signed off twice, 2 lots of 4 weeks. I went back and people were ok with me, things started getting better, then we had wind of another change so I asked if redundancy could be an option for me but I was told no. My service head then spoke to me offering me this agreement where he would offer 3 months salary, I said i couldnt possibly leave on that but why did he want me to leave. His response was they knew I had applied for internal jobs so assumed that I was unhappy, he even tried to say I had made mistakes, i asked him to tell me what they were and they were petty things that people do every day and I have seen far worse errors that other colleagues have made that I have put right for them but stupidly I didnt tell him that. My other boss then said they could probably stretch to more than 3 months if I wanted to go but said they were not trying to push me out. I said if i did, the most i could possibly afford would be 9 - 10 months given the state of the job situation outside and the fact I have a mortgage and a huge loan. They came back to me with the offer of 10k which is nice and I was very thankful but I had to turn it down as during that time I had a new contract which meant I was at last not at risk. I let my brain do the talking and not my heart and I am now staying. However since getting our contracts, the few people in my team seem a lot more relaxed and i feel different too and would like to give it a go. The sad thing is I have been given this reputation of not putting my best into my work because of applying for internal jobs and being off sick, which I reiterate has been certified. Also I had a written warning for being off sick, even though my Doctor signed me off and they have included the stress and anxiety caused by work in this category of amounts of time off sick within 12 months. My service head also took a duty off me which was a health and safety coordinator role so I now have no chance of promotion, his reasons were because he felt I couldnt perform in my new contact centre role (which is something I would never apply to do, I was put into it), I also bumped into someone from our HR section and she was horrified that the last 2 jobs I applied for I had had no feedback as to why they didnt interview me. While I was in the meeting with my service head and managter about this compromised agreement thing, my service head asked how many interviews I had had for all the jobs I applied for, I said all of them except the last two and he said it was because I was seen to be applying for many jobs in a desperate attempt to get out of this department I was in. This is to a degree true, yes I did and still would like to get back into the Town Hall and not be stuck in an operational unit with people and culture different from me, I am used to getting dressed up for work, not swearing and laughing out loud and people not taking in what I am trying to explain. When I was in the town hall, people would let you explain without joking around and they take their work more seriously. Where I am at the moment, they make out they are messing around all the time yet then stab you in the back for supposedly making errors. By the way, I never was told what these errors were. Sorry this is long, if you havent fallen asleep yet I would be interested in hearing what people make of this. The compliments I get are from members of the public who call in and ask for me or thank me for what i have done but I only hear that if I speak to them, if it goes to a colleague, I dont hear about it neither does management. If someone calls in and praises our refuse collectors, I make sure they and the manager know! D x