my friend who works as a security guard

[godpikachu]

ok, my friend who works as a security guard hs had an interesting letter from his employers this morning.

 

in the letter, they state that as of the beginning of the new tax year, his wages will no longer be paid in GBP, but in Euros.

 

The company he works for is a UK based company, and provides security officers for various needs, his wages are usually paid by BACS, but wont he have to pay some sort of exchange charge for converting it from Euros to £££?, and, is his employer allowed to do this?.

 

on a side note, he has been wanting to change companies for quite some time, as for the past 3 months they havnt paid him what he is owed, currently he is awaiting to hear back from the regarding £850 (so far) in unpaid wages.

[BankFodder]

Which compnay is this please? Where does he work?

[flyingdoc]

Personally I would welcome that - the pound is in freefall against the euro at the moment so if he gets paid in euro's his wages will probably be worth more.

[BankFodder]

The Euro will be on its way down very soon.

[godpikachu]

Which compnay is this please? Where does he work?

 

im not at liberty to say unfortneatley, hes asked me to keep it secret because he doesnt want his employers start having a go at him.

 

i can say though is that he is currently assigned to work at a car depot for BMW.

 

the main thing he is worried about is that somehow they will use the £ to Euro conversion to furthur fiddle him, like i said he is currently owed about £850 in back wages which they havent paid him, or given a reason for not paying him, it has simply been missing from his payslips for the past 4 months.

 

Also, in the letter that they have sent him, it does not state the reason why they are planning to pay wages in euros.

[BankFodder]

They cannot legally insist on paying wages in Euros.

 

Would you like to email me the name of the company through our admin address

admin @ consumeractiongroup.co.uk - no spaces of course.

 

I know someone who migh tbe interested in this

[BankFodder]

Do you mean BMW in UK?

[godpikachu]

well, it is a storage yard which stores BMW cars, as well as some other makes of cars which are part of the BMW group.

he doesnt work for BMW directly, he works for a security company which BMW pay to provide security at their depots.

 

I dont know the name of the security company he works for to be honest, i know it is a UK based company that has contracts for a few places (because hes mentioned several different places where they have assigned him to).

 

As he is not wanting to cause trouble, he doesnt want me to disclose any more information, he just wanted to know if they were allowed to pay him in euros instead of £.

As i said he is activley looking for another job as there are a few things that have ticked him off about this company (working conditions, days off, wages etc), but he doesnt want them finding out about it.

 

i have passed on your email addy to him and he says he will have a think about it before contacting you, because he is thinking about writing a letter to them to discuss his greivances and he just wants to know if theres any specific legal stuff that says that they cant pay him in euros.

[Conniff]

If they pay hime 850 euros instead of 850 pounds then he is being ripped off.

£850 = €923

[godpikachu]

If they pay hime 850 euros instead of 850 pounds then he is being ripped off.

£850 = €923

 

 

yeah, this is what he is worried about.

[BankFodder]

well, it is a storage yard which stores BMW cars, as well as some other makes of cars which are part of the BMW group.

he doesnt work for BMW directly, he works for a security company which BMW pay to provide security at their depots.

 

I dont know the name of the security company he works for to be honest, i know it is a UK based company that has contracts for a few places (because hes mentioned several different places where they have assigned him to).

 

As he is not wanting to cause trouble, he doesnt want me to disclose any more information, he just wanted to know if they were allowed to pay him in euros instead of £.

As i said he is activley looking for another job as there are a few things that have ticked him off about this company (working conditions, days off, wages etc), but he doesnt want them finding out about it.

 

i have passed on your email addy to him and he says he will have a think about it before contacting you, because he is thinking about writing a letter to them to discuss his greivances and he just wants to know if theres any specific legal stuff that says that they cant pay him in euros.

If he writes them a letter, then his card is marked.

 

If they offer hinm a good deal then of course he should accept the Euros. If it is a poor deal then he can refuse.

A dismissal in these circs. would be unfair

[godpikachu]

yeah, ive said to him he needs to be careful about writing the letter, especially so as he was recently implicated in the theft of two vehicles from the site.

he was subsequently vindicated in the matter, as it turned out that the theft was in fact an inside job by some of the BMW employees, but he still had to attend a disciplinary hearing and give a statment to the police, ll of which went on his record.

 

the matter with them not paying him properly has proper ticked him off, but he knows he has to find something else before he moves on, as he has a family and house to think about.

[godpikachu]

hey folks, this is on behalf of my security guard friend who has learned today from one of his collegues that he is facing the sack for harassment.

 

My friend is currently off work on the sick because he has a problem with his knee, which his doctor says may need surgery. This injury is not work related so he isnt planning on doing a claim or anything.

 

His collegue informed him this afternoon that apparently he is facing the sack due to an incident which occured about 6 weeks ago.

 

Basically, one of the duties the security guards have is to do random stop and searches of people leaving the depot, he says that when it was mentioned about doing some on this particular day, one of his co workers made a joke about doing strip searches, which they had bit of a laugh about.

 

Apparently this has caused someone to make a complaint about harassment.

 

My friend started work there in june of 2008, and has never recieved any warnings, verbal or written.

He has never signed a contract with this firm (even though he has requested one several times), and has never been given a copy of the staff handbook or had any disciplinary proceedure explained to him.

 

Although he does not have 12 months service, is there anything he can do, seeing as how he has never been given a contract despite requesting it.

[MARTIN3030]

Thread title ammended.

[godpikachu]

*shameless bump*

 

 

anyone?

[godpikachu]

Hmm, so, with todays revelation that some of the UKs biggest construction firms have been maintaining and operating an illegal database of construction workers, and using it to blacklist potential employees by catagorising them according to trade union activity, political affiliation, employment history and tribunal use, it begs the question of how deep this actually goes.

 

ITNs evening news had a short piece on about this, and they stated that it is known that employment agencies use sites such as facebook, bebo, myspace etc to search for people and check up on them before shortlisting them for vacancies.

 

I for one cannot say im surprised that this sort of thing is going off, but i really do wonder just how deep this runs, and wether it is limited to the construction industry, because it would certainly explain a few things.

[pippadeee]

Before the likes of Facebook took off they used to check people out via Friends Reunited so nothing new there, and by far the principal reason I would never ever join Facebook or any site like that where I may be searchable and identifiable.

 

Even if you say nothing or do nothing contentious on the site it can cause people problems as an employee when their employer has spied on their login/online activities and found them online there when they're actually off on the sick. Well enough to use the internet = well enough to be at work - seems to be many a warped employers view, laughable as that is.

 

As for the construction industry it happens in plenty of other industries too. I work in a terribly incestuous industry - everybody knows somebody at a rival firm. That can work in your favour but equally it just takes one chinese whisper or malicious remark to skupper many an applicant's chances of securing a job elsewhere. I've been told in interviews for jobs with rival firms about fellow team colleagues they'd interviewed the week before me, and many a time been asked if I knew x or what I thought of Y and all it takes is one hint of negativity to stop that person getting even to a first interview stage.

 

Confidentiality - whats that these days. And its a disgrace.

[godpikachu]

:mad::mad::mad::mad:

 

I started a new job last monday, not a particularly good one but a job nontheless, however, i got home half an hour ago after being sacked this morning.

 

Basically, i filled in my signing off card (the card in the back of my dole book) and handed it in at the dole office last monday morning (i dont start work till 9:30am), fast forward to thursday (my signing day), and while i am at work i get a phone call from the dole office asking me why i havent attended to sign on.

 

I explain to them that I had started work and that the signing off card had been filled in and returned to my signing office, they asked me where i was working and i told them, and then they said that they would "make a note" of it.

 

Zoom forward this morning, and while i am at work i get asked by one of the managers for a word.

we went into an office and the manager tells me that they have been contacted by the dole office saying that they believe me to be committing benefit fraud by working and signing on, i of course told her that as far as i was concerned i had signed off and that any problems are purely down to the dole offices inefficient internal systems.

The manager said she would have a think about it and told me to go back to work, however 10 minutes later she came and fetched me, accompanied by a security guard and said that after consulting with their contact at the dole office it had been decided that i was committing benefit fraud and that my employment was to be immediatley terminated as the company would not be party to an illegal act. I was then escorted off the premises.

 

I went in to the dole office and demanded to speak to someone senior, and after a short wait i spoke to one of the advisors and after explaining the situation and the advisor making a phone call, they stated that my signing off card had been found and was being processed.

I asked them to call my former employer to explain that it was their mistake and that there was no benefit fraud, but they refused, however they did state that my reapplication for JSA would be fast tracked immediatley.

 

Basically, due to the dole office not being able to find their backsides with both hands i have just been sacked from a job which has taken me nearly 5 months to find....is there any recourse whatsoever i can pursue here?, as this is just pathetic and wrong.

 

 

:mad:

[citizenkain]

well,for a start I personally think thats terrible,Im sure there will be someone in the know along soon to offer you some good advice,but the dole office need a good boot for a start!!!

[godpikachu]

well, i just rang my former employer and tried to sort it out but they have refused to discuss the matter, and they hve said that if i attempt to come back on to the premises they will have me charged with trespassing.

 

its times like this when alcoholism seems attractive.

[thekat1979]

That is utterly disgusting - I hope you manage to sort this out.

[Surfer01]

I wonder if you could sue the Jobcentre for loss of earnings. Probably be a first!

[yourbank]

Can the company be fined or have any penalty imposed on them if YOU the individual commits benefit fraud. Furthermore, they have sacked you based on hearsay so would that not be slander. To effectively accuse you of a crime you had neither been charged with or had been even questioned about?

[sam614]

discusting.

ever likely they say that they will fast track,what do they expect you to put in the "reason you left your employment":rolleyes:

 

SAM

[Guest wino]

I am shocked at the way the 'dole' has treated this matter. Surely they should of had a thougher investigation before informing your employers of any wrong doing on your part. (If they have any right to inform them at all!)

 

I would certainly put in a complaint at the highest level and insist that they inform your employers of their mistake. Hopefully ,fingers crossed, your employer will take you back on. Good luck