Thanks for the reply Emmzzi, I agree it is a poor match but feel the company should have reacted in a more responsible manner. The outlay of the job was not clear from word go, meaning I was constantly having to change the process of the way I worked. Throughout this I was highly scrutinised leaving me with stress. I've returned only 1 week ago and they are trying to force me out due to an issue which happened (and was dealt with) almost 4 months ago. It seems a tremendous lack of compassion from them. I had hoped given my ill health that their rash behaviour would be easy enough to appeal against?

Hi All, I have a work-related dilemma which as escalated over the last few months. I apologise in advance as this is a little long-winded, but please bare with me because there’s alot to tell. I work in a Sales role in the Food Service. My role is different to my colleagues as I'm the only one in a mobile position. This means I cover for maternity, sickness and vacant grounds. I live out of hotels 5 nights per week, Travelling down on a Sunday night and returning late on a Friday. Despite my contract stating working hours of Mon-Fri 9am-5pm they use the argument that they informed me of this at the interview stage, which they did however I did hope for some gratitude back for giving up my Sundays to travel down to a hotel for work. In addition to this, I carry a mobile fridge in and out of my hotel room and into my car twice a day. I submit working expenses twice per week. Also, my role involves sampling foods with Chefs and due to the fact I live in hotels during the week, it makes things quite difficult for me. I either have to rely on a Hotel chef or force my way into the kitchen with a client whom I have not known very long. Everyone else can make their samples from home and bring to work with them on a daily basis. I will be honest; I have found that this extra bit of work is like a job on top of my job, with the added fact I am away from home midweek. I don't get a full weekend which has often left me feeling drained. I have also found my manager to be the Jekyll and Hyde type; she can be supportive in some ways but extremely unsupportive in other ways. For example; when I first raised concern of carrying a heavy printer in and out of my room twice a week her response was ‘well its only twice a week’. Towards the end of last year, I’m ashamed to say, my performance slipped and I made a few mistakes which resulted in poor performance and failure to adhere to a particular health and safety procedure. I had a meeting with my manager where she brought forward these concerns and chastised me for my mistakes. The meeting was mainly negative with no signs of positive words to raise my morale. I was already devastated by my mistakes and felt that some words of motivation could have been given out to raise my mood. Unfortunately this didn’t happen and the day ended with me feeling very down and depressed. Throughout my job I receive a good amount of scrutiny from my manager and I feel this adds to the pressure of the job. Recently, due to fatigue, poor concentration and sleep problems, I have been off work with ‘Stress Related Problems’ and signed off by my doctor. I have been put on anti-depressants and had been off work for 7 weeks. On my return I sat down and discussed my issues with my manager including lack of support, empathy and tactfulness. She seemed to accept her part and also pointed out ways that I can adapt to work better with her, which I accepted too. However, on the ‘Return to Work’ form she sent me, she includes my areas that I need to improve on, but not hers. Shouldn’t she be including this? Finally, she asked me to stay home today as I’d be receiving a letter from HR regarding a formal meeting at Head Office. I have just received this letter and have noticed that the meeting is NOT to discuss my health, but to discuss my Poor Performance, Health and Safety breach and also Failure to follow my managers instructions. They state that the meeting will give me chance to present any information to support my case before a ‘Decision is Made’. Correct me if I’m jumping to conclusions here but this seems like an attempt to force me out of the company. It happened to my ex-colleague a few months ago and they invited him to a similar hearing, ignored his view and dismissed him from his role with the company. I’ve been here only 6months and feel distressed that they are taking this approach with me considering my recent health issues. It also is somewhat of a coincidence that they are now finding the time to bring up issues that have happened over 3 months ago. I’m considering handing in my notice and appealing for what would be Constructive Dismissal in Mitigating Circumstance. But would appreciate any help and/or advice you can give me to support my attempt to take this to tribunal. I’m unsure whether I have a Union rep nor do I know how to find out. Again, your help (as always) would be much appreciated. Thanks!!!

Do I fill in a SSP and send it to my employers?

Thanks for your help, much appreciated! The SSP is a lot less than my normal weekly wage but I kind of expected that. I'll check in my benefits/insurance details and see if there's anything in there that covers me. How do I claim he SSP?

Sorry if I seem a little slow here- but is company sick pay different to SSP?

Sure, please see attached (thought this would be better than writing out word for word) [ATTACH=CONFIG]48009[/ATTACH]

It's written in my contract though

Honeybee - yes they have something written in the contract that says they don't pay anything wages or SSP if you've not physically worked for full six months or more. :/

Not yet. I'm a little apprehensive after discussing another issue with her a week ago, she reacted quite defensively. She has referred my case to the company nurse whom she says will work with me regarding adjustments. Given my managers stance on my situation when I briefly approached it a few weeks back, I fear that she will refuse to allow me any flexibility in start/finish times.

Hi all, I am having some work-related problems in regards to illness and urgently need some advice/help. I have worked in my new job for 5months and this involves driving 150+miles from Yorkshire to North London every Sunday, working down there during the week and not setting off home until late Friday afternoon. I accepted the job as I needed a new job and was of the belief that the company would show courtesy towards me by relaxing my hours considering the large amount of travel I do. I am contracted mon-fri 9am-5pm (with the willingness to work outside these hours occasionally should the company require) however I clearly am working outside of these hours every week. I've made my manager aware that I'm struggling with not getting a full weekend in a subtle manner, however I've avoided talking about my contracted times to avoid confrontation. Recently I've started to be (in my own opinion) scrutinised for things I have done incorrectly. Although I am not by any means blameless, these errors were made due to struggling with my role. Working away from home in my particular role, means that's the daily requires tasks are not as simple to carry out. I'm the only one in this job that is required to stay away during the week. During the tough times and having to live in a hotel miles away from home, I've become aware of my health beginning to deteriorate. I am suffering from; - poor concentration levels - heavy fatigue - bouts of depression - heavy breathing (when discussing work) After visiting the Doctor I've been diagnosed as having Stress. Please allow me to point out just for clarification; I'm not one to take advantage of any opportunity to use sickness as an excuse for time off, nor am I doing so on this occasion. In fact, I've felt like this for quite a few weeks and have avoided seeing a Doctor or taking sick leave. This is something I'm very particular about. This weekend my family told me that they were concerned and they want me to go to the Doctor. Being at the end of my tether with feeling like garbage, I went to the Doctors and was issued with a sick not authorising me with two weeks off of work. In a conversation with my manager I was made aware that I am not eligible for Staturory Sick Pay as I've not worked a full 6 months yet. (I've checked my contract - this is correct). This is a big concern for me as I can't afford to miss out on my wages, however if I go back to work I'm in risk of further damaging my health or (in my Doctors words) a meltdown. I'm currently stuck between a rock and a hard place. I'm now feeling like garbage again because I'm worrying about money. I'm also concerned that if I am eligible for benefits, they are likely to be a tiny percentage of my current wage and not enough to cover my outgoings. Any help or assistance you can offer me would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the responses. To make things even more interesting, my wife hasnt been paid or been reimburst for her train ticket. Surely this breach of the contract she has with her company?

Hi All, My wife has a bit of situation with her employers (soon to be ex) and we would be grateful for any help you could give us. I'll try keep this from being too long-winded as possible, so:-( please bare with me. She is works in sales and reguarly hits her targets and is one of the few employees with the highest figures of business brought in. She has recently felt frustrated after trying to sell in a product which was part of her target, only to be informed that the product could not be supplied by the company as it was not available. Given that this was a company issues, she contacted the manager to verify the situation, only to be told that this would not be a valid excuse for failing to bring in the requested target. We find this strange as she couldn't possibly sell something to a client when the company had no supply of this product to deliver. This however is just the start. Due to frustrations; she was offered a job elsewhere with better prospects. She handed her notice in the next day and told her employer that she would compile an adequate handover to make things easier. My wife did all she could to ease the burden her resignation may leave, only to find out that the next day a senior manager had told another colleague that she 'hadn't been on territory'. These allegations were clearly rubbish as the colleague he told this to even backed up that my wife has brought in the highest figures and call volume. There is also a tracker on her car to prove she has been on her call area/ground. Given this; could she have a case against them for slander? Finally; she was told that she must return her car back to HQ in Cardiff. Given we are based in the North East, Cardiff is quite some distance to drive there and back in the space of one day. Howver; given that her contract requested she returned all company belongings, she met this request on the guarantee that there would be cash waiting for her at the company HQ which would pay for her ticket back home. We made sure that this would be possible as we had no intentions on putting it through expenses given she is due to leave at the end of the week. Unfortunately, she arrived there today to find NO cash waiting for her and therefore we had to pay this from our account. I'm annoyed by the way company is acting as it has left my wife very upset and distressed. As always, if you could provide us with any information as to whether we can take any form action against the company it'd be greatly appreciated. Kind Regards,

Sorry but the link doesn't work

Thanks. I'm looking to use the fact that they didn't turn up to the small claims court and the large (so-called) 'good-will gesture' in my favour

It's a debit card claim against Lloyds TSB. To cut a long story short; I had a £100 over draft and they lumped charges on my account up to £2,500. 1)I took them to court and they didn't turn up 2)they offered settlement of£1,700 but I rejected. However they paid it anyway 3)due to my lack of knowledge in claims, the court claim expired and closed automatically. Now LloydsTSB have added all the interest on again. They say that the £1,700 was a good will gesture, but given the sheer volume, I think its a lot more than 'good-will'.