Hi All, I need your advice really appreciated your comments.

I started work with this organisation 4 years ago as an account manager on a full time employement basis but it transpired after few months that they do not pay their VAT, TAX NI etc so I was advised by my colleague at work to do the same and become a self employed which I did.

From the moment I started with this place, I was constantly abuse and bullied by my manager and I reported it to the MD many many times but he did not do nothing about it. after a year, the boss himself join in the hostility & the unethical communication directed to me daily such as your clients cannot understand you because you cannot speak proper language, degrading commnets about my race etc. I was subjected to emotional abuce some of these were very subtle or blunt. I could not leave as I could not afford it as my wife was a full time student. Finally, I resigned a month ago and to top it up, they are still bullying me and they sent an email telling me that they will be taking me to court if I speak to any of my past clients etc. I have clients, colleagues that witnessed this bullying throughout the years and prepared to testify as witnesses.

sorry about the long story but I wanted to get some advice on how proceed as I know the MD and others in this organisation have a knack for bullying people.

thank you very much for reading

Gather evidence about them and then take them to the cleaners for racial abuse.

Initiate an employment tribunal claim for racial discrimination and unfair constructive dismissal. You have three months to do so.

Initiate an employment tribunal claim for racial discrimination and unfair constructive dismissal. You have three months to do so.

Hello there MOOD.

I think ETs are for employees, but I'm not clear what your employment status was when you left.

My best, HB

If you have become self employed then your ex-employer is your client, not your contractor. If you are the contractor then racial abuse cannot be dealt with by ET as honeybee says.

Let me says again that not everybody is cut out for self employment. It is a much tougher world than the more protected PAYE world. This obviously doesn't excuse verbal abuse.

There are rules that determine whether you were really self-employed or empliyed by this company. Did you work for anyone else at the time? Who supplied the tolls of the trade/office equipment? Who supplied the work/determined what was done by whom? Who paid you? If the answer is not you then you were employed by a bunch of tax dodgers, that is why they are scared of what you might say. You CAN take them to an employment tribunal and even if you were self-employed the boss of that company is responsible for the outpourings of his staff/himself as an entity so again, you can make a complaint of racial discrimination but speak to the Equalities Commission first as you have to follow protocols to lodge the complaint.

good luck.