Hi everybody.

I'm a new user to [edited] but after plenty of mistreatment and unfair bosses surrounding me in the past I decided to join up. In he past I have spoken about issues in previous jobs to Acas but to no avail.

I now have issues in my current job. The issues are varied, most directly affect me but one doesn't.

To begin, I shall introduce the setting. I am currently away for 8 weeks (currently in week 3) in Norway for my job (I'm a stocktaker). There are 5 teams of 10 people out here - my current team has 9 people from one district (that all work together back home) plus me.

I have complaints concerning bullying/potential harassment (not against me), Favouritism/potential discrimination (against me), dangerous/illegal driving (we have company drivers to take us to jobs) and changing hours worked.

I have raised these concerns in a complaint email to my district manager. He in turn, forwarded that to the other 9 people's district manager and the person in charge of us out in Norway. Since Then, I have been called by my DM asking "if you're uncomfortable out there we can look at bringing you back" - I responded and told him I wasn't and won't be uncomfortable, to which he replied "we need to look at it from their (the other 9's) perspective though". He the proceeded to tell me that an Area Manager will be visiting to investigate my allegations - all of this sounds good but I'm not sure the AM is coming to investigate my claims but rather my stance on being sent home prematurely.

To give a bit more detail to my allegations/complaints;

The supervisor for our team edits our Timesheet. If I work 5 hours I should be paid for 5 hours, however, sometimes I might get only 4 hours 40 minutes pay and other days 5 hours 10 minutes pay. He will also make us work for over 6 hours, not give us a break and then add an imaginary 20 minute break to the time sheet after the job to coincide with employment laws.

The supervisor is also one of the 2 drivers for the team. He will regularly break 100kmph in a 60kmph zone. The roads in Norway in places are small enough for one vehicle, on the edge of a cliff/fjord, very little street lighting unless near towns and there are often animals (deer, moose etc) on the road. This is obviously extremely dangerous and illegal... he was told, however, that's if he accumulates speeding fines it is difficult for the Norwegian government to chase him for it as it's an English vehicle. He also regularly struggles to keep his eyes open while driving due to over-tiredness (not necessarily his fault).

The bullying/harassment seems to be the only thing they have taken seriously (at least a little). The victim was too scared to speak up initially for fear of having no backup, however, since I've spoken with him he spoke up and complained. The DM for the other 9 had "a word" with one of the bullies and told him that I and the victim had spoken up - is the DM in his rights to name us like that?

The reason I have come here seeking advice is because I am worried that my complaint is going to backfire on me.

The timesheet editing and driving is illegal - it should be dealt with properly but it sounds like the solution was a quick phone call to the supervisor in question to tell him to behave around 'me'. I've noticed since the phone call that he tries to avoid letting me drive in his vehicle rather than slowing down and tries to avoid doing anything with the timesheet until he is alone.

The bullying/harassment was dealt with in a similar manner but seems to have been effective, they are no longer harassing him, albeit with a bit of backlash onto me (which I can handle).

I feel like there is a lot of favouritism (not sure if i can class as discrimination) against me from the supervisor because I'm from a different district. We are stocktakers and we are scored on the amount we count every hour (pph) - this is easily calculated as 'overall pieces counted ÷ overall time worked'. I have been told by the supervisor that he doesn't want me on top (highest pph) but he wants his district on top. Therefore I get the worst areas, hardest areas, slowest areas and low pph. When the higher ups (DM, AM, Head Office etc) see this it will affect my standing within the company as they will see me as an 'underperformer'. I know a lot of discrimination is on the grounds of Gender, Race and Age but would my situation still be classed as discrimination?

I do not think they will fire me, however, it is likely they will try to send me home early for this - I ended my tenancy prior to coming out and an early departure would leave me homeless, I would also lose out on £1000s. I know that this would be completely unfair to me, but would it be illegal? If so, how can I act towards it? I have emails stating I would be here until October so if I'm sent home early would that be considered a broken contract? I also just signed a code of conduct, which obviously doesn't state I will be sent home if I complain.

If it helps, I am working in Norway but I'm employed in England (I am paid an English wage).

I am grateful for any forthcoming help and I appreciate the time taken to read this.

Kind Regards,

Crow.

Hello crow,

other than the life threatening bit, I would probably have kept quiet and made sure I got paid until I got home, if your need for cash and housing is so high. Never easy to be the odd one out in a crowd.

Discrimination for reasons other than protected characteristics is quite legal. I think you have sadly made yourself a target.

What do you think is a realistic outcome?

What outcome are you looking for?

Hi Emmzzi,

Thank you for the response.

My biggest issue is the money.

I'm out here for the money and I ended my tenancy to save money,

however, the supervisor edits timesheets meaning I am earning less money than I should be.

Is this part illegal?

I'm under the impression it is. If so,

what is my best way of dealing with it as I'm not sure HR will help

I would keep your head down for now if it was me, as some pay is better than no pay, then do a claim documenting hours worked etc when you get back home. If more than one of you has the same claim, that adds some strength to your case.

Keep a log of all hours worked, start and finish times; compare to final payslips, submit in writing to HR, await response. Small claims court if no joy.

I'm afraid I would agree.

Your ending your tenancy is nothing to do with them,

and if they send you home early,

that could be justified for a whole series of reasons

- I'll lay bets there is conditionality in the terms,

just as there would be if you had to come home early.

It sounds like you haven't been in this job very long anyway - under two years?

In which case dismissing toy is very easy,

and "head down" is the only approach to take.

To be honest,

if having issues with your work is common,

over several employments,

as you say,

then maybe you are in the wrong line of work?

There's no excuse for breaking the law,

where that is being done, or bullying.

But if you are in a line of work where this keeps on happening,

then it sounds like it is a cultural issue,

and some workplaces / professions simply are like this.

If you aren't a happy match,

then finding a place where you area would be in your own interests.

And I agree that I doubt the area manager is coming to investigate your claims.

In fact, I can predict what will happen.

Absolutely nobody will back you up (and that will almost certainly include the person you say was being bullied) and they will deny everything.

You become the problem.

The only way to solve that problem is to remove you.

I hope I'm not right. B

ut I'd be surprised if I'm not.

People generally do not stand up for others.

They protect themselves.

if everyones time sheets are being doctored and there hasnt been a concerted effort to report this then you will know that everyone else is not going to stick their head above the parapet for you on the other issues.

You see the same when it comes to redundancy, people all say the right things and then stab their colleagues in the back to keep their job at the others expense.

Did you sign any paperwork when you went out to Norway? If so what does that say about the duration of your time there?

You would have to find a new tenancy when you returned to the UK whenever you come back, so I don't understand why it is more difficult to do that now than it would be in a few years or months time.