I work as a security guard on a site for £7.50 per hour and I have been there for just over five months.

I work alone on a permanent night pattern of four on four off, twelve hour shifts.

There is only me on the site and when I am off the other guard works.

My elderly mother is going in to hospital for an operation, and I need a week off to look after her when she comes out.

I emailed my manager to explain this, when he emailed me back he said he needed a copy of my mothers hospital operation letter, so that it can be kept on file.

Is it right that he can ask for this as it is my mother private letter?

I sent a photocopy of the letter by email, but I am now wondering if this was an intrusion on my mothers privacy?

I got an email soon after saying that he has granted those days off for me,

but because I asked for that time off,

another guard will be doing my shifts on that site for a month,

and they were sending me to another site for the month.

This site was an hour from my home,

where as my normal site is only 15 minutes from my home.

It is for eight hours instead of twelve and the pay is still £7.50.

When the other guard had a week off I had to work all eight of their shifts and they were not moved to another site.

I rang the manager and said this

he said the site I work on is not my site and I work where I am told.

I then said I am sorry but I will not be working that other site for low pay.

He said he will discuss this with his team and get back to me.

I haven't heard off him and will ring him after the weekend.

This company have not provided me a contract to sign,

if I decided to leave,

do I legally need to provide any notice to stop my pay getting deducted?

Will I be entitled for any unpaid leave if I resign?

Every time I get my monthly pay,

they short change me by the pence.

if it says on my payslip £1000.89,

I will get paid £1000.00 and not the 89.

Is there anything I can do about this?

I worked over Christmas and new years and I got no bonus, just £7.50 per hour,

they did provide a box of chocolates and a bottle of wine, but that was it.

I am not in a union and any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

There is no right to time off, paid or unpaid, to look after a dependant; and that assumes your mother is legally classed as a dependant. If she is a dependant you are entitled to time, unpaid, to arrange care. A day at most. And only in an emergency, and this isn't one as there is plenty of time to arrange care. So your employer is doing you a favour by agreeing, and is well within their rights both to ask for evidence, and to organise their business to suit their needs and not yours.

It may be that your resignation will be moot - you do not tell your employer where you will work or for what pay, and with so little time on the job, you were lucky that you were not dismissed on the spot. They don't have to be "fair" about dismissing you until you have worked there two years.

You have a contact, whether it is written or not, and your notice period is one week. You are entitled to be paid for untaken holidays - and if you leave without giving notice they are entitled to deem those holidays as part of your notice!

Have you asked them where the money is? That's the first step.

You are entitled to be paid, and you have been. There is no right to a bonus, so I don't see why you think you are hard done to on that. There was also no right to chocolates or wine, but you were given those.

Thanks for your advice. I haven't asked them where the money is yet, I will next time I speak to them. They haven't dismissed me because they don't have enough staff, a lot have walked out on them recently. I can find work locally for the same pay and that is what I am looking for now. I just wondered if they had done anything out of turn, but seeing as they haven't it is best if I just hand in my resignation.

It is always best to leave on good terms. A week isn't a lot, but you need a reference, and you also never know when you need them again... On the other hand, they haven't dismissed you yet, due to staff shortages- but two years is a long time!

This kind of work often isn't the best- but equally they did say they'd let you have the time, and many wouldn't have.