Hi I need some advice and hope someone can help me.

I have been with my company 4 years. I have a 12 week notice period. But I believe that they have breached my contract.

We had a new manager come in and it was Okish up until I was off sick early Jan 2018 for a week. This was my 5th time being off in a 12 month period. In my employee handbook it states that my manager has to fill in a absence review form after 3 absences in a year. (I am still waiting for the form to be done and forwarded to me). It also stats that if they are not paying me for sickness then they have to inform me prior to revoking sick pay, which wasn't done. I would like to know is the employee handbook part of my contract. The employee handbook is online in a portal.

Because of the above and other issues with my line manager I decided to hand my notice in and asked for 4 weeks. My manager has refused this saying that your contract is 12 weeks but might be able to leave quicker. Then he has put an email out to all the other staff saying I will be here for 12 weeks!!

The other issues include not given me the opportunity to do some of my role when I have a chance, treating me different to the other staff, calling me names and undermining me to my staff. The Bonus system that is in place has been a farce and a lot of the staff are owed money from this I have been told to put overtime through to cover this (been told that we have to be creative with the money owed!!) He tires to be a bully and the emails/phone calls I get can be quite harsh at times.

I do not know where I stand on the contract whether they have breached it or not. I was going to start a grievance process but I saw another member of staff go do this road and they treated him like crap and he got sacked before it was investigated. I feel like just quitting and giving them all their gear back when the four weeks are up. I also do not know if I have a case for constructive dismissal. I have worked all my life and never had to do anything like this before. Please help.... Many Thanks in advance.

Hello there.

Which part of your contract do you think they have breached please?

As to whether the handbook relates to your contract, what does your contract say about that?

I expect people in the know will be along later.

HB

I think the only point you might have a chance with is the sick pay, but usually you’d need to have exhausted internal procedures ie raised a grievance first. As you have nothing to lose at this stage you could probably write a letter doing that.

the handbook is part of your terms and conditions of service so yes a contract.

So what to do- you start a grievance about the lack of pay for the sickness absence and as you want to leave anyway the threat of the sack wont have the same leverage as with the other case and you may well be able to claim that they have breached the notice period by doing so and without a lawful reason.

Ignore the shortfalls in the bonus system unless at some point you have been paid less then the MW without the bonus as they are notorioulsy difficult to navigate but generally are also a contractual condition so read about it carefully.

Also you will have a small amount of holiday pay accrued for this year so make sure that you take your holiday at the end of your notice period. It will be about 12 days by the time you get to leave (assuming a/l year starts 1st jan) so you will have some time to attend interviews etc whilst still being paid.

Hi and welcome, in future PLEASE post here first before taking any action. If you want to claim constructive dismissal (which even if everything is done right is difficult enough to prove) you can't hand in your notice and work the notice period or even part of it, the circumstances usually must be so unbearable that you simply can no longer stand to work even another day there and so you resign immediately and in the letter you make clear what has caused you to resign (i.e. the employer breaching your contract). NOTE: Don't just go and do that now since you've already handed in your notice and we don't know the full details so continue working your notice for now unless something new has happened since in which case tell us about it.

What reason did you give in your resignation letter?

I'm not saying you couldn't still be successful for constructive dismissal but you put yourself at a disadvantage by demonstrating that you can tolerate another 4 weeks of that treatment.

"The other issues include not given me the opportunity to do some of my role when I have a chance, treating me different to the other staff, calling me names and undermining me to my staff."

Um, yeah sounds like DISCRIMINATION to me. Make sure you write everything down, dates, times, what happened, any witnesses and so forth. Important question for you, WHY do you think you're being discriminated against? I mean, why you in particular? And what kind of names have you been called? Anything sexist, racist, homophobic etc.?

The employee handbook will almost certainly form part of your contract of employment but to be certain you should get a physical copy of your contract and check it. The employer is obliged to give you a copy if you request it so do so if you cannot lay hands on your own copy.

You've asked also about whether they've breached the contract and the answer is maybe but you'll have to first check your contract. Just to confirm, SSP was paid right? Or did you get zero pay?

discrimination of what grounds? race, disability? sex? It sounds like the management of the company is so awful they treat everyone badly so these things may well be par for the course and thus a discrimination claim will be hard to prove as they will happily admit being an awful incompetent employer but not discriminatory

I don't know what grounds that's why I've asked for clarification from the OP who said that s/he is treated differently from other staff hence my request for more information on that.

My 2 pennies.

You have already decided to leave.

Work your notice and run.

If you want to recover your sick pay and they don't play ball, take them to court after you leave.

As soon as they receive a court summon they'll pay you.

If you really wanna go and don't care about a bit of money, now that you have handed your notice, go sick for stress and never go back.

You sound stressed, so taking some time for yourself to get back on track will give you the sprint needed when you start a new job.

Hi thank you for all your replies. Sorry I haven't been back.

Update - I was not paid sick pay as they decided not to pay me.

I will be leaving on the 6th April. I gave them four weeks notice which they did not accept. They haven't been forthcoming in working with me to try and get my notice reduced and shunned me in stuff which I normally deal with. They have a spare employee that could do most of my work with a bit of a tweak but they haven't really bothered trying to get a replacement. I have despite everything remained professional.

They have breached the contract with regards to sick pay (in my handbook it states that if they are not paying sick pay the must advise you of this). Also breach of sickness policy (It states that if I have more than 3 periods of being off sick in 1 year my manager has to do a review with me). This never happened. They owe me over £700 in bonuses that was meant to be paid in Jan, then in feb, then in March now being told April. (they have done this to everyone).

I start a new job on Monday. I dont know whether to just say that's it come and get your van and tools I am not working for you no more or go unpaid sick for the rest of the 12 weeks. Will they bother coming after me? As they will have to move work round and I will have started the new job Monday. I'm not bothered now about unfair or constructive dismissal. I am leaving anyway just would like an idea to know what would be the best approach. Many Thaks in advance.

return the van and tools, you dont want to get into a protracted battle where they stop your final pay because you havent returned them. once you ahve done that let them do their worst, they will have to sue you for their losses regarding the notice period but they will ahve to prove that they have shelled out money to cover for your absence and that will be tricky because they will have to find someone to replace you anyway so unless they hire agency staff no loss will have occurred. you will the have the unpaid salary, holiday pay and bonus to claim so get the correct sum calculated so if they trya dn act tough by getting a solicitor to write you a nasty letter you will have somehting to put to counter this

Adding to what ericsbrother said, i would take detailed pictures and even videos of the van and tools when you return them.

Just in case they wanna play dirty and say you damaged or stole anything.

Thanks again for the messages. I did drive the van back to another engineer and went round the van with them so that was fine.

I have received my final pay slip and it is well short. They owe me for a bank holiday on my last working week. My bonus still, some expenses and £100 refund fine that they have had backI asked them to email me what I am expecting and no response. I forwarded the email again to them and again no response. If it was only a small amount I wouldnt bother but it is a big amount over £1000 which is a lot to me. Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

stop emailing and send a letter through the post. This is taken much more seriously and create a paper trail

so send a letter stating how much is owed and why and gove them 14 days to respond or you will take action to recover the monies due including legal action.

Now as for the bonus, have you read very carefully what your contract says about bonuses and profit shares? Many companies have clauses saying you must be employed for the full month when the payout is due, not just having worked the relevant period. The moving of the payemtn date works toyour advantage as that may be a breach of terms and would override a claim by them that you werent employed when they apyout occurred so they dont have to pay it.