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  1. In the past week, my partner has been the subject of a final disciplinary warning for alleged unprofessional conduct in a meeting when she used the word bloody which was interpreted as also being aggressive. The HR management investigation is so full of holes it is laughable, they didn't even bother to speak to all of the people in the meeting to see what was said - and it is a case of a real kangeroo court. The union representative is now working through pulling it to bits and will hopefully get the right result in due course. In my opinion they are using the disciplinary process as a smokescreen to force her out of her job. During the investigation and since the disciplinary, she has been basically removed from her management position and asked to go and work at another site. They have now indicated that they want her to leave and take a month's pay as severance. Her manager has made it clear that she does want her to go back. In addition, they have put on the bottom of her unrealistic performance improvement plan that they want to change her place of work demote her and get her to start working weekends and different shifts. She has signed the plan but objected to the change of working patterns. They basically wanted to make the changes immediately. What are her rights about place of employment and hours of work? As far as I can tell her employment contract shows that she is employed as a manager in a single location. She is understandably upset and stressed out by the whole affair and just wants to leave. Is this a case for constructive dismissal? Thanks for your anticipated help and advice.
  2. Thanks for response. They have been told that they are definitely not suspended and should make themselves available to go and work at a different site after Easter. Any further thoughts please on this issue and also on whether this constitutes serious misconduct? Many thanks as always.
  3. I am hoping if someone can help with a problem my colleague is going through with their employer at the moment. They have been told to stay away from their place of employment due to alleged inappropriate language being used in an unprofessional and threatening manner. They are not under suspension but it is subject of a disciplinary investigation. A heated discussion was taking place in a departmental meeting with a more senior manager in which they came under attack. In response they defended themselves by saying that it was "bl**dy rubbish and they knew it was". No other swear words were used, however, a formal complaint was received resulting in the request to stay away. I am sure you will agree that this sort of language is used in the workplace all the time and is an extreme overreaction and petty to say the least. They have stayed at home all of this week and their immediate manager has contacted themr today to say that they should remain off work next week as well and take it as annual leave, even though they is available to work. Surely this is not right and cannot be enforced, what are their rights here? Any advice on the whole subject will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
  4. Can anyone provide some advice re:my earlier post please. Many thanks
  5. Thanks for your help everyone and for the sound advice. I will get to work on disputing it and will let you know how I get on.
  6. Thanks for your response and apologies for the delay in acknowedging. I received a letter from the Debt Recovery solicitors asking for a full lump sum payment of £8k. I was not able to pay and wrote back to offer £100 per month. A few months down the line, the next thing I received was a form from the court saying that they were taking me for the full liability. I was asked to confirm if I accepted the full debt and was requested to fill out a financial disclosure. I wrote back again with the financial disclosure and put a letter in to state that I did not believe it was my debt and if I did feel that I was liable then I would only accept £8,000 at £50 per month. The court replied asking why I would only pay £8,000. In response, I confirmed this is what I had provisionally agreed with the Debt Recovery solicitors. The next thing I heard was a paper from the court that they had accepted £8,000 at £100 per month to start in April 2008. As far as I am aware I did not receive any formal notice of the hearing and was entirely unaware of when the court session was sitting. Does this give me any rights to have the judgment set aside. Thanks for your help again.
  7. I hope that someone can help with a tax credit overpayment problem that has been worrying me for a long time. I am at my wit's end and don't know where to turn. I am sorry to put the full story down, but I hope you will see the aggravation that I have been put through. After 2 years of hearing nothing and having appealed against a decision, I have just received a Notice Warning of Legal Proceedings from HMRC on a Tax Credit Overpayment of £2,200 and it is scaring me badly. In 2004, I was full time employed and was forced to go down to reduced hours (16 hours per week) due to a bad back. Prior to me going ill, I was claiming working tax credits and child tax credits quite happily. At the time, I contacted the Tax Credits hotline by phone to inform them of my reduced hours. They said that they would adjust the payments accordingly. When I received the renewal form through at the start of the next tax year, I noticed that they still had me as working on a full time basis. I contacted the hotline again and told them that it was still wrong. I filled the renewal form in and returned it to them and heard nothing more, however, they still carried on paying me at the incorrect rate. In 2005, I also temporarily split up from my husband and also rang them again to inform them of the change in my marital status. Subsequent to this, I received four letters in the same week all showing different amounts that I was allegedly entitled to receive as a new payment. I attempted to resolve the confusion again by phoning the same hotline and was this time informed to rip up all the letters as it was obviously a mistake and they would send out another letter with the corrected tax credit amount. A letter duly arrived and I received a lump sum payment of approx £1,000. Just to make sure, I again rung them to confirm that this was the correct refund due and they stated it was all ok. Later on in 2005, my husband moved back in and I again spoke to them to inform of this change. In October of 2005, I stopped working because I was about to become a partner in a restaurant with my husband. New forms were sent which we sent back to tell them that we were now self employed and they stopped paying the tax credits on the back of this. At the start of the 2006/07 tax year, we did not bother to fill in any renewal forms as we were still self employed. In May 2006, an HMRC demand came through for nearly £5,000 claiming overpayment from the time that I was still allegedly working full time, even though I had told them on a number of different occasions that I was on reduced hours. I wrote back to them again to tell them that their details were wrong and contested the claim. They responded by ignoring my letter, stating that I hadn't informed them of the changes and I should have known how much that I was getting paid. For the umpteenth time, I phoned and wrote to them stating that as it was their mistake, I would not be paying. They threatened enforcement proceedings but had not heard anything for over two years until the letter received today. It has worried me so much that I have not dared to reclaim any working and child tax credits owed to me for the past two years thinking that this will also be used against me. Can someone please explain what my options are and how I might be able to go about getting this closed once and for all. Do I ignore the letter or acknowledge it for example? Thank you for taking the time to read my story and I hope to hear from you.
  8. Can anyone help please. Thanks
  9. I am hoping that the forum will be able to help and provide some advice on an old debt that I have got involved in. At the start of the 90's, I co-habited with my partner and took out a joint mortgage on a flat. Unfortunately, the relationship did not last long and moved out in 1992. At the time, I believed that I signed forms to get my name taken off the mortgage. Towards the end of 2007, I was contacted out of the blue by commerical debt recovery solicitors (sent in my maiden name) to say that I owed money on the mortgage (around £17,000). Details from the debt collection agency were vague, but it seems as though my partner had cleared off and defaulted on payments or failed to clear the negative equity on the sale of the house. The last payment was apparently made by him was some time in 2003/04. In a state of panic, I entered into correspondence with the agency and filled out financial questionnaire etc. At no stage did I ask them to prove the debt in writing. This eventually resulted in the matter being taken to court and a CCJ completed to repay approx £8k at £100 per month. I am aware of the joint and several liability law but I believe that I was unfairly pressurised and rushed into admitting liability despite the circumstances and the time lapse between the end of the relationship and the debt coming to light. I am wondering if there is any practical advice or possible retrospective action that can be taken to have the CCJ set aside. Any thoughts or help will be appreciated as this is clearly worrying me.
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