Provides definite inadmissable proof which wouldn't allow for any formal disciplinary proceedings to be taken against the guilty party. Plus going around recording colleagues without consent would likely constitute gross misconduct so I wouldn't recommend doing this. Although you say they'd only deny it, have you at least tried to raise a grievance about the name calling, or detailed it in the other bad treatment you've reported? Is there a colleague you could confide in who could maybe get in earshot at the times it most often happens?

Is there anything about the process in the contract or handbook? If not then it could be assumed from previous experience that it shouldn't take longer than 2-3 weeks. In that case I'd suggest him writing a grievance stating it is unfair to expect him to manage his finances with no process in place, and as he has to outlay the cost initially it's making the job he's expected to do increasingly more difficult.

Forget employment law, they could potentially be opening themselves up to litigation from both employees and customers if they are actively trying to force people with contagious illnesses into work. I'd contact the local health and safety office and see what they have to say on the matter.

Not a problem at all. Hope everything works out for you. Ask your therapist about mood gym aswell, I used it alongside cognitive therapy and found it very helpful. It's basically an online programme that gets you to alter your thought process positively and alot of therapists recommend it.

If there is a business reason for doing so, they can to a certain extent dictate certain times when holidays must be taken. It may be that too many staff are using their holidays just to free up the weekend thus making them understaffed so I think they could argue the reason for this new rule.

Is it maybe possible to contact your employer and say that 'at this moment your not refusing the meeting, but your GP has advised against it as it may exacerbate the anxiety.' Say that you feel it's important to follow the GP's advice because ultimately you want to return to work as quickly as possible, but say that you're more than happy to provide them with any GP reports throughout the treatment to keep them informed and upto date. It may just be that your employers are following Acas guidelines in trying to arrange this meeting to fulfill their duty of care. If you don't want the meeting then that would absolve them of this responsibility. Either way I would suggest communicating first to check the situation. Alternatively, you could contact Acas first and ask where you would stand if you did refuse. It's a situation that requires a certain delicate approach though. Although you may have the right to refuse (which I don't know sorry), if you do, there's always the possibility of them looking for business reasons that they can't hold your job open indefinitely. I would learn what your rights are first of all so you know where you stand, but try communicating and being diplomatic about the situation before exercising any of them.

There's no reason your employer can't contact you. It's perfectly reasonable that they may want to find out a likely return date and/or see if there's anything that can be done that would aid a quicker return date. Even with long term sick they may contact you to see what the situation is and whether you will return once the sick note expires...in fact they have a duty of care to do this. However, if they are contacting your partner on a daily basis then that could be seen as harrassment.

I'm sorry to say I think you're always going to be on a hiding to nothing with less than 12 months service. Which is very unfair in this case since it sounds as if you're being royally stiched up by this guy. The fact is they have investigated the incident of bullying. They've checked with other staff. There's not really any other way they can investigate and if they take your word for it and discipline him then he's going to have the same argument as you have. One thing I do find strange is that you haven't been given much in way of details about the offence. If they're carrying out an investigation usually they'd ask for a statement to get the facts as you understand it, although that could depend on the nature of the claims.

If they refuse the appeal then an ET will automatically consider the dismissal unfair. Although if they do dismiss you tonight without following the correct disciplinary process then that ship will already have sailed. But even then, you'd still need to write an appeal letter to them. If they don't follow the correct process then they won't get away with it. Not unless you let them. Best thing for now is just to see what happens from their side.

You have to go through the appeal before you can go to the ET.

You may possibly have a case for constructive dismissal, however I'd very much consider whether it would be worth the stress. Any payout would likely be very small since it would take into account that you weren't left out of work with starting the new job straight away.

As you say Uncertain, when it does happen that they are awarded costs, it would generally be for cases where they could prove the motives were malicious or for similar reasons where the claimant would know the claims were unfounded. Generally speaking an ET will recognise the right to pursue a claim if you show a genuine belief you've been treated unfairly. And they also understand the company's responsibility to be insured against such claims. What I should've pointed out in my original response is that some large company's may well have a standard settlement process which may not necessarily be reflective to the validity of your claim. If you do decide to take the settlement you'll have to take legal advice anyway, although they may well only advise you on the contents of the compromise agreement rather than whether you should accept it or not based on your claim.

If it's an employment tribunal then costs are not usually awarded. I would also venture a guess that £7500 would be an excessive amount to claim in costs. Anyway, if they're offering you £2000 when they're so confident of winning then clearly they're either full of **** or so vastly dumb they shouldn't be allowed to breathe the same air as the rest of us.

Not a problem at all, with any luck you'll get it all sorted and they'll start sticking to the procedure they themselves have put in place. As an after-thought did you get docked pay for the job you refused to do? If so, and Acas suggest they are in breach of contract, it may be worth mentioning that in any grievance

Trust me when I say I'm not naive when it comes to racism in the work place, I've seen it first hand from people I'd least likely expect it from. And I've also seen how dismissive people can be on these forums with all the 'race card' comments. But at the same time from your first post it seemed more like your interpretation of the situation rather than you having hard evidence you were being racially discriminated against. I don't want to give you bad advice based on interpretation rather than evidence because that may just exacerbate the problem. I'd very much suggest doing what I've already suggested and compile a list of grievances in one from all those you say have had problems that have been left unresolved. In your other thread you say that your employers are quite happy to browbeat the staff and just settle when anything goes as far as an employment tribunal (although why they would do this is beyond me since it makes very little financial sense for what appears to be easily resolvable disputes). Raising it like this will make it so much harder for them to ignore and will show unity amongst the staff in forcably getting a resolution.

In that case I wouldn't worry too much about disciplinary measures, and instead I would consider writing a grievance letter if you've already tried to resolve this informally. But before doing so please contact Acas, quote what the handbook states and ask them if this would constitute witholding payment in the same way as witholding salary. If that's the case then they would be in breach of contract which would then open up the avenue of civil action against them as you'd still be employed. But, of course, check all of this with Acas to make sure I'm right in what I'm saying.

I would think that if there is no set policy, i.e. a specific date to hand in the last periods reciepts and a specific date or timescale thereafter that you are reimbursed, then it's going to be difficult for them to make any disciplinary action stick. Is there nothing in your contract or the company handbook on how expenses are reimbursed and the timescale involved?

hehe figured it was just a misunderstanding. Thought I'd better check though since you're usually on the money with what you say

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying Elche. I may just be tired and being thick...but this isn't to do with statutory holiday since it's unpaid. If they were allowed to tell you to take unpaid holiday then what's to stop them effectively making you redundant by telling you to take 2 years unpaid holiday?

They are effectively witholding pay which would be a breach of contract. The only legitimate reason they could do this, as far as I know, would be through unforseen circumstances causing the business to shut down temporarily. Don't want to fob you off but ACAS would be the best place to double-check since I can only give an opinion...should be a nice easy one for them to answer.

As far as I can tell the manager is witholding data that soniczed needs to complete the work that this same manager has requested. So, he's effectively trying to punish soniczed for not completing work that he knows he won't be able to complete. Well, you have evidence from the data analyst that the manager was given this information to pass onto you. Is there anyone above this manager that you could take a complaint to? Clearly this could be considered harrassment if he is knowingly giving you work you can't complete because he's witholding information.

When you go to the meeting, if you don't have a union rep, make sure you get a colleague who's trusted and responsible, and ask them to take notes. If you become 'overwhelmed' you also have the right to halt the meeting for a short space of time. Just say you're feeling overwhelmed and you need a few moments to gather yourself together. It'll give you a bit of time to confer with your colleague and make sure they're collecting the notes properly. There's also the chance they may refuse which would be a breach of your rights. It may also be worthwhile to raise a grievance concerning your manager offering his medical opinion and demanding you attend the meeting in an unfit state. After each of your previous meetings were you given any documentation with regards the outcome?

Just to add to godpikachu's already comprehensive answer... Were these IPI's all one way? By which I mean did they offer you any help or training in achieving these targets? The employer has a duty to look into and resolve any reasons for poor performance. If they don't then the purpose of these performance reviews would be completely redundant. And as Godpikachu has already insinuated, these 'warnings' don't strike me as being an official diciplinary procedure...as in a letter being sent out inviting you to a meeting and advising you of your right to have a colleague or union rep present. If you're contract does not state that your employment is dependant on hitting clearly set out sales figures then they would have to go through a disciplinary procedure for unacceptably poor performance. Obviously, they'd still have to do this even if your contract does state you need to hit targets, but it would be alot easier for them to supply evidence in their favour. Anyway, this would mean inviting you to a meeting, advising you of your rights and documenting any evidence they had for your poor performance. Technically, an outcome of this could be a final written warning, although that would likely be ill-advised as it could be seen that you weren't given a fair chance to improve before the final step of disciplinary - dismissal. An easy argument from your point of view would be to ask them to prove your percentage of sales figures from total sales figures had dropped significantly enough to show your performance had dropped to such a level as to be considered poor. Afterall, last time I checked we were in a recession! I would very much recommend you have a talk with someone from ACAS. They can't advise you specifically on how to deal with this, but they can tell you where you stand with regards to employment law, as well as what their advice to employers is which is also taken into account at employment tribunals.

I completely agree that you shouldn't ask for someones opinion if you may take offense at what they say...but at the same time, in the real world she doesn't 'have to take it on the chin,' she can make a complaint which is exactly what she has done. Did you have a meeting after the grievance was filed? If they haven't arranged a meeting within 28 days they would be in breach of employment law. You say that she's had numerous grievances filed against her, I presume from various different staff. If that's the case it may well be more effective to make a joint grievance, collating all the evidence and each staff members experience of bullying. This would make it far more difficult for the employer to dismiss the claims as the outcome of the grievance meeting would have to be explained in writing to each member of staff that signed the grievance.

If I'm honest, I can't see anything there that could be directly described as racial discrimination. It just seems like an assumption because the other members of the team are white. That's not to say you're not being picked on because of your race, just that I can't see you've provided any evidence of this. Has anything else happened that's led you to believe you're being victimised because of your race? Also, I'm pretty sure it's not a great idea to tell your boss directly that she's manipulative. With or without the word bitch accompanying it, it's an aggresive description to use, and one that I personally think could justify disciplinary action. It could have been phrased differently, and far more constructively. However, it does seem somewhat unfair that you've recieved any kind of warning for it without any chance to put your side of the story across. It's also worth pointing out the HR manager certainly shouldn't be dismissing such serious claims which could form the basis of another grievance, although you'd still want to include examples that could be considered racial discrimination to back up the claim that it should be taken seriously. What was the outcome of the grievance? And are you being punished in any way for the other team members poor performance? You haven't really said, as far as I can see, what the affect has been from the other 2 performing poorly. If you could maybe expand on what's directly effecting you then hopefully other members or myself might be able to give some constructive advice.