News update on my protracted saga with a Midlands based law firm. It appears that my gut feeling was correct and my pre-existing employment contract takes precedent over the standard SRA training contract. Clearly such protection is unlikely to apply in respect of trainees who join a law firm under a two year fixed term training contract. Somewhat bizarrely my employer's Managing Partner has suggested that I raise a grievance and regardless has invited me to a meeting for a "chat".

Noted Honeybee - I was just a bit surprised by the negativity that's all.

Excellent reply and thank you. I am rather confused how a Barrister such as SarEl could, however, be slightly incorrect in interpreting the law. Anyhow, either way it appears that the period from March 1 through to last day in February ( ie Feb 28) is a year in anyone's book. Epulpo - are you always so negative ???????????????? Thanks to you all.

Thanks SarEl......hope you don't mind me asking, but how confident are you that the legal definition of one years service in respect of the qualifying period for u/f dismissal is 52 weeks ? According to your calcs 52 weeks will end on 27 February 2011....but that is a Sunday.....but as 28 February is last day can I therefore presume that I will have achieved the "one year" qualifying period based on a start date of Monday 1 March 2010.

I commenced full time employment on 1 March 2010 with a large scale PLC and was dismissed on 13 January 2011 due to the fact that my services were no longer required at my designated place of work. I was serving as a consultant on behalf of my employer at a client's facility situated 5 miles away from my permanent place of residence and the client had decided to cease engagement of an outsourced consultant ( ie myself) and directly employ a full time replacement. I was due a notice period of one month. However, my employer wished to re deploy me at a separate facility also situated near my home town , but only for a temporary period and thus my notice period was extended to February 28 2011, and as such I presume that Feb 28 (ie tomorrow) is my effective date of termination. My employer stated that they may find me alternative employment during this extended notice period but no such enquiries or discussions were held. I do not wish to go into detail but I am of the opinion that I may in fact have been "unfairly dismissed". I am , however, aware that generally speaking I need to have a minimum of one years service in order to submit an ET claim for unfair dismissal. Is the time period from Monday 1 March 2010 through to Monday 28 February 2011 classified as exactly one years service ? I was continuously employed throughout this period. I am hopeful that I have just (but only just !) attained exactly one year's service. Do forum members agree ?

I am a fairly new member and was recommended to the site by a friend. I have read some of the posts re employment problems and am very impressed by the feedback given by the likes of SarEl. Rather stupidly I did not realise that there is a separate sub forum that addresses employment problems and thus this post has been re-posted. I have the following query : I am employed on a full time basis by a law firm and have been continuously employed for 3 years. After one year of employment i was fortunate enough to be given a training contract to become a qualified solicitor. My training contract ends on 1 April 2011 and i will then be a qualified solicitor. That's the good news ! During my training contract the law firm has however experienced many changes and for various reasons my face no longer fits in the organisation. Consequently three weeks ago I was verbally advised by my employer that once qualified my services as a Solicitor will not be required and they will be "releasing" me on April 1. I have received nothing in writing, but the firm's partners have informed several staff that i am leaving. I have neither acknowledged or accepted their verbal statement that I am going to have to leave. Since the express statement referenced above I have not had any other meeting with my employer. i have not raised a grievance regarding the matter because I fear that it will not be given serious consideration. I presume that their actions to date are procedurally flawed in respect of employment law, an area of law in which i incidentally have no formal training. There is no wording in my training contract which states that i could be automatically released/ dismissed at the end of the training contract and thus i presume that my employment contract takes precedent. I presume, therefore, that in order to dismiss me my employer must comply with relevant employment law and if they wish to get rid of me they must either follow a disciplinary process potentially culminating in dismissal ; i do have a written warning dated 10/10 for a vexatious allegation that I elected not to contest . Alternatively there are rumours that as part of an upcoming reorganisation the firm may be considering some staff redundancies and thus i could be shortlisted, albeit subjectively which i am aware is potentially unlawful, and ultimately dismissed The firm is busy, but in the past month i have been given no work and thus am virtually idle. I cannot believe that a medium sized law firm ( 75 staff) would be dumb enough just to boot me out , but who knows ! Any feedback on my options and / or a strategy to protect my employment status would be appreciated. Regards

hi barney