Hi, agree with all the advice given before, and definitely go to CAB or union (if she's in one). I think what makes these situations difficult is not discussing the issue face to face. If possible, I would try and get your daughter to meet with the HR Manager in person asap, with all her facts, paperwork, and financial details for living. She may be able to convince them that she will be coming back, and also to go with her payment plan. She can also challenge under what regulations they are lawfully witholding her SMP at this point in time. It's much easier for HR to deal with a difficult issue if the person is on the phone or on email. HR people are human too, and if they have a woman on maternity leave sobbing across the table, I doubt very much there will be no leeway on this issue. Most employers I have worked for in HR have been reasonable in the amount that gets repaid over a period of time.

Hi Raj, sorry to hear that you are going through a difficult time at the moment. Persistence in your job hunting will pay off even if it does take a while. I would have had no problems employing someone in your age range in previous companies, although companies shouldn't be discriminating on age grounds anyway. It's all about having experience, a "can do" attitude and dedication to your company, all of which you seem to be able to demonstrate anyway. I would get yourself on the agency books (if you haven't already), turn up in a suit when you meet them, and at the very least be ringing your contact (at each agency) once a week (if not more regularly) to see if they have any work for you.You need to remind them of your existence unfortunately, as they will be dealing with lots of candidates, some of which will not be very memorable. I would also consider temporary roles rather than just permanent work, as when times are bad employers will test out people on an agency basis first, and then offer the permanent contracts. Make sure you have updated your CV, and ask the agencies for feedback on how to make it look better. You might also want to consider getting on a course at a local college to learn a new skill, which will probably be subsidised if you are on benefits, and that will be another string to your bow. Hope this has been of help, and really wish you all the best in the job hunt.

Hi, don't give up all hope just yet. If you haven't been suspended and you are continuing to still deal with callers as before, then I would say it is unlikely they will go down the route to dismiss you. You can't be deemed to be that much of a liability if you have continued to work as normal. I didn't really understand your first point but to summarise you obviously haven't followed procedures, and your call was recorded so there is no point to dispute whether it happened or not. The crux of the hearing is really going to fall down to how serious these issues are and the impact or potential impact they had, your previous work history,any other warnings you may have had, the intent behind them, and if you are apologetic and won't do this again.If something is happening as standard practice, it is worth mentioning that (as that is a training issue for all of the teams), however I wouldn't use it as your defence.It clearly was an error in judgement on your part, and personally I would accept that as your best defence.Call centres are renowned for being pressurised environments,and no matter how scripted and structured the jobs are, you are dealing with humans at the end of the phone. There must be some allowances made for slippage on calls and if your attitude is right and you are committed to following procedures in the future, you may well be ok. Wish you all the best.

Hi, have you thought about using any advice from anyone like the Citizens Advice Bureau, a no win no fee solicitors, or utilised the legal aid you can get from a house insurance policy? All of this is free advice (as far as I know). You can go to a tribunal without a solicitor, but I guess they have the expertise and knowledge and that's what you would be paying for. A number of my friends have represented themselves, but unfortunately not successfully. My friend was going to be charged over £10k for a barrister to represent him in court, but the company settled before the case was heard. I think it's hard to judge what would happen in a tribunal and what decision they would make, even with all the full facts. Have you asked ACAS about the redundancy pay issue if you lost your ET case? I guess if you are determined that a tribunal is the only route to go for you personally to settle this matter (or the only route in order to get your settlement), then you should get your application in before the deadline. All the best.

I agree with all the above comments, and they should have addressed any performance concerns they had with you prior to making any adjustment to your job role and duties.This shouldn't have come as a surprise to you. I think they probably hoped to get away with the change on the basis that you wouldn't know your employment rights or even complain. If they have a company handbook and there is a performance procedure in there, I would start asking them questions as to why they haven't followed it. All the best.

Hi, new to the forum, but hopefully my view my help a little as to what your disciplinary panel might be thinking.I used to do disciplinaries in as unionised environment in the past. Firstly, a breach of confidentiality is a breach, and no amount of debating about who else knew and if it was on a social networking site is going to help you here. You need to accept you have breached it. HR people, managers and union reps are in a position of trust and if they breach confidentiality then who can you trust? Your union rep is trying to help you with their line of defence. The panel will need to consider if this breach and its impact is so bad that they could never trust you again, and if so, that could be gross misconduct and summary dismissal, with no notice pay. I think you know you have done wrong, and whilst I do genuinely feel sorry for you here, I would fully expect someone in your situation to argue that they have been sick, aggrieved and untrained as an excuse as to why they breached confidentiality to get themselves off the hook. Your attitude to this issue will define how they treat you in a disciplinary, and if you are still trying to excuse yourself with other issues, arguing that everyone knew about it etc etc, and basically in denial, then you are probably likely to get a final warning at best or dismissal. If you came to me in the hearing, apologising and said you realised you had made an error of judgement that you had learnt your lesson and wasn't going to happen again, but there were other things going on in your life at the time,and didn't realise the impact your comment would have, I would look more favourably on you.It shows you accept you have done wrong and are unlikely to commit the offence in the future. You need to do whatever suits you but I do wish you all the best going forward.

Hi, it's a bit difficult to give my HR opinion on this without knowing all the full details of your story. If someone has been off sick, an employer would have had to found a way to cover the work so absorbing it across a team or having another person doing it would be reasonable.On your return it wouldn't be unreasonable for them still to be doing this, to help settle you back. However, on your return you should expect to have your old role back. If the needs of the business (or school) has changed, then they should still have formally consulted with you about the change. It's not acceptable or legal to give your job away to someone else. You have a couple of choices here: 1 -take out a formal grievance, 2, make an informal complaint (as described in my previous thread)3: do nothing and accept the change. Being totally honest here, if you need your job and you need to pay your mortgage etc, then making too many ripples is not going to help you. Being in a double dip recession, I'm not sure how easy you would find it to get another job, if you resigned or took redundancy. If you take out a formal grievance, you are unlikely to ever get promoted, and it may be the death of your career in this school. Grievances never result in great working relationships after they have passed. I speak from an HR persons experience in private and public sector. I think you still need to understand why they have made these changes, and reading your thread, I don't think they have explained this fully to you.Why give a colleague your job, and ask you to grow into another role? Why give you a child's desk to work at on your return? Are you definitely sure your colleagues are hostile, or are the changes getting to you since you have returned? I think you need to go back and speak to the headmaster again and get all of your questions answered. Don't be afraid to ask direct questions. It might make them backtrack on what they are doing. Take in a list and go through them point by point, and keep drilling down till you get the answers you want. Write down what they say. As before, go and seek union help, if you feel they are not listening. Otherwise, there is always ACAS and the CAB. I think you have to be happy with whatever route you take here, and only you can know where to go with this and choose that route.

Hi, given you work in a school, I guess you may be in a union? If not, I would suggest you contact them and see if they can offer you some assistance here. The change in your job description is a substantial change if it has increased that much in percentage to be being the sole responsibility. An employer can change job description duties, providing they have done adequate consultation, put it in writing and given you training and a notice period of when the change is due to take place. You need to find out the reason why they have changed your job requirements, and if it has just affected you, and if so why. Legally they have to tell you the business reason, as they are making a change to your contract of employment by changing the nature of your job. Are you open to redundancy? You may have a case to argue that your role has been made redundant. Also, if the role is substantially less in responsibility, are they proposing to demote your pay or grade? Explain to them in your meeting that you need more information, and ask what other alternative options they had instead of making this job change. As before, you need to get them to put it in writing to you, and take notes of everything. Hope this helps.

Hi, am new to this forum but hopefully I may be able to help here. I guess the crux of the issue is why they are changing your job. Are they changing it to assist you with your return to the workplace? Has someone else got your role? Are they making redundancies? Have the needs of the business changed? Initially I would suggest you call a meeting with them again to discuss this so that you can understand where this change is coming from. I think you need to explain that you don't have the skills and abilities to do this proposed change, and ask how they intend to train you for this new role. If you start working in the new role, then by law you will be deemed to have accepted the change in your job description. Business changes and redundancies are legitimate reasons for changing employees roles, but there does need to be an element of consultation here, rather than forcing it on you as soon as you walk through the door. If an informal discussion doesn't assist you or bring some resolution, then you could go through the grievance route, but I personally feel a grievance is a last resort. It may be that your old role is redundant, and therefore you could ask them if you refuse to accept the change to the role, what they intend to do. I would recommend you take notes of any conversations you have, and correspondence on email etc. All of this will need to be used should you go down a grievance route, or an Employment Tribunal.

Hi, am new to the forum, but hopefully I may be able to help here with my HR background. Without knowing full details here (ie is it long term/short term sickness, are they off sick at the moment?, has your partner been assessed by an occupational health specialist?) it is difficult to give the most accurate advice. Am not sure if your partner is currently off sick or not, but if they get a sick note from the GP signing them off for the full notice period (am guessing this may be 4 weeks), then the employer cannot force them into work if they are classed as unfit to work. Therefore you shouldn't have to be unpaid whilst the notice period runs its course (depending on what sick pay entitlement is left). Resigning doesn't have to be your only course of action. If your partner is covered under the DDA, then they have the right not to be discriminated against and to have reasonable adjustments made to assist the disability, and therefore you should think about raising this formally through the grievance procedure before going straight to dismissal.I know it's stressful, but it gives you a bit more breathing space financially as it will probably take them a bit of time to investigate the grievance and give their decision.You may get a good outcome that accommodates your partner! Remember, an employment tribunal will always want to see how you have tried to resolve any issues before going to court, and therefore they would expect you to have raised your grievance formally before putting your ET claim in. They may not hear your claim if you haven't raised it formally before leaving the job. One last point, keep all correspondence in writing to the employer, whether by email or letter, as you will need to use it if you take any further action against them. This includes records of verbal conversations too. Hope this helps.