The employee has been absent due to a minor injury since the incident but there are rumors floating around at there work. They highly expect to be asked about the rumors and to ether confirm or deny. Obviously the employee does not want to lie and be dismissed for gross misconduct so intends to inform work of the charge but only if asked. The employee also feels that this is a matter that does not concern there employer as the incident was not on work time and cannabis has never been taken to work or used in work time or time immediately prior to work. The employee considers himself to be a responsible person but unfortunately the current law criminalises him. Thanks for everyones comments on this matter.....

Nothing in contract and not aware of any drug policy in business. I am not sure how one would determine wether the company name has been brought into disrepute but the company name has never ever been brought up in any investigation by the police. I firmly believe that one should be able to do what they like out of working hours aslong as any effects dont impeach onto working hours. Thanks for your comments As an after thought I would ask you to consider this... is it fair for a person to lose there job, career, house, standing in community and general life becasue they prefer to grow and smoke dope rather than brew and drink alcohol in there own lesuire time.... And to remind you somthing like 75% of all AE admissions at the weekend are alcohol related, there are no recorded deaths for cannabis consumption but alcohol related illness is the plaque of the NHS. Theres somthing very wrong with society if the answer is yes.......

Thanks i suspected that but good to have it confirmed. What if the employee refused to answer or said they couldnt answer untill taking advice?

Also the person wishes to plead guilty and accept the courts punishment and never ever used the drug before, after or whilst at work. Only ever using on off days with 24 hours clear before the next working day.

Ok, if the court date was an employees off day and the employee is not aware of any policy does this change things? At present the employer is not aware, media have not disclosed any info and the police have been asked to keep shush. A further question, if the employers suspects and asks the emplyee, will there be any implications for the employee not disclosing or refusing to comment?

Some things to think about there thanks for your comments they were most helpfull. It does raise a further question though, if a person was bailed and charged but not yet convicted but planned to pleed guilty then do you think this changes the guilty untill prven otherwise stance?? Nothing in contract about this and not aware of any policys....

If a person is arrested on there own time do they have to declare this at work? The job they do is not a high profile job just a supervisor ina provate company. There are also no H+S issue like driving or operating machinery....

Just wonderd if it would be lawfull to dismiss somebody becasue they were caught with cannabis out of work. Any thoughts.....

I actualy submitted an embarrased defence yesterday on the advice of the Northampton centre just to prevent a judgment by default should the judge not agree with my requested order. I was told today when I wrang earlier that this defence would be sent to CH and I think she said 33 days for them to respond. However I am still waiting on my judgment for the order which should be by end of this week. So I think I just need to wait a little longer and see what happens. I'm not sure how I would go about submitting an amended defence but i did include this paragraph in my embarrassed defence Would appreciate any advice on this matter and meanwhile I shall draft a complaint letter to SRA after I find out who and where they are. Cheers W

Hi Bat and thanks for looking in, I must admit i'm quiet amused this afternoon having had some time to chill out over that letter but I also feel very angry to. People like this make me sick and if I had wolves I would cast CH & Co out into the yard to prevent them from bullying anybody else. I just wonder how many people have fallen prey to there tactics, I imagine frail old people starving or/and freezing to death trying to cobble togethor what little cash thay have because they believe the lies these sharks peddle. I would like to present this letter to the judge in person and watch whilst CH try and explain it. Could I just amend my defence and include a bit saying that CH are now harrasing and bullying me?

Oh man I feel very euphoric now but ive just had an extremely bad 30 minutes and I am I'm uttelry gob smacked at the antics of HC & Co! Allow me to clarify, I recieved a letter this morning from HC & Co informing me judgment has been enterd against me and I should pay £XXX monthly as orderd. The letter goes on to say I must make payment and they are in control of the order etc..... I freaked as you can imagine! After 10 minutes of chasing my own tale I managed to get it togethor enough to log onto MCOL to verify this. However, this told a diffrent story and the claim was still open. I began to wonder what if and relaxed a little but was still far from happy......... The next course of action was to phone the court just to double check that MCOL was up to date. 20 minutes of waiting and agonising on hold yielded well as I was told no judgment has been entered and my bar is still in place, I was also told a district judge is due to look at my order request sometime this week and that HC & Co applied for a judgement last week but this was refused as the case was barred . So here I am at the end of all that, wondering what the hell HC & Co are playing at by sending me this letter..... Are they Harrasing me? Did they send this letter last week before there judgement request in the belief that judgment would be enterd in there favour? And if they did isn't that still Harrasment or somthing similiar? The mind boggles and I am far from happy about HC & Co's conduct, I wonder how many chimps work at HC & Co. Answers on a post card please.....

The bar is in place so all is good, just didnt think to mention it!

According to the lady ive just spoken to at Northampton bulk clearing centre there is a 3 week backlog that the judges are working through. This is the reason why I have still not had a judge make a decision on my order and extension. I was advised today by the same lady to submit some sort of defence just incase the judge goes in favour of the claimant and judges against me, because Ive submitted no defence then automatically I would have a judgment against me. So I am now going to submit an embarrassed defence just to be on the safe side. She also said that if I get my order and extension then the case would be transferred to a local court and I would have to attend in person

If you didnt get an answer how could you agree to taking a work day of in leu?

Well the bulk clearing centre was easy enough to find just around the corner from the market and the charge for submitting my n244 was only £40! I can say the staff were really helpfull but I was a bit chocked when they startd scribbling on the top of the n244 I had spent some time getting right but they assured me it was to make there life easier! I was also told that there was now a bar on my file and no action could be taken untill the judge has made a decesion on my order request and that I would be notified in writing. All in all "Jobs a good un" (so far) I amused myself by making the order deadline 13 Feb (friday!) :twisted: Hope it doesnt backfire, I know for sure I havent walked under any ladders latley but did smash a mirror a few weeks ago!!!!

Yeah i meant Application sorry still getting use to the lingo. OK then I fancy a nice day out tomorow so will take a drive to Northampton and deliver this in person! Thanks for your help tonight, I might have been in a pickle come next monday!

Thanks, I now realise I should have sent this off last week!! Do you think it would be better if i deliverd the order tomorow in person?

No can do on monday, I was planning an asking for an extension of time for serivce of the Defence as suggested by x20. Do you think this will be ok if i post it special first thing tomorow?

I will just put a date then and let the judge do what he wills! I have not considerd the embarrased defence since you showed me X20's wonderfull post. My thinking being that if documnets do turn up then I will have to assess it then and if they dont then hopefully I can get this struck out.

Thanks DocH this is great stuff! I am preparing the n244 today but could do with some advice on dates, my defence is due in by 4pm next monday (2 feb). In my draft order im not sure what date to put for the claiment to comply by, im thinking 7 days from tomorow. What do you think? below is a copy of X20's draft I will use. Claim No: Draft Order 1 Unless by 4:00pm on (date) the Claimant complies with a request made by the Defendant on (date) pursuant to CPR 31.14 by the provision to the Defendant of documents mentioned in the Particulars of Claim, namely [here list the documents sought in the CPR 31.14 request for example, [1] the agreement [2] the default notice and [3] the assignment,] the claim shall stand struck out and the Defendant shall be at liberty to enter judgment against the Claimant without further order of the court, and [ii] the Claimant shall pay the Defendant his/her costs of this case to be assessed on the standard basis and pursuant to the provisions of The Litigants in Person (Costs and Expenses) Act 1975. 2 In the event that the Claimant shall comply with this order, the Defendant shall file and serve a Defence by 4:00pm on (date) and [ii] the Claimant shall pay the Defendant his/her costs of this application [in any event] [assessed in the sum of £130.00]

I phoned Community Legal Advice today and qualified for free legal advice. They transferd me to a solicitor and it seems my employer has been a bit naughty and possible breached my contract to boot but I have to wait untill later in the week for a clearer picture. I would advice anybody with employment issues to call the above people, they are pretty good!

Hi and thanks for your question, this is the clause as requested from my Statement of Terms and Conditions of employment. Normal working hours Your normal working hours are 11.5 hours per day working from 07.30 to 19.30, averaging a standard 40.25 hours per week. You may, however, be reqiured to work such other hours as the Comapany may deem necessary for the satisfactory completion of your duties. No additional payment will be made for any additional hours worked. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I had a good read of my contract and below is my pay arangments, section 1 states You will be paid by 12 equal monthly installments so that will not occure this month surely a breach of contract? But does section 3 constitute a written agreement meaning that they can deduct anything from me as they see fit? Thus rendering section 1 pointless! Pay arrangments You will be paid by 12 equal monthly installments in arrears directly into your bank or building society account. Payments wil be credited on the 27th day of each month, or the nearest working day, except in December when the payment will normaly be paid earlier. Should the name of any Group comapny appear on your payslip or other document issued by the payroll department and such company is not the employing company specified above, then it does so for administrative reasons. For the avoidance of doubt you will continue to be employed by the company until you recieve notice to the contrary or your contract is terminated. For the purpose of the employment rights act 1996 your hereby authorise the company to deduct from your salary any sums which you may owe to the company including, without limitation, any loans made to you by the company. Thanks in advance W

In my and OH opinion I am fit to work provided that I have a place to sit regulary for short periods throughout the day. I am back onto full time hours next week as I have discussed this with my manager. Basicly as long as I take it steady and dont push myself to hard I'm good to go!

Hi and thanks for your reply pikachu, ive been a bit peed off with this today and told my manager that I do not consent to it and view it as a deduciton from my wage that they cannot take. I'm not aware of a return to work procedure as such, I wil try and do some digging asap. My contract has no mention of deductions or reduced hours but it does have a clause that makes sure that I will not be paid extra should i do extra hours ontop of my contracted hours. Tomorow i'm going to phone up ACAS and Community legal advice and see what they say......

Thanks for your reply, I did ask my manager several times for a referral I didn't relay think to just refer myself. Im not really getting anywere with my employer regarding my problem but OH understand and have restricted my hours, it now seems that my salary is being reduced to without my consent. Apologies as I may have broken a bit of forum etiquette here as i have just started a new thread about that! http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/employment-problems/178229-f-t-salary-reduced.html#post1923788