Hi all, this is my first visit I have a 14 year old son who was recently diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome, which is a form of Autism. He has obsessive tendencies, which is one of the symptoms, and as such 'demands' that I take him to his favourite places on a Saturday. I approached my employer and asked for my hours to be amended to accommodate this and was open and honest and explained the situation fully. They made me fill in the relevant forms, and then knocked me back, stating their reasons, all of which dont hold any water. They first claim cost when I proved that cost would be zero and also that they couldnt 'cover my duty' of a Saturday, when I have evidence that my job has been covered every time that I was off on holiday on a Saturday. I have since become absent due to stress and anxiety and have attempted to contact my manager by email, requesting various documentary evidence that he claims to have to support him, but he has not answered three emails. My simple question is, where do I go next? Any help greatly appreciated

Dear CAG. I have taken legal action against my former employer on the ground of unfair dismissal and racial discrimination. My claim for unfair dismissal is based on the fact that in February 2013 my former employer, with whom I worked since October 2011, had left me without any work, and because of that I was forced to seek new employment, which I did. The situation with my former employer is a bit complicated due to the fact that I was employed on, what is called, a "zero-hour contract", and it is clearly written down in my contract of employment with them, that they have no obligation to offer me any work, and I have no obligation to accept any work offered by them. I, however, think that the fact that I was employed on a "zero-hour contract" does not really matter as it is the true relationship between an employer and an employee that really matters, and in my case I believe I have strong case to prove that I was actually an employee. It will be, therefore, up to the Employment Tribunal to establish if I was an employee, or not. Followed by being left without any work in February 2013, but knowing, at the same time, that there were shifts available, in April 2013 (this was before I submitted my claim to the Employment Tribunal, and still not having any work from them since February 2013) I wrote a letter to my former employer requesting to immediately bring me back to work. Soon after that letter the employer started offering me shifts. I, however, still decided to proceed with a legal action and in the end of April 2013 I submitted my claim to the Employment Tribunal. My claim was accepted. In my ET1 form I claim unfair dismissal (the fact that I was left without work in February 2013 and forced to seek new employment) and racial discrimination. However, because I submitted my claim after I had send a letter to my employer requesting to bring me back to work, and as a response to that letter my employer started offering me shifts, in the part of the ET1 form where it asks "Is your employment still continuing?" I ticked: YES. The fact is, that following that letter, which I had sent in April 2013 and during the period when the employer was "trying" to bring me back to work, there were more discriminatory acts against me, which totally put me off, and up till today I have not worked any shift. I, therefore, have not worked at all for them since when they left me without work, which was in February 2013. In the response to my claim (ET3 form) the employer now argues, that I am still in employment with them, and I am being offered shifts, which I do not undertake. In this situation I do not quite know how to proceed. I still believe that I was unfairly dismissed in February 2013. I have done quite a lot of research on a zero-hour contract, and the fact is that an employer can terminate a zero-hour contract by simply stop offering work, and no other formal termination is needed, so therefore, I think I was correct to assume I was dismissed in February 2013, and this is exactly how I felt at that time. However, the fact that later on (in April 2013) I sent the employer a letter, in which I requested to be brought back to work, and as a response to that letter they started offering me work, as well as the fact that I ticked in my ET1 form that my employment is continuing makes me now think that maybe I am, in fact, still in employment with them. I am, therefore, thinking that maybe I should now send the employer a letter of resignation and claim constructive unfair dismissal, which I believe I have strong grounds to proceed with as well. However, I am not quite sure what the law says. Can unfair dismissal be undone? If the Employment Tribunal admits that I was unfairly dismissed in February 2013, could that dismissal be undone by me sending a letter to the employer requesting to bring me back to work, which they did, but at that point I did not want to work for them anymore and did not accept, nor did any work for them. If, however, my dismissal never actually happened, or that part of my claim fails, can I still claim constructive unfair dismissal? - if I submit a letter of resignation now. Is it legally possible to claim both unfair dismissal followed by constructive unfair dismissal? Or maybe I should not send any letter of resignation at all and stick to my original claim that I was unfairly dismissed in February 2013. I would very much appreciate any advice on that matter as I would not like to weaken my case by making any unnecessary mistake. Thank you very much and looking forward to any advice.

Hi There, I'm seeking some advice on an issue I'm having with my employer. I have been off sick with anxiety and depression since march - in this time I was also made homeless which my employer was aware of. Occupational Health services advised my employer at the end of June that as long as they created a supported return to work and followed their recommendations I would be ready for a phased return to work by the end of July. The subsequent meetings with my direct line manager was a conversation about why he feels I'm not ready to return back to work, some of the reasons being that 1) Conflict might cause me to breakdown 2) Not enough has changed in my personal life to support my return back to work 3) My reasons to return to work cannot be financial (specifically in regards to me being homeless). My line manager has also shared my fit note with one of my colleagues who has then asked another employee what the address on my fit note was to me (basically trying to see if I was lying about being homeless). I have since raised a grievance and advised there have been serious breach of my mutual trust and confidence with the employer and as such it would be impossible for me to return to work. I have advised I am seeking to resolve this with a compromise agreement which I feel would be fair at a 12 month settlement. Unsurprisingly - my boss's line manager has come back and said that this is unrealistic. She has advised me that if I didn't want to come back to work (not that they have offered for me to come back) that they would be looking to offer me redundancy and the legal minimum - she has advised at a stretch they might extend this to 3 months. During the grievance process - I have not been asked at any investigation meetings to define my grievance. I also feel they are going to try and say I have created a "consipracy" with other members of staff in regards to the breach of my data protection rights. Does anybody have any advice at all? I don't believe they can offer my redundancy instead of a CA? Especially since my role is not redundant - they have someone covering me as a secondment at the moment. I also have had no disciplinary issues and have always been high achieving - is 12 months salary unreasonable? Thank you for help here

I have been involved in a Constructive Dismissal case at a Scottish Employment Tribunal for almost a year. I have already expressed elsewhere how frustrating it is for an employee to make a successful claim and how it is no surprise that fewer than 5% of claims are successful, briefly: They get to present their case after hearing yours and there is no way of contradicting anything they say. Witnesses who still work there are reluctant to testify against the employer. They outnumber you grossly and if they get their story straight they appear more credible. Giving evidence last it is fresher in the minds of the adjudicators. My case is quite complicated but it involves not being employed as per the job I was offered after moving home (250 miles), not being properly supported, ignoring grievances and stress to an unimaginable degree. I had claimed for loss of earnings plus to be re-employed in the position I had been originally offered. But today I had a bit of a bombshell. After four days of hearings, the Tribunal was adjourned in December until 15th March (two days time) and having been made a number of risible offers to settle the case over the past few months, I finally decided that I had had enough, as much as I felt that my former employers should be held to account I could not face two more days of hearings, listening to my former manager lie and the possibility that the Tribunal might fall for it. They made a final offer which was not great but I thought that it would give me the resources to move on. I had until 5.00pm today (13th March) to decide whether to accept it and yesterday, after some consideration, I contacted my solicitor instructing him to do so. I had my first decent sleep for almost a year. But then first thing this morning, I had a call from my solicitor's office telling me that I would forfeit most, if not all, of the money I had been offered to pay my fees as the Legal Aid conditions changed a year ago allowing fees to be 'clawed back'. My solicitor is in court with other cases all day so I can't discuss it with him. I phoned the Legal Aid Helpline to asked for urgent advice - given that I have until 5.00pm to make a decision. They said that my solicitor should have informed me about this but I am sure that he did not - and given that he was persuasive of me accepting an earlier, obviously lower, offer, I would have been in the same situation - only today did I receive advice from his office that I would probably receive little if any of the award. There is a mechanism for appealing agains clawback but given the timescale, I cannot appeal until after I respond to the offer and it may well be that even if I accept their offer, all the stress and anguish of the last year has been for absolutely nothing. To say that I felt devastated at this revelation is an understatement. I am of the feeling that I have no alternative but to press on with the Tribunal even with the odds stacked against me. Whilst I post this as a caution, or at least information, to others, if anybody has any constructive advice before today's deadline, I'd be grateful.

Hello, Its a bit long winded but please stay with this. I would be greatful for any help. In February my girlfriend told work that she is pregnant. She works as a senior care worker in a nursing home. She was expecting a risk assessment to be carried out but there was no mention of it. After continually asking, her manager said that one had been carried out and she told my girlfriend that she was not able to work up stairs where the more difficult residents are. My girlfriend did not see or sign this "risk assessment" and she was not given information about the works maternity policy and pregnancy notification form. This is set out in the companies own policy and procedure. My girlfriend only received this when she raised a grievance about this. Now the fun begins. On the 11th of March my girlfiend was off work sick when she received a phone call from her manager asking if she remembered losing any confidential information she answered the questions unaware that minutes were being taken or that someone was present with the manager while the phone call was made. The minutes of this conversation were then put forward as evidence. On the 15th of March, my girlfriend received 2 letters from work. One was for a gross misconduct meeting regarding the loss of information and the other was an investigatory meeting for a medication error (which the company stated as being poor performance) for which my girlfriend is not responsable. She has been suspended due to the investigatory meeting since the 30th of March. My girlfriend raised a grievance because she never saw a risk assessment and other reasons for which she feels unfairly treated at work. During the grievance meeting, the person who was chairing the meeting showed my girlfriend the risk assessment that was carried out which could only be described as a joke. It was not on the correct form (it was filled out on a residents care plan risk assessment). The person who was chairing the meeting screwed up the risk assessment and then carried out a proper risk assessment. At this time my girlfriend was 25 weeks pregnant. The person chairing also went through the other points that my girlfriend raised and agreed that there was a case for grievance and the outcome was that my girlfriend and her manager should have mediation meetings. On the 6th of May, my girlfriend went into the gross misconduct meeting with a union rep. She explained that she did not realise that she had the confidential information which had been lost. When they challenged her over her having this information, she then told them that all senior carers were given this information and that they were allowed to complete care plans in their own time at home. The union rep blew them out of the water on all points they raised during this meeting. (She is still waiting for the outcome of this meeting) Today my girlfriend received a letter from work asking her to go to a meeting about the medication issue this has now turned into a gross misconduct meeting. The letter states that she could be dismissed from work and also put on the POVA list which would stop her working in care in the future. As mentioned earlier she is not responsible for this issue. The medication was ordered not collected. She had no way of knowing this due to the fact that the information was recorded in a diary which is held upstairs where my girlfriend was told not to work. To me this seems like her work cannot uphold the earlier case of gross misconduct and they are trying to get my girlfriend sacked on another issue for which they previously stated as been poor performance. My girlfriend only has 1 week and 4 days from today until her maternity leave begins. Do you think that we would have a sucessful case for a tribunal? Would this come under constructive dismissal and would my girlfriend also have a case for sexual discrimination.

Hi, I have just signed up having read some of the very useful advice on here but couldn't find anything that exactly mirrors my situation. I wonder if some kind person with more knowledge and experience of such things could help me with this. I started work 2 1/2 years ago as a manager in a travel company. I took the role as the diversity appealed as did the chance to learn on the job, even though the pay was not close to what I had been on in my previous role. Essentially, until now I have been managing a team of reservations staff, negotiating with hotel owners and contracting with them, marketing and other related duties. I have reported directly to the MD throughout. My annual reviews have both been glowing but it is clear that the company itself has not been performing adequately. Then, in January of this year, the MD announced two redundancies (both very badly handed and they ended up settling out of court with one as a result) and some structural changes. Essentially he has decided to create a new role and employ a head of reservations to manage the entire reservations staff of the company (including what has been my team up until now). My role will essentially be the same...but without the managerial responsibility. i.e. It won't be the same at all! My concerns with this are essentially about my future career progression. I see myself as taking the next step and becoming a general manager in about 5 years' time or so and this reduction in my responsibility certainly doesn't help me get there. I will admit that I think the MD is probably doing something that is for the good of the company as each team has been run as its own independent fiefdom over the years and the streamlining effect of bringing in one overall head of reservations will improve this. However, unfortunately I have to look at what is best for me and the revised role is not that. I am also concerned that although i have reassurance on email from my MD and the head of HR that it is not their intention to reduce my salary, I will be doing a job that is at least one pay grade below mine and this will mark me out for future redundancy. I have had two informal face to face representations with my MD and made my feelings known. His attitude is essentially that he had to make the changes for the good of the company's future. So I believe the next step is written notification of my grievance. If anyone has any thoughts about this (I didn't find ACAS particularly forthcoming when I spoke to them), before I invoke the company's grievance policy, I would be so grateful. Even if, as ACAS suggested that there is a case for breach of contract or even constructive dismissal and it is fair to say I am unhappy there in any case, I need to see whether it is worth my while going down the official route and burning a few bridges on the way. Many thanks in advance. dtothel

Hi everyone, I have been having alot of problems at work for around a year and a half and a month ago I was verbally abused by my work collegue whom also pushed me. I put a grievance in following which I won, yet I have still been kept off of work for a month so far until the situation is sorted, yet the other individual is still at work. I have been treated differently and even the manager has been treating me badly she doesnt even talk to me anymore as she is very good friends with the other individual and it is a small company. I have told my manager previously about other situations and she just laughs about it. I even put in a complaint around three months ago about the way that I am treated at work which was simply ignored. I want to know what my options are and if I can claim constructive dismissal as I feel like the company are trying to keep me off of work for as long as possible until I leave. Thanks in advance

Hi there, I need to submit a schedule of loss to the respondent by 17/06/11. Can I include injury to feelings? Thank you kindly!