my friend who works as a security guard

[ErikaPNP]

well, after having a lengthy conversation with one of the mangers this morning, the matter is now "under investigation", and they have asked that i go back this time next week, primarily to process my fast tracked JSA claim (fast track eh?, takes em over a week to sort out, *sigh*), but also to inform me of the findings of the investigation.

 

I have asked that any findings and a report etc be put in writing for me to be able to take a copy away.

 

so, they have a week to think up a good excuse

 

Good on you for asking for it in writing!! If you find they don't put it in writing, insist. You have handed them an official letter of complaint, you have the right to a reply addressing the nature of the complaint and any subsequent action taken as a result of your complaint in writing, no matter what the outcome is, you have that right of written correspondance.

[ErikaPNP]

Dunno if this would be of interest to you, godpikachu: Jobcentre Plus - Our Charter

 

Specifically :

 

Our responsibilities to you

We will:

 

 

• treat you with respect - Not fulfilled
  
• be fair and helpful - Not fulfilled
  
• treat you as an individual by giving you the service you need
  
• behave professionally - Not fulfilled
  
• take responsibility when dealing with you, making sure we do whatever is needed - Not fulfilled
  
• make sure our offices are welcoming and pleasant. This includes having private interview rooms and, if the office has space, more facilities such as children’s play areas, and;
  
• make sure our offices are as safe as possible for all our customers and staff.
  

Fill in the blanks!

Edited April 9, 2009 by ErikaPNP

[godpikachu]

 

Our responsibilities to you

We will:

 

 

• treat you with respect - Not fulfilled
  
• be fair and helpful - Not fulfilled
  
• treat you as an individual by giving you the service you need
  
• behave professionally - Not fulfilled
  
• take responsibility when dealing with you, making sure we do whatever is needed - Not fulfilled
  
• make sure our offices are welcoming and pleasant. This includes having private interview rooms and, if the office has space, more facilities such as children’s play areas, and; not fulfilled
  
• make sure our offices are as safe as possible for all our customers and staff.
  

Fill in the blanks!

 

 

aside from the above, JCPs "responsibilities" are largley governed by what is referred to as the "jobseekers agreement".

 

This document requires the signature of both the jobseeker and a member of JCP staff for it to be legally acceptable, and once done it acts as a form of contract between the JCP and the claimant.

 

Simply put, the jobseekers agreement is a one sided piece of paper focused around absolving JCP of doing anything other than dictating terms to the claimant. at no point in the agreement does it mention any responsibilities burdened on JCP, however the list of responsibilities burdened on the claimant are substancial, for example, it states that you must apply for at least 4 positions per week, and that said applications be made to "suitable" employers.

 

in theory this is fine, however in practice it ignores several key factors, such as availability of suitable employment.

for example, my jobseekers agreement states that i will apply for full time positions in admin, customer service or IT, however availability of these jobs at the moment is almost none existant, so therefore, i cannot fulfill the agreement, however, should i state that i am unable to comply with this agreement, then i will forfeit any entitlement to benefits.

 

in addition, nowhere in any of the literature i have ever been given give details of any additional things i may claim for, such as rent/council tax allowance, clothing vouchers, assistance with learning etc, and, although i am aware of these additional items existance, i do not have access to them due to JCP staff being poorly trained to manage requests for them.

[skonk]

Pik, I'd just go straight to your MP, and the local press. Imagine the headline. Basically, in this time of economic crisis, you have gone out and finally got a job, only to have the JCP accuse you of benefit fraud, and got you the sack, all of which is down to their own incompetence. Don't let them get away with it, mate!

[talisman_81]

Surely you could sue your ex employer for Libel, since they have damaged your reputation by claiming you were doing something illegal, which you were not.

[purejayne]

Any news on the "investigation" GP?

[patdavies]

Surely you could sue your ex employer for Libel, since they have damaged your reputation by claiming you were doing something illegal, which you were not.

 

But not until they put this into writing.

[Fuzzgin]

I'd definitely go to the press as well as your MP. Another thought is to get any paperwork the job centre and your former employer have on you. I don't know whether an SAR would be any use? Just thinking out loud here.

[godpikachu]

just to provide an update to this.

 

firstly, i got out of hospital a couple of days back so i havent had time to do much posting or anything.

Why was i in hospital?, well, i got myself into such a state the other week that i went out and got rather drunk, and then as i was making my way home, i was attacked by a gang of youths intent on mugging me, and recieved some very serious injuries.

 

 

 

anyway, the "investigation" is still ongoing, as JCP have yet to establish who it was that made the call to my former employer, which is a load of rubbish as it will quite clearly state who was the investigating officer on the records.

They also made mention of it possibly not being someone at my local jobcentre, and that it was possibly someone at the areas admin centre, to which i told them i was not willing to make ANOTHER complaint to them, i had made my formal complaint to JCP and it will be handled at my convenience, not theirs.

 

i have spoken to my local MP who says he will have a look into the situation once i have recieved a final notice of JCPs findings, which to be honest i doubt i will ever recieve as from the reaction i got last time i called in and asked to speak to the manager, they are quite clearly just trying to sweep the issue under the carpet and hoping ill go away.

 

i also spoke to my former employers and informed them of the situation, but they arent interested and have told me in no uncertain terms that i am not to contact them at all anymore.

 

theres nothing more i can do really, it seems that "the system" is good at protecting its own, much better than some useless individual that lets himself get beat up by a bunch of chavs.

[godpikachu]

hmm, not one view or comment.

 

ah well, leave it at that then.

[Fuzzgin]

I hope you don't give up. Maybe consider informing the press? In a climate of unemployment I can imagine them getting their teeth into this. Watchdog?

[elche]

Sorry to hear about the assault.

 

Hope you are recovering well.

 

Stay positive.

 

Che

[havinastella]

Hi GP,

 

Just back from a boozy rugby weekend.

 

Sorry to hear about the attack. Don't let this get you down mate.

 

All the very best

 

Jogs

[purejayne]

Gosh - I'm so sorry to hear about whats happened - I hope you are recovering GP.

 

Never mind about the JobCentre - you'll be pushing up daisies before they admit to whoever did this. I personally would now inform the Press about whats happening - it will at least get people squirming - at the moment the Government don't need all this bad publicity - what have you to lose? It may just trigger an investigation into this appalling mess.

[jackieandwayne]

No don't give up! You've been badly wronged and that needs to be put right. I've subscribed and keep looking for updates, but can't offer much except true support - employment law is not my field!

 

I think you should contact them once more, in person, and tell them that if this matter is not resolved in the next seven days you will contact the press, because of course, you wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else would you?! Before this see if you can interest the local paper to start with, tell them everything, including the seven day dead line you have now given the job centre.

 

Your thread grabbed my attention immediately, if you can get a good story in the paper, many others will be grabbed by it to.

 

And I would write to the PM, copied into whoever deals with the JobCentre at this level. - you may laugh but I wrote to him about HB and my elderly parents and I couldn't believe it when not only did I get a reply, from his office, but the problem was sorted within two days of that letter arriving and involved HB having to personally apologise to my mum for distress caused.

 

You are so in the right here, and my motto is never, never give up when you have right on your side. Even in you win only because you have brow beaten everyone into submission!

 

You could also visit your GP in a state of utmost despondency and say something about this has dented your confidence, you have been humiliated beyond reason, so on and so forth. That will be purely the Job Centres fault;)

 

Good luck and I'll keep watching for updates - give em hell!

[Surfer01]

Just a thought. Maybe the company you worked for made up the story in order to lay you off as they discovered they could not afford to take on another employee.

[godpikachu]

Just a thought. Maybe the company you worked for made up the story in order to lay you off as they discovered they could not afford to take on another employee.

 

 

if this was the case then surely the dole office would be scrambling to protest their innocence?.....

[Hacked_Off]

i had a similar situation a while ago because i was signing on for 6 months i was entitled to a months bus pass, 100 pound job grant and a months run on housing benefit.\The lady dealing with me was unaware of this, i had to print it off online to show her! Now for some unknown reason the lady in the job centre ticked a box on the form saying i wouldnt be working more than 5 weeks. which of course was rubbish. So i didnt get a thing. My housing benefit was stopped i was expected to live on nothing and get to work with nothing when this shouldnt have been the case. I was told bvy the job centre to "ring this number" which incidently was an 0845 number and cost me a fortune. I was told 27 times "well ring you back" unsuprisingly they never did. in the mean time my housing benefit has been stopped and im getting demands from my landlord. Eventually i had to take a few days off work to go the CAB. THey didnt even bother to ring the CAB back. So i had to take more time off work or loose my flat. In the end i got sacked becdause i was never there. I went into the job centre to demand to see the moron who made the cock up. I was told, no matter what time of day i went in "shes on her lunch" i put in a complaint to the job centre office and jupitor house who were dealing with me. That was in dec and i havnt recieved a reply from either. After putting the complaint in the job centre rang me up and screamed down the phone at me "how dare you complain about my staff" . |I live over the road from there now and i make it my purpose in life to bring them down. Ive been in the CAB today and the lady who helped me over the job centre has said she has had loads in with exactly the same problem from the same job centre. They are a disgrace. Dont give up mate if you do they will do it again.

[godpikachu]

hi there, i need a really quick answer on this one.

 

 

 

my friend was employed at on the 25th of october 2008 at a care home as a gardener/caretaker/driver.

he has never been given any kind of formal contract but he was given an introductory letter outlining his duties.

 

he has had no problems at all until today (08/7/09), when he was told by one of the head carers that from now on he is no longer the caretaker but is now instead a care assistant.

 

he has confronted the managment about this sudden and complete change of duties but they say that they made the decision on monday and he has to abide by it.

 

he is not qualified or trained to be a carer or nurse to mentally disabled or impared people, and he has no interest in being a care assistant either.

 

 

 

as you can tell, he does not have the full 12 months under his belt for tribunal action but surely they cannot make such a massive alteration to his job role/t&cs??

 

 

help please...ASAP

[godpikachu]

can anyone help, this is mega, mega urgent.

[diskmandave]

One for ACAS this I think.

[elche]

as you can tell, he does not have the full 12 months under his belt for tribunal action but surely they cannot make such a massive alteration to his job role/t&cs??

 

Indeed GP he does not. Thus the question is more one of, 'Should the employer unilaterally alter the contract of employment and thus breach the same, what can the short-service employee do?'

 

As you are well aware, with less than 12 months service, unless an exemption can be relied on to bring a claim for unfair dismissal, the answer is very little.

 

He is in a very weak position unfortunately - can he some how link this to an exemption?

 

Che

[godpikachu]

He is in a very weak position unfortunately - can he some how link this to an exemption?

 

Che

 

 

ive PMed you some details, as he doesnt want the full thing discussing in public...., might be something, might be nothing.

[patdavies]

A thought occurs to me; has he been CRB checker. He wouldn't necessarily need to be for a gardener/caretaker type job, but most definitely would to be a carer.

[kfdh1962]

excellent point made pat...