I think my employer is trying to get rid of me

[JoeyJoeC]

I have been at the same company since it started 3 years ago. I have been presented with around three contracts, all of which I refused to sign due to mistakes in the badly written contracts (out of date law references, conflicting information etc). I have heard that if you continue to work more than 30 days and receive regular payments, then you automatically accept the contract.

 

How does this work for someone like me that has expressively and with reason rejected the contract?

[Sidewinder]

A contract does not need to be in writing to be enforceable, nor do you need to sign it for it to be binding on both parties. What it comes down to is whether you made in clear - in writing - that you did not accept the terms of the new contract and were continuing to work under protest. If you did, and this could be evidenced, then you may well not be bound by the terms of that contract, however if there is no formal notification that you refused to accept the terms then by attending work and accepting payment this would constitute acceptance. There is no specific period (30 days or otherwise) which would create acceptance, and ultimately if it came down to it an Employment Tribunal would have to determine whether sufficient time had elapsed .

[JoeyJoeC]

I guess I should change my Job title from "IT Support Analyst", to "Office Manager" and report to the old office. I also am not allowed by contract to take more than 2 weeks paternity leave, and my holiday leave is based on which page I look at! My working hours are now "When the company requires you to work".

[JoeyJoeC]

What happens in the event of my last post, when key details such as Job Title are wrong, and incorrect laws are in there too?

[Sidewinder]

Statute will always override contractual terms, but with other areas of concern this would come down to whether you have notified the employer of specific points for clarification. Have you written to the employer to query the bits that you disagree with? If so and they haven't responded then make it into a more formal grievance and it should then be dealt with via a proper hearing with a written response.

[JoeyJoeC]

Statute will always override contractual terms, but with other areas of concern this would come down to whether you have notified the employer of specific points for clarification. Have you written to the employer to query the bits that you disagree with? If so and they haven't responded then make it into a more formal grievance and it should then be dealt with via a proper hearing with a written response.

 

It's only a 4 person company, and I've known the MD for 10 years now as we worked together at a previous company. I haven't written anything down to him, but he sat next to me and asked why I didn't want to sign it, I listed the points, and his words were "oh for f***s sake, they couldn't do a simple task!". And that was several months ago.

[JoeyJoeC]

I haven't been sacked, but I did have a conversation with my manager which he was very rude and accused a colleague of pulling a "sicky". I have had enough of him being the way he is to people, I plan on pulling the company owner into a meeting tomorrow. I would love to play the call to him but I understand since I didn't obtain permission to do this, it may be illegal to do so.

 

So my plan instead is to pull both of them into a meeting, and ask my manager outright if he will consent to me playing the call out to them both.

 

I'm worried this will back fire and they may decide to dismiss me for recording the call in the first place. (All of my calls are recorded using an app).

 

Just wanted to check if this was possible for them to do?

[citizenB]

This question in one form or another appears to be asked quite regularly over the last year or so. I will try and find someone who can help.

 

My own personal opinion is - if you record all your calls as a matter of form, then you would just simply advise this and ask permission for the call to be replayed to them.

 

Please do wait for other opinions though.

[Conniff]

So are you saying your colleague 'wasn't' pulling a sicky ??

[JoeyJoeC]

So are you saying your colleague 'wasn't' pulling a sicky ??

 

Yes, he wasn't.

 

Thats beyond the point though. The manner in which my manager spoke to me during the call was not how you should speak to an employee.

 

Although things aren't looking bright. I emailed the MD to report something he had done on an unrelated incident, and the MD replied back to me, copying in my manager telling me to speak to him about it instead. No confidentiality!

[ericsbrother]

you can record your conversations as an aide memoire and they can be used in court for many purposes but you cannot use them as suggested.

If you cannot arrange a meeting with the company owner on a 1-1 basis then you had better be ready for the consequences of outing your boss to his boss. Dont forget, the company owner employed this person and that means that he will be supported if he has made errors that are recoverable. Now, should you be fired then you may be able to use your recordings to support your appeal or any tribunal claim but it would be better to have other fish to fry

[JoeyJoeC]

Not sure if it makes much difference but I have known the owner for 11+ years now, I was the first employee at his company. This manager was brought in a few months ago, 2 people walked out after a month of him being here, me and the other employee are just about holding on.

 

I did speak to the owner (and my friend) about him before, but he just accused us of disliking him and said something along the lines of "well he brings in clients", (also lost 2, almost 3 now).

 

I do get the feeling now that something is going on, they are very secretive about things... Might not be a bad idea ercisbrother!

[Conniff]

Thats beyond the point though.

 

It's not beyond the point, making an unsubstantiated claim is different from whinging about someone who is genuinely off sick. There is also the amount of time and frequency this particular colleague has taken off, it is a dismissible offence taking time off without leave, so all these things have to be considered.

[JoeyJoeC]

It was not the point I wanted to bring up with the owner.

 

For the record, he indirectly accused him of taking a sick day without being sick.

[Emmzzi]

You have had an awful lot of minor issues with this employer all coming to a head just now.

 

I would seriously leave of your own accord. You seem ill matched to each other?

[steampowered]

Perfectly legal to playback the recording.

 

It could cause waves, though. If you were recording secretly the manager might see that as a breach of trust.

[JoeyJoeC]

Well I've known the owner for 11 years, we worked together at a previous company, I've met his family etc. He went back on a lot of promises, and brought this other guy in who is a couple of years older then me, but treats me and the other employee like kids! I wanted to speak to the owner in confidence about him, but going by his last email, he has already taken sides!

 

Steam, I did mention to him once before that I record all of my calls, but not sure if he took that in.

 

I will update my CV tonight and start sending it out. Seems a shame as I have been with the company since the start, but I'm also not sure I want to work with a company that sells services and equipment that clients don't actually need.

[BankFodder]

I would save all the recordings for use in case you have to use them to defend yourself.

 

I completely agree that it could be seen as a breach of trust – in fact I'm sure that it would.

 

I'm sure that this is not the time to start using the recordings. Keep on recording things and save them that an extremely rainy day

[JoeyJoeC]

I had made some posts previously about my employer, but I feel now it has come to another level. There are 2 main things that have come up:

 

1. I have recently been suffering from migranes, they come in chunks where I would get them a few times a week. The last chunk was last year, however I had 2 recently while at work and had to leave to go home.

 

I had a meeting with my manager and the company owner where they said I should see a doctor about them. I agreed, but told them appointments take 2 weeks at my current doctors, so I will move doctors first and make an appointment.

 

Last night I had an email where the company owner said:

 

"Because of the nature of the work we do you are in a position where you need to go to clients and also spend periods of time by yourself in the office. And at the moment I do not feel you are fit for this.

 

As agreed on Friday I need you to obtain a Fit note from your doctor where it clearly states you have explained the problems you have been having and proper tests have been carried to ensure your condition is under control."

 

So this morning I called him to ask if I am allowed to go in to the office if he thinks I am unfit to work.

 

He accused me of "hanging off of every word" and turned it around to say if I feel I am unfit to work then I shouldn't go in. I had to ask him several times if this meant I couldn't go in to the office and he was very funny about it and said no he didn't say that?! I have it in an email!

 

I also have the call recorded,

 

The second thing, is that I have been working on a system as a developer for the last couple of years, and it finally went live Friday. I got all of the bugs solved and it went through extensive testing with the client. Then on Saturday, I had calls and emails to ask me to change some system links to point to the live site instead of the test site, I changed these on Saturday and emailed him back. I later got a voicemail to say that I had missed something, and then later an email to say never mind, they fixed it. So thought nothing of this.

 

Then last night in a second email, he sent a long email to say (along the lines of, I reworded it ever so slightly in case I'm not suppose to share emails):

 

"This is not the first time you done this, you rush things and leave us looking bad with the client". He then went on to "You knew we were going live and this was important, but you ignored the emails and calls."

 

"The company provided you with a mobile phone to make and receive calls when you're on the go, what is the point of you ignoring this completely?"

 

"I'm very disappointed, I rely thought I could rely on you at least for this weekend so we can get online but clearly I shouldn't"

 

This is out the blue, and what he said is unfounded, I replied to their emails and returned their calls within minutes. I didn't ignore any calls, I didn't reply the last one when he said "nevermind" as I didn't think I needed to. This all comes within days of this big system going live, and he sent it all over email which is worrying. Any complaints I make about my manager to him (things he has appreciated me telling him the past) , he tells my manager.

 

I feel that he is now trying to get me to leave, even drive me slightly mad!

[Emmzzi]

Yes; the big project is finished, you have a bad working relationship - this would be exactly the time.

[citizenB]

I have merged 3 of your employment threads - it will give anyone trying to help you an overall picture of what is going on. The 3 individual thread titles are still visible - again, so others trying to help will see what is going on.

[JoeyJoeC]

Thanks Citizen, probably a good idea.

 

Emmzzi, That is what I fear. The allegations the owner is making now are lies, I think I'm going to take up another job I had been offered.

[Mr.P]

1. I have recently been suffering from migranes, they come in chunks where I would get them a few times a week. The last chunk was last year, however I had 2 recently while at work and had to leave to go home.

 

I had a meeting with my manager and the company owner where they said I should see a doctor about them. I agreed, but told them appointments take 2 weeks at my current doctors, so I will move doctors first and make an appointment.

 

 

This may seem an odd suggestion, but go and see an optician and get them to do a full eye test. Your employer may even fund the test, especially if you work with computers.

 

Background: I used to work with someone who would complain about headaches, and as she worked with computers, an eye test was suggested. The optician noticed something unusual when looking into one eyeball and referred her to the hospital for further tests. Scans revealed a tumor just behind the eye and an operation was required. Due to the size and location, a 50:50 chance of survival of the operation was given. Unfortunately, she lost.

[JoeyJoeC]

This may seem an odd suggestion, but go and see an optician and get them to do a full eye test. Your employer may even fund the test, especially if you work with computers.

 

Background: I used to work with someone who would complain about headaches, and as she worked with computers, an eye test was suggested. The optician noticed something unusual when looking into one eyeball and referred her to the hospital for further tests. Scans revealed a tumor just behind the eye and an operation was required. Due to the size and location, a 50:50 chance of survival of the operation was given. Unfortunately, she lost.

 

Hi, Thanks for your suggestion. That's sad to hear.

 

I have already been and had a full eye test a few months ago. I had to go back for retests, but eventually they said I was fine with good eye sight. They suggested to take more regular breaks.

[JoeyJoeC]

Good news is that another job position I had been offered are still wanting to take me on. So as soon as I get an official offer, I will be handing my notice in.

 

My manager has also now been giving me tasks to do with unrealistic deadlines, and last minute telling me to go to different locations and refusing to give me reasons.