ACAS - oh so slow :(

peterbaker

I was "let go" twelve days ago after I had voiced and formalised complaints about my work environment.

I drove straight to the Employment Tribunal and entered a claim for unfair dismissal the same afternoon. I applied for immediate reinstatement.

I also called the ACAS Helpline(sic)

I won't bore you with the sad lack of help received so far suffice to say:-

1. I did receive a tribunal reference faster than I had dared hope after I chivvied them.
2. I received an ACAS reference by post on Saturday.
3. I have called ACAS almost daily in the last 12 days suggesting that their role would be best served by grasping this case immediately because there was a no cost option of gaining my reinstatement if my employer could be convinced they had made a basic mistake at law (sacked a bona fide whistleblower). Until the end of last week they avoided getting involved until they had been notified by the tribunal.
4. This morning I finally managed to speak to the "conciliator" allocated to my case. He couldn't find the file despite signing an introductory letter to me on 24.11.04 confirming that the Tribunal had notified them of my case. He sounded lightweight. He has promised to call me back. I have a feeling that the only "back" in his promise will be the one I have to ride all over in order to motivate them into proper (and very late in the day) action.

Or am I being too impatient?

travelchick

Sorry
I have never had to deal with them but i was once sacked for taking to much time off work I was preg and in hosp???
I do hope you get your job back and well done for standing up for yourself
kepp us informed
Trav
:-*

shaz1000

I am sorry to say this, but I wouldn't place to much faith in these people. We had a really clear case against my husband's former employers a few years back. i.e. they were trying to force him and others to remove aspestos without proper training or protective gear. Because my husband refused he was sacked. There were other safety issues as well which he had on video.
Acas were so slow and gave us the impression that we didn't have a very good case, that there just wasn't enough time to get all the info together before the hearing. Luckily the employer settled out of court but we did not get much and it was only after that the Acas man told us the company were really worried about the case . Had he done his job properly we probably would have got a much bigger pay out. I hope you have more luck than us !

shaz1000

Further to my last post I would also like to say that the idiots that were removing aspestos then are still removing it today. Saving the company thousands that they would have to spend on having it removed safely. They are too stupid to realise the dangers and even refered to my husband as being a trouble maker!

16011996

can't offer much advice, but wishing you the best of luck.

peterbaker

Yeah I have learned not to expect too much from any quarter thesedays. People experienced enough to lead public and private sector organisations properly and with a moral standard depicted in Ealing Studios movies have generally long since retired or plain given-up or simply departed with gifts of all the best china. Often that just leaves the rest of us to play with the grounds of a busted teabag in the bottom of our cracked mugs on a daily basis.

It also means that people like us who were taught the Ealing Studios way are largely the authors of our own destinies, but rarely anyone elses, when it comes to such issues. Very few complaint handlers see things with the sepia complexions we remember from our youth. Generally public support for our way of thinking is patchy.

Few people dare risk saying what they feel and many have grown so insensitive that they think that complaining is just antisocial. When people like us do win results for ourselves, the lessons that could be learned for the benefit of all are all too easily lost and the cost of dealing with us is written off as a bloody nuiscance and no more.

I have just managed to speak with my ACAS conciliator after leaving a pointed message on his voicemail earlier this morning about why another day had gone by with no action, and then calling him again and getting lucky because he picked up the phone. It seems my voicemail message had been enough to cause him to pick up my file at least.

He wanted to avoid calling me back again until he had managed to speak with my employers (who he says he called this morning but who have not called back). I asked him to call me anyway before the day was out so that I at least knew if he was getting the same response from my employer as me i.e. the bum's rush.

He didn't seem too happy about doing that as he said he had "hundreds of cases" to deal with.

I suggested he might put my case near the top of his list because he might not have many who were simply asking for reinstatement into their old jobs. He agreed that maybe 5 in a hundred are like that and only one of the five succeeds.

I told him I thought I could be that one in a hundred and hopefully he has agreed to apply his mind appropriately to making it so. I believe I have convinced him, but had I not pressed him then I don't think anything at all would be happening.

What do the rest of you think? Would you employ me? Or do you think my particular model is now obsolete?

peterbaker

Further to my last post I would also like to say that the idiots that were removing aspestos then are still removing it today. Saving the company thousands that they would have to spend on having it removed safely. They are too stupid to realise the dangers and even refered to my husband as being a trouble maker!

I understand you perfectly shaz - I was also unlucky enough to have worked with asbestos when I knew no better. I just pray that as it was the slightly less problematic kind (I was fitting new asbestos cement roofing sheets) and because I have survived 30 years since and am still apparently fit and well, that maybe I got lucky.

An old pal of mine didn't get much beyond his 40th birthday because of exactly the practices you describe.

shaz1000

Good luck with your fight Peter, it takes alot of courage to defend what you feel is right. My husband decided not to tell his future employer about the tribunal, because he thought it might put them off, even though he won. :-X
p.s. Thanks for the correct spelling of asbestos, I thought I had it wrong. :-[

peterbaker

Thank you for your good wishes.

Yes it makes sense not to give a future employer an idea for not employing you.

It's a bloody disgrace that the system is in such bad repair that people like he and me have to hide such things to live reasonably normal lives afterwards.

ACAS have not called me back today. Actually they have not called me at all! Evidently some of their conciliators are a bloody shower.

Meanwhile, the last Friday in the month has come and gone and my employer has not paid me a penny since last month.

My patience is wearing very thin and I shall probably be tempted to name and shame them very soon.

shaz1000

Our experience was just as negative with Acas, as I said. What was worse was that the bloke who was suppose to be representing us seemed very biased towards the employer and kept saying things like "I,ve only got your word for it" and "I can't take sides". We thought he was our advisor!!!! >:(

peterbaker

Well I finally shook some action out of the ACAS tree today - they said they'd made contact with a "management consultant" at my employer. A what?

They couldn't remember names because the ACAS files "are at home because we work a lot from home" so I helpfully provided some loaded clues.

It transpires that my employer is not optimistic about the prospect of reinstating me and have engaged an interesting outfit named EEF to handle the matter for them. ACAS can do no more than wait to hear from them in about the 3 weeks they have left to respond to the tribunal unless EEF pick up the phone first.

http://www.eef.org.uk seem to be the people we are talking about. This is a new one on me! Is this a kind of overt 'Economic League' type outfit, I wonder? They offer an Employment Tribunal service for their members, "Last year we won 78% of cases" they pronounce on their website. God bless their cotton socks! I guess that gives a good clue that they fancy themselves in a ruck!