Dispute with potential employers...help please!

Cuppatea1982

Hi there
I’m wondering if anyone can help me.
My sister applied with local employers to become a career. She had her interview on 19th July and they gave her the job the same day. Pior to this, they said they needed photographic ID with her application, in order to proceed with the interview process....so she paid the £86 for the new passport specifically for this reason.
As the job was care work, she needed a CRB check too. She handed in her details for the CRB application to the employers in question on 19th August and assumed they would submit the details as soon as possible to the CRB company. We have found out today that the employers did not submit the CRB check until 14th October (I rang CRB company and they have an electronic trail of the employers creating the application on the 13th Oct and emailing it over on the 14th) which is two months of waiting for nothing. There is no reason for this delay on their part, just them being lazy/inept/unorganised. (she also tried to lie and say she handed it in on the same day)
Needless to say we aren’t impressed. I rang the employers today to say that she now seeking alternative employment as she can’t wait anymore due to financial difficulties partly due to shelling out money for the passport and CRB and she doesn’t want the job because of this. She was told in training for this job that the £50 for the CRB is non-refundable until you have worked 3 months + for the company. She signed a contract stating this....although they didn’t give her a copy of the contact btw.
She is now seeking alternative employment as she can’t wait any longer for the job due to financial problems and due to the time it has taken/still taking for the CRB, which is partially due to this companies ineptitude delaying the application for 2 months to begin with.
What I want to know is, has she got a leg to stand on getting for the £50 back which was billed to her for the CRB for this reason? I rang them today and asked to be refunded but they said no as she had signed the contact. Nobody is going to wait months on end for a job and not try and look for other employment. Would it be worth looking on taking them to the small claims court? Could we get help with legal costs? I don’t want this happening to anyone else.
Thanks for any information on this in advance
Cuppatea
x

Uncertain

If they have specifically breached an agreement you had with them and as a result you have suffered a financial loss then, in theory at least, you have a valid claim.

Providing you are happy with the idea of never working for them then I would write stating clearly how you have lost money and why it is their fault. State that they have 28 days to reimburse you otherwise you will take legal action.

You can file a county court small claim online yourself for a small fee and you don't need legal representation. You may be able to obtain advice from the CAB or a local law centre. Also, check your house insurance as it MAY give some legal cover for employment matters.

Cuppatea1982

Uncertain wrote: »

If they have specifically breached an agreement you had with them and as a result you have suffered a financial loss then, in theory at least, you have a valid claim.

Providing you are happy with the idea of never working for them then I would write stating clearly how you have lost money and why it is their fault. State that they have 28 days to reimburse you otherwise you will take legal action.

You can file a county court small claim online yourself for a small fee and you don't need legal representation. You may be able to obtain advice from the CAB or a local law centre. Also, check your house insurance as it MAY give some legal cover for employment matters.

Thanks for your advice....very helpful. We will be putting in a claim I think, although they didn't give her a copy of the contact and told her to sign saying she had recieved it, so dont know how that will effect things. Will give it a shot though...

Thanks again

podperson

It does sound like a very shoddy way to treat people but tbh I don't think you would get very far in court. They have a contract signed by her saying the fee is non-refundable, am not sure which point of law you are going to rely on to refute that? Also since it's only for £50 unless she qualifies for legal help then she is going to be paying more then that out in legal fees. I would ask them for the disclosure form though as then if she's applying for other jobs that need it she won't have this issue again.

SarEl

podperson wrote: »

I would ask them for the disclosure form though as then if she's applying for other jobs that need it she won't have this issue again.

Yes she will. In law, CRB checks are not transferable between employers and a legitimate new employer would not accept an old one even if it arrived the day before.

Uncertain

podperson wrote: »

They have a contract signed by her saying the fee is non-refundable, am not sure which point of law you are going to rely on to refute that? Also since it's only for £50 unless she qualifies for legal help then she is going to be paying more then that out in legal fees.

This bit I imagine......

"which is partially due to this companies ineptitude delaying the application for 2 months to begin with."

The OP would need to convince a court that this is unreasonable.

DIY at the small claim's court will only cost the OP the court fee which will be added to the award assuming she wins.

I suspect that a strong well worded letter will be enough. It is not really worth any company's time defending a £50 claim if it has even some validity!

MrRedundant

Its not really that unreasonable. The form needs to be handed in; checked; signed; submitted. Now often it will take time for this to happen especially if the signatories for the organisation or checks are done at a higher level.

Overall 2 months is a lot but in my view not quite into the unreasonable period therefore without timescales attached no contract has been breached

Uncertain

MrRedundant wrote: »

Overall 2 months is a lot but in my view not quite into the unreasonable period therefore without timescales attached no contract has been breached

Debatable I agree.

However my main point was that, as we agree it is a close debatable call, the company won't spend time and money defending a determined fifty quid claim!

podperson

If she writes to them threatening court action then perhaps they would back down, but if she was acually taking it to court then the minimum fees in small claims are £25 and that's assuming they don't have to defend (and I currently have an active case which I have just had to pay another £35 for to submit an allocation questionnaire). Plus the time and effort in putting together papers etc. am just saying that for such a small amount I don't know if I would consider it worthwhile.