New Business. Resigning. Grievance. Spanners.

Tuono

Hi folks, here's one for you. It's a long one, but I'll try and keep it as brief as poss.

Back in April 2013, I decided that I was no longer happy with my current job and employer for numerous reasons, and wanted to restart my own retail printing business again. I'm over qualified and experienced at my job, and have been self employed doing the same kind of work before, but not on the scale that I have planned. The planning and organising has took 9 months, but it's finally ready to go.

When I became employed by them in 2006, my new bosses basically bought my old, small business from me, including equipment I owned and the professional clientele I'd gained over the previous 6 years trading.

In August 2013, I seriously injured my neck and haven't been back to work since. This was a recurring injury caused by numerous motorcycling accidents, that my employer knew about, but my spine had finally given up and put me in some serious grief. MRIs and X-rays later, I was offered an operation to remove a disc in my neck and replace it with carbon fibre. The operation was done on Nov 27th and I am making a full recovery, yet it is a slow process. I should be able to take up my hobby of head-butting the floor at 100mph in about another 2 months time.

At the beginning of December, I felt it was only right that I told my employers what I had planned, even though I was unable to leave the house or even talk for longer than 5 minutes without my voice disappearing altogether. My department manager's initial response was one of shock, but she understood that I was wanting the best for me and my family and wishes me well. The general manager of the company and directors however are not so happy for me, even though I will not be in competition with them and was willing to offer them some extra business.

Some of the services that I aim to provide are simply not doable at my new business premises, so I asked my department manager if they would accept some subcontracted work passed to them. She said yes, as it would be beneficial to them, as competition would not be an issue, and my new business would be over 5 miles away. I don't actually need to use them. I have contacts from other companies that would be more than willing to take on the work, but I didn't want to burn bridges and wished to remain friends with the company and my soon to be ex-work mates. My manager doesn't want me to leave as she feels that I am not only a good friend, but also an asset to the company, who has helped them make a lot of money with quality work and ideas to improve the business, but she understands my needs and wants.

In the mean time, the general manager (who's also a director, whom I considered a good friend), decided that he was going to throw his toys out of the pram and make the issue of me leaving, personal. He has used the company secretary as a way of 'communicating' with me, as it appears that his spine has now turned to custard and he can't talk to me. He immediately demanded I return anything that he had loaned me and the keys to the workshop. Things like the laptop he gave me after my son broke his and couldn't continue his college work. Demanded borrowed DVDs and CDs back. He even blocked me on Twitter. This is a professional man in his 50s, not a 14 year-old. It's beyond pathetic. The other directors are "miffed" that I didn't go to them with the idea in the 1st place, so that they could fund the project. They don't seem to understand that I'm doing it for me and mine, and not so that the directors can have extra golfing holidays abroad whilst me and my colleagues do all the work. The last insult was to give all of my colleagues a bonus at Christmas. Guess who didn't get one? Their Reason? It's a bonus for working for them through 2014. Seeing as I'll be leaving, I'm not entitled. Utter rubbish that you could say, p***ed me off just a tad. All this childish back-stabbing has been done whilst I've been off sick. Statutory sick pay and the all the stress made Christmas a little tougher, but we still had a good one nonetheless.

The upshot is, my sick note runs out on 8th Jan and I would be expected to return to work on light duties. I don't want to return to my job to complete my notice. I feel I cannot work with a man so petty. We are both strong characters with a fiery temper at times and I know that our next meeting will start and end in a blazing row. If this row took place out of work, then I'd have no problem with us tearing lumps out of each other, but I don't want to end up in a nose to nose at work. It's not professional.

So. What do I do? Where do I stand legally? Can I tell them to stick it and walk away without being sued? Can they chuck a spanner in my new business? Can I request Garden Leave?

I seem to find conflicting answers by searching on Googlenet and the government's websites seems to bang on about the rights of the employer and not the employee. The CAB and ACAS won't take emails and I'm not in a trade union, so I appeal to anyone's sage council.

Ta.