Prolonged grievance with employer

Takeaway_Addict

specialboy wrote: »

The law says that you accrue holiday whilst on the sick, you can request that this be paid to you while sick but you cant demand it. Your contract may override the latter though.

I'm pretty sure you can get paid sick pay but if they refuse there is little that can be done bar goto a tribunal.

Phil_68

Hi,

First off, your time limit start ticking from the date of dismissal. As you are still employed the clock hasn't started yet.

Staying on to 'make your point and the other person suffer' is never a good tactic.

Did your sick leave start before or after your letter of grievance?

Discrimination cases are extremely hard to prove without evidence, and still tough with it. Your length of service is against you also.

As for the letters you wrote them, did you send recorded/signed for? You do have copies I presume? When you wrote for updates, did you give them a time limit for a reply or leave it open? Did you send them recorded?

Your witness may become an asset in time, but get them to write a witness statement asap so you have something in writing and it's still fresh in the mind.

Are you still being paid? Sick pay or SSP?

Holiday pay is or can be a complicated one. When does your annual leave year start/finish? If they are withholding pay then that is another wrong thing they need to sort out.

You will also benefit from writing a serious and proper letter that leaves no room for them to wriggle, they have failed miserably in dealing with your grievance and this needs a swift and satisfactory conclusion.

ACAS - what have they said? In my experience, they are either very good or very poor. If they have contacted your employer 3 times without any movement then they fall into the latter for me. What is there advice on this and do you agree with it?

To sum up, a reality check is needed. You feel aggrieved and rightly so, any discrimination is wrong. But I fear you have a long hard battle for very little gain. That is not to say you should give up, rather you need to fully understand that you have little in your favour that warrants the effort involved in getting the result you want. It is not an easy road to tread.

I hope you understand that these questions need to be asked to give you the best advice to help you.

Phil.

Undervalued

Danielab wrote: »

As far as I have been advised it was ruled that you can request to take and be paid for annual leave whilst on sick pay, as carrying over annual leave over a certain amount goes against more WTR.
I have been advised by the solicitor, ACAS, citizens advice and citizens legal advice about the issue regarding holiday pay.
I can only say what I have been informed, and my contract certainly does override it of it is not the case.

I think you are misunderstanding this.

An employer can tell you when you can and cannot take your holiday.

Holiday, at the statutory rate of 28 days per year, continues to accrue whilst you are off sick (Stringer). If your contract entitles you to more holiday than this then the employer MAY have rules that mean you lose some or all of the extra holiday due to sickness.

However, unless contractually required to do so, the employer is under no obligation to pay you for holiday whilst you remain off sick. You cannot lose it, it will be there for you to take when you return to work. If you do not return then (and only then) they must pay you for it after you leave. In most cases employers are happy for staff to take holiday as a means of "extending" sick pay but they don't have to.

If you think somebody has told you different then either they are wrong or you have misunderstood.

IF you contract gives you extra rights in this respect then your employer MAY be in breach of contract by refusing. However, whether you can realistically do anything about this and get any useful remedy is quite another matter.

Undervalued

OP

I note you have just posted the same question on Redundancy forum.

It will be very interesting to see SarEl's reply as she knows far more about employment law than everybody here put together (with one exception who sadly doesn't post often these days for health reasons).

Takeaway_Addict

Undervalued wrote: »

OP

I note you have just posted the same question on Redundancy forum.

It will be very interesting to see SarEl's reply as she knows far more about employment law than everybody here put together (with one exception who sadly doesn't post often these days for health reasons).

I agree. She will provide IMO good advice but it will be blunt.

Bantex_2

Danielab wrote: »

SpecialBoy.... Google Stringer case law.... And it's in my contract of employment that if a holiday occurs during sickness absence, holiday pay shall be paid rather than sick pay.

Doubt if I would want to employ you. You sound a complete pain.

Danielab_2

I don't feel that I am a pain... I just feel that if a company has policies and procedures in place, and they are breached, then surely they should be held responsible?
And surely, if I am being bullied at work, the manager should be disciplined for this? There are several documents (supervision, informal meetings) that clearly show I have done nothing wrong, that my actions were correct, but I have been reprimanded for.

If I do not have a case, that is fine, but I find it unfair that you can judge me from a few posts on a forum.

Danielab_2

I only came on here for advice, if I have no claim to make, I will simply tender my resignation and cut my losses.

There is no harm in asking for advice when you are new to this.

Sorry if I have offended anybody with my posts

specialboy

OP, im not trying to belittle what you say you have been through but if that's enough to put you on the sick then my advice to you would be just to drop it, find somewhere else to work and move on. You feel stressed now but you will feel even worse after months and months of trying to prove your case.

Undervalued

Danielab wrote: »

Sorry if I have offended anybody with my posts

Well you certainly haven't offended me!

Your only possible claim (due to lack of two years service) would be if your could PROVE unlawful discrimination. To make this claim you would have to resign and claim constructive dismissal. You cannot appeal a grievance to an ET.

Less than 3% of constructive dismissal claims succeed. It will cost you £1200 to file a claim and you will, realistically, need legal representation. You are not in a union so you will have to fund this yourself. In the unlikely event that you win you won't get costs so you would need to win "big" to end up in pocket.

All that take no account of the human factors and stress involved which will be huge.

It is a substantial risk, it may seem unfair but that is how it is.

Sorry.