A friend of mine works in a office,she has been there for 3 years now without issue.
Until recently,basically another worker who happens to be a close friend of the owner of the company had no work in her dept so she had been given my friends duties and my friend has been told to come into work as usual although she has literally nothing to do all day,and I mean literally nothing!
My friend tells me she has been told to find another job if she doesn’t like it,Now being at work getting paid to do absolutely nothing may sound great to some but not sitting at a desk for 8hrs a day!,my friend has been told from another source that the whole thing happened so as to not have to put the owners close friend out of work as her job was no longer there.
So in short my friend has been pushed out of her job and into a non existent position,which mentally is putting her under a lot of stress as she suffers from depression.
Also being so close to Xmas she doesn’t want to walk out as she has a child.
Don’t know if this is in the right “area” but would welcome some thoughts.
My advise would be to seek advise from ACAS sure that many TN members will have thoughts but they will not be as meaningful as the advise given by ACAS who are specialists in Employment Legislation.
I can’t see any claim for constructive dismissal there.
Perhaps in the near future there may be a claim for unfair selection to redundancy or similar.
Best to seek proper advice from someone who KNOWS what they are doing
If she can prove that she has been told to “find other work if you don’t like it” then there are grounds for constructive dismissal. She’ll need a witness to confirm it was said otherwise it’s her word against theirs.
I think if the situation continues for any length of time there could be a case for constructive dismissal.
I agree though that proper professional advice from people who have experience in these matters should be the first call, i.e. ACAS.
Yes, seek professional advice, and don’t leave it too long, otherwise there will be muddy waters and one word against another as to who was performing what duties when.
Ensure your friend is keeping everything in the form of a diary of some sort whilst fresh in her mind, written with date locked electronic back up so that events can be referenced should this end up at a hearing in 2 years time.
Not even going to ask if this sideways shift and subsequent invitation to simply disappear has been given in writing…arses.
Don’t suppose she’s a member of a union or professional association, this is exactly why people need unions.
In my previous life I was a appeals manager and heard many stories along these lines
If she has no written proof, ie a memo or email nor a signed witness statement then it’s only verbal and extremely hard to prove as it could be taken as resentment by your friend towards the company and she will lose.
What she needs to do is go into work each day as normal, ask for work to do and record details of conversation in a diary. If theyuse internal emails which I assume they do I would at end of each day send an email to her boss asking for him / her to leave instructions on what work there is for the following day.
Unfortunately she is now in the evidence gathering stage so needs to record everything in a diary. I’d get her to ask several times a day ’ is there anything you’d like me to do ’ and record time asked.
Also, make she keeps her duty hours correct, breaks etc
It will be hard but she needs to or will not have grounds.
ACAS will want proof she’s fully exhausted all internal grievance process’s before they will entertain any hearing .
Constructive dismissal is hard and can be expensive to prove so the more evidence she has the better, any colleagues who will witness the treatment Without any personal comments will be a massive help - No 'well I think it’s terrible what’s happening or they think it’s because other person is keeping her job etc ’
It needs to be factual as in they heard your friend ask for work and hopefully the reply she got.
Isn’t there anyone else in company HR she can ask for advice?
dcgpx:
In my previous life I was a appeals manager and heard many stories along these linesIf she has no written proof, ie a memo or email nor a signed witness statement then it’s only verbal and extremely hard to prove as it could be taken as resentment by your friend towards the company and she will lose.
What she needs to do is go into work each day as normal, ask for work to do and record details of conversation in a diary. If theyuse internal emails which I assume they do I would at end of each day send an email to her boss asking for him / her to leave instructions on what work there is for the following day.
Unfortunately she is now in the evidence gathering stage so needs to record everything in a diary. I’d get her to ask several times a day ’ is there anything you’d like me to do ’ and record time asked.
Also, make she keeps her duty hours correct, breaks etc
It will be hard but she needs to or will not have grounds.
ACAS will want proof she’s fully exhausted all internal grievance process’s before they will entertain any hearing .
Constructive dismissal is hard and can be expensive to prove so the more evidence she has the better, any colleagues who will witness the treatment Without any personal comments will be a massive help - No 'well I think it’s terrible what’s happening or they think it’s because other person is keeping her job etc ’
It needs to be factual as in they heard your friend ask for work and hopefully the reply she got.
Isn’t there anyone else in company HR she can ask for advice?
Same as above. Also people seem to think that compensation (if you win)will be a massive sum but that’s not always the case.She’s best to take above advise also join a union, they won’t take on live cases but if nothing official has happened she should be ok.
Thanks for the advice guys,will look up ACAS.
She just feels as she is being pushed out of a job she loves/loved doing to keep a family friend of the owner in a job.
Simply walking out is not an option as there is a mortgage/bills and child to pay for,and there is not many jobs around this time of year advertised due to the slow down of the festive period.