I am asking this in relation to an earlier query I had when I was having problems with my previous employer, full details can be found at this link http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=43333
The shortened version is, I took a job with the company in July 2006 after being told I was on a 6 month probationary contract but at the end of it I would be taken on permanent. After 4 months I was told there had been a mix up and I was in fact only on a Maternity Leave contract and had to leave in January 2007. I managed to get another position in the company, again only on a 6 month contract despite the position being classed as “permanent”. I was effectively treated as a new starter and given less pay and only a temporary contract against the other staff that also transferred who were given higher wages and permanent contracts (I didn’t know that at the time!) When I found a better job I gave them a week’s notice which was initially accepted but I was told soon after as my “probation” had ended in January I had to give a month’s notice! I left and the end of my week’s notice and since then have received 3 letters making vague threats about taking further action against me! I decided if that was the case I would make sure I had all the facts and under the Data Protection Act got all the information they had on me.
Reading through the file, it was no surprise that they were well aware in November 06 that there had been a mix up but instead of admitting it and/or sorting it they simply put me on a “specified purpose” contract to cover the maternity leave from November. There is a copy of a letter in my file advising me of this new contract however I never received it and certainly never signed anything agreeing to the change of contract. Confusingly, there is also another letter dated 2 days earlier advising me my probation was being extended for 3 months until end of March ( which is what I was originally told in November!) To cap it all there are notes on my file in January saying my probation has been completed! If my probation had finished I was therefore entitled to a pay increase of 2000Euro rather than the 840 euro I got when I took the new position on! By my reckoning as I worked for 6 months earning 1260 pa less than I was told I should be on after probation they owe me 630 euro in pay arrears!. Having said that, I really wasn’t interested in attempting to get money from them, I just wanted an apology and admittance from them they had messed me around, until I spotted something that has really riled me.
Around the time the above 2 conflicting letters were being sent to me there is an email from one of the HR people to the 2 girls who shared the reception job which states that an internal letter was on it’s way to me from Head Office but they were to ensure that I did not have that letter passed to me and instead she needed to see it first! This has really shocked me at just how underhand they acted. Is it even legal to withhold or open mail address to me (it would have been marked Private and Confidential) when it is company internal mail? I wasn’t going to bother taking matters any further with them but now I just can’t help feeling that I want to confront them with this and also the fact that they underpaid me for the last 6 months I was there.
The person dealing with this has already written to me in response to a very long letter I sent them detailing all the mess ups and lies I got from them, she has asked me to contract her to discuss matters. However I prefer not to deal with them on the phone, it would be very difficult in my new job and I think it better to have everything in writing between us.
A couple of people have said I should just print off the relevant information from my personal file and let the Employee Tribunal Board deal with it, others that I should take legal advice whereby I am more inclined to just write to them, state the facts as I see them and have evidence off and ask them for pay arrears and an apology. I am genuinely not interested in claiming for compensation (as some people have suggested I should for all the hassle and stress) as I have moved on to a good job with good pay, but I don’t want them to think they can just get away with this kind of thing (which I am certain goes on all the time) without any kind of comeback.
Does anyone have any advice/experience of this kind of thing they could share as I am really in a muddle now as to whether it is worth taking it any further?
Thanks in advance
The shortened version is, I took a job with the company in July 2006 after being told I was on a 6 month probationary contract but at the end of it I would be taken on permanent. After 4 months I was told there had been a mix up and I was in fact only on a Maternity Leave contract and had to leave in January 2007. I managed to get another position in the company, again only on a 6 month contract despite the position being classed as “permanent”. I was effectively treated as a new starter and given less pay and only a temporary contract against the other staff that also transferred who were given higher wages and permanent contracts (I didn’t know that at the time!) When I found a better job I gave them a week’s notice which was initially accepted but I was told soon after as my “probation” had ended in January I had to give a month’s notice! I left and the end of my week’s notice and since then have received 3 letters making vague threats about taking further action against me! I decided if that was the case I would make sure I had all the facts and under the Data Protection Act got all the information they had on me.
Reading through the file, it was no surprise that they were well aware in November 06 that there had been a mix up but instead of admitting it and/or sorting it they simply put me on a “specified purpose” contract to cover the maternity leave from November. There is a copy of a letter in my file advising me of this new contract however I never received it and certainly never signed anything agreeing to the change of contract. Confusingly, there is also another letter dated 2 days earlier advising me my probation was being extended for 3 months until end of March ( which is what I was originally told in November!) To cap it all there are notes on my file in January saying my probation has been completed! If my probation had finished I was therefore entitled to a pay increase of 2000Euro rather than the 840 euro I got when I took the new position on! By my reckoning as I worked for 6 months earning 1260 pa less than I was told I should be on after probation they owe me 630 euro in pay arrears!. Having said that, I really wasn’t interested in attempting to get money from them, I just wanted an apology and admittance from them they had messed me around, until I spotted something that has really riled me.
Around the time the above 2 conflicting letters were being sent to me there is an email from one of the HR people to the 2 girls who shared the reception job which states that an internal letter was on it’s way to me from Head Office but they were to ensure that I did not have that letter passed to me and instead she needed to see it first! This has really shocked me at just how underhand they acted. Is it even legal to withhold or open mail address to me (it would have been marked Private and Confidential) when it is company internal mail? I wasn’t going to bother taking matters any further with them but now I just can’t help feeling that I want to confront them with this and also the fact that they underpaid me for the last 6 months I was there.
The person dealing with this has already written to me in response to a very long letter I sent them detailing all the mess ups and lies I got from them, she has asked me to contract her to discuss matters. However I prefer not to deal with them on the phone, it would be very difficult in my new job and I think it better to have everything in writing between us.
A couple of people have said I should just print off the relevant information from my personal file and let the Employee Tribunal Board deal with it, others that I should take legal advice whereby I am more inclined to just write to them, state the facts as I see them and have evidence off and ask them for pay arrears and an apology. I am genuinely not interested in claiming for compensation (as some people have suggested I should for all the hassle and stress) as I have moved on to a good job with good pay, but I don’t want them to think they can just get away with this kind of thing (which I am certain goes on all the time) without any kind of comeback.
Does anyone have any advice/experience of this kind of thing they could share as I am really in a muddle now as to whether it is worth taking it any further?
Thanks in advance
