Tuesday Q&As

19.9.23

• Dismissed for asking for pay rise and holiday. What are my next steps?

• Partner asked to pick up dead rats and drug paraphernalia. Can he refuse?

• Must I disclose the names of colleagues as part of an investigation?

• Holiday calculation for irregular hours

• Holiday confusion!

• Bullied and resigned. Can I report the company whilst working my notice?

• Detrimental treatment because of a disability

• Dismissed and employer reneging on contractual notice period. What is the situation?

• No pay for work completed. Next steps?

• Underpayment in wages. What should I do?

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Dismissed for asking for pay rise and holiday. What are my next steps?

Q. I worked in private restaurant as morning cleaner ( only me no other cleaner) 5 days a week 16 hrs weekly from  4 years and 8 months permanent contract ( don't have copy not sure how long notice period one or 2weeks).

I went to manager to booking my holiday because I bought ticket for Xmas to my country) my manager said to me that have bad news for me that is no job for me ( day before everything was okay I asked  him about rise my wages per hrs by 0.62p And he says that he will thinking about this and now they don't need me.)

He said that my job will doing bar staff on evening  around time when   close restaurant. So no morning cleaner needed. But they never care about cleaning always I cleaned all.

1. Manager just asked me how much holiday they owed me ( to add to my wages for last week)

2. He don't say nothing about notice period !

I asked when I  finish he said  now. Please give me keys.

3. He don't say anything that will be paid me notice period.

4. He was surprised when I asked about redudancy payment 4 years × weekly wages but finally said that he will find out with office and he  let me know on Monday.

 5. He said to back keys now and I left without job from Monday. They don't give me chance to find job to don't lost my benefits ( I am single mother on old tax credit system not universal credit)

I am sure that at this day he should give me on paper redudancy notice I nothing received. Was never any sign that they thinking about redudancy. Because restaurant is big and always they was happy with my job. 

I am heartbroken. Where is my right ? 

A. You have been treated appallingly. You have been in employment for more than two years, so you have full employment rights. You should have been notified of the potential redundancy situation, and you should have had a period of consultation. 

It appears that you have asked for a pay rise and for time off, and as a consequence, you have been dismissed. You have a number of potential claims in the employment tribunal, such as automatically unfair dismissal for asserting a statutory right to holiday, unfair dismissal for the redundancy, being both procedurally and substantially unfair and a breach of contract claim for your notice pay and any outstanding holiday pay. And if you don’t have a written employment contract, you can claim up to 4 weeks’ pay for that too.

You must contact ACAS asap and start the pre-claim conciliation process, which can be done online and costs nothing. At the conclusion of the process (generally 28 days) you can make an online claim for the reasons listed above. 

If you need any assistance, get in touch with your local Citizens Advice Centre.