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Hi,
I am writing this in behalf of my girlfriend.
Recently she has been employed as a sales assistant at an off-license (between the periods of the end of January to 20/02).
She was given the notice to be sacked on 20/02, which has caused her a great deal of stress and which is why I am here seeking advice.
K is a 20 year old female who has never had paid work before, just voluntary work. After she shortly started, she realised that bits and bobs of the shop are not quite right. However, due to her inexperience, she had not said much about anything.
The first issue is that she had been in 6 - 8 hour shifts. I have read that "minimum 20 minutes break if their working day is longer than six hours" should be allowed. When she asked if she could get a lunch/dinner break, she was told, "you can sit in the back, if a customer comes in, you just go out and deal with them". As it is an off-license, it is nearly impossible to get such a "break" on the weekends. She has missed about 2 dinners in the past week and could only get a small sandwich when she comes back from work as she is exhausted. She has lost weight and appetite since then.
There is a great deal of discommunication within the shop itself. K has not got a mobile phone, so she had always put my phone number down for anything important. As of today, I have yet to receive a phone call or text message from either the owner or any of the more experienced co-workers. Last week, she was given a bit of paper with her hours that she would be in. The owner said to her that "these are your hours", which K thought would mean for the rest of her time working at the shop until further notice. On Monday, 17/02, at about 1 p.m. she went to the shop to hand over the keys as she thought she would not be working until 19/02, just to find out that she would be working 2 hours later. She panicked as she originally had plans to meet her mother which they do not see very often. She said to the lady L, who was in charge with the rota that she would not be able to work while panicking. Just to be told that she would be working on Thursday 20/02 at 10 a.m., and the following two days. In accordance, she went to the shop at 9.30 a.m. just to find out that the owner had taken the keys and K would not be able to open the shop till 1 p.m. Again, with no communication had taken place by means of phone calls, text messages or even e-mails. Apart from a message from the employee of another shop, the owner M had apparently left a message, "if K comes in, tell her to come back at 1".
At 1 p.m., K went down to the shop again. This time the owner M was around, and told K to go to the cellar with him. M claimed that L had told him that K had a bad attitude towards L. K was given her a week's notice after she had to insist that M listen to what actually happened.
I realise that K has not really got any legal right to minimum notice as she was only working there for such a short period of time. However, I have understood that in most circumstances if an employer wants to dismiss an employee, he/she should firstly send the employee a written statement explaining the reason for dismissal, and secondly, hold a meeting with the employee to discuss the dismissal (which one could argue that had happened), and finally, to hold an appeal meeting with the employee.
The reason why I think this is to do with some sort of discrimination is that from my point of view, K has been treated much less favourably than L (The Equality Act?). The remarks made by L in my judgment could be a direct/indirect form of discrimination. Secondly, had the owner M actually tried to contact with either of us and explain the rota, none of this would have happened despite the fact that K sent an unanswered e-mail to M asking about her shifts (we have no contact number for M).
So, here is my question, with K's inexperience and her short time frame within the off-license (it had been such a short time at the shop that the owner had not even bothered with drawing up a contract yet). Would she be protected under any sort of form (be it discrimination, work without a break or dismissal with unclear intent)?
I am writing this in behalf of my girlfriend.
Recently she has been employed as a sales assistant at an off-license (between the periods of the end of January to 20/02).
She was given the notice to be sacked on 20/02, which has caused her a great deal of stress and which is why I am here seeking advice.
K is a 20 year old female who has never had paid work before, just voluntary work. After she shortly started, she realised that bits and bobs of the shop are not quite right. However, due to her inexperience, she had not said much about anything.
The first issue is that she had been in 6 - 8 hour shifts. I have read that "minimum 20 minutes break if their working day is longer than six hours" should be allowed. When she asked if she could get a lunch/dinner break, she was told, "you can sit in the back, if a customer comes in, you just go out and deal with them". As it is an off-license, it is nearly impossible to get such a "break" on the weekends. She has missed about 2 dinners in the past week and could only get a small sandwich when she comes back from work as she is exhausted. She has lost weight and appetite since then.
There is a great deal of discommunication within the shop itself. K has not got a mobile phone, so she had always put my phone number down for anything important. As of today, I have yet to receive a phone call or text message from either the owner or any of the more experienced co-workers. Last week, she was given a bit of paper with her hours that she would be in. The owner said to her that "these are your hours", which K thought would mean for the rest of her time working at the shop until further notice. On Monday, 17/02, at about 1 p.m. she went to the shop to hand over the keys as she thought she would not be working until 19/02, just to find out that she would be working 2 hours later. She panicked as she originally had plans to meet her mother which they do not see very often. She said to the lady L, who was in charge with the rota that she would not be able to work while panicking. Just to be told that she would be working on Thursday 20/02 at 10 a.m., and the following two days. In accordance, she went to the shop at 9.30 a.m. just to find out that the owner had taken the keys and K would not be able to open the shop till 1 p.m. Again, with no communication had taken place by means of phone calls, text messages or even e-mails. Apart from a message from the employee of another shop, the owner M had apparently left a message, "if K comes in, tell her to come back at 1".
At 1 p.m., K went down to the shop again. This time the owner M was around, and told K to go to the cellar with him. M claimed that L had told him that K had a bad attitude towards L. K was given her a week's notice after she had to insist that M listen to what actually happened.
I realise that K has not really got any legal right to minimum notice as she was only working there for such a short period of time. However, I have understood that in most circumstances if an employer wants to dismiss an employee, he/she should firstly send the employee a written statement explaining the reason for dismissal, and secondly, hold a meeting with the employee to discuss the dismissal (which one could argue that had happened), and finally, to hold an appeal meeting with the employee.
The reason why I think this is to do with some sort of discrimination is that from my point of view, K has been treated much less favourably than L (The Equality Act?). The remarks made by L in my judgment could be a direct/indirect form of discrimination. Secondly, had the owner M actually tried to contact with either of us and explain the rota, none of this would have happened despite the fact that K sent an unanswered e-mail to M asking about her shifts (we have no contact number for M).
So, here is my question, with K's inexperience and her short time frame within the off-license (it had been such a short time at the shop that the owner had not even bothered with drawing up a contract yet). Would she be protected under any sort of form (be it discrimination, work without a break or dismissal with unclear intent)?
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