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Are my employers in breach of contract, or is it just immoral and not illegal?
Hello everyone, this is my first time posting on the forum and I would really appreciate some advice from all you knowledgable folk.
I will try and be brief and to the point with this first post, but I'm happy to expand on anything in further detail if asked.
I accepted a job offer from a government department as an external candidate in November 2014. This job was 300 miles away from my hometown but I was excited about starting my career in the public sector and happy to move for it. I was due to start towards the end of December so I moved the 300 miles after getting the formal job offer and start date in early November. Two weeks before I'm due to start in my role in London, and having already moved and signed a long term tenancy agreement and resigned from my previous job etc, they ring me and tell me they have decided against recruiting at that location but can offer me Dover or York (bare in mind I have just moved to Essex to be in commutable distance for London). I'm shocked and at first decline, however after further communication they promise that if I take one of the positions they will move me to London as soon as possible. I accepted on this basis, I kind of felt pushed into a corner with just moving my entire life elsewhere for a job and having financial commitments in terms of rent agreements etc.
Since day one in the job my line management have been fighting my corner with HR trying to get me moved because it's ridiculous I am driving a 5 hour round trip plus doing a 12 hour shift for a circa 17 hour day, not to mention £500 fuel per month. Day and night shifts. Anyway, after months of these emails and phone calls back and forth and delaying tactics by HR, I decided I would have to raise a formal grievance to get some kind of official answer. It's taken them six months to give me an answer on the grievance and I feel as if they have been hoping I'd leave rather than have to make a decision on it. They finally sent me a letter saying my grievance hasn't been upheld last week, and I am now in the process of appealing it.
My grievance centres around the fact that I don't have a formal contract stating my place of work is Dover, I was led to believe I would be moving to London as a priority, my original job offer was never formally retracted, I have terms and conditions for another workplace (which I wasn't aware of until months into the role as they were never sent to me but uploaded to the HR intranet website and I was never notified but found them while fishing for stuff to assist me). They said the workplace named on the terms and conditions is down to a typing error from resourcing and therefore actually Dover (it says Southampton).
Sorry for the long post, I tried to be concise but... it didn't work as well as I planned.
They have been taking so long to sort this out and coupled with all the travelling and worry about my situation that after sticking at it for just over a year I've now been signed off work for the last five weeks as its been causing me problems with my sleep, appetite and mood.
I want to know if it's just a case of being unfair and immoral, or whether this is breach of contract?
I will try and be brief and to the point with this first post, but I'm happy to expand on anything in further detail if asked.
I accepted a job offer from a government department as an external candidate in November 2014. This job was 300 miles away from my hometown but I was excited about starting my career in the public sector and happy to move for it. I was due to start towards the end of December so I moved the 300 miles after getting the formal job offer and start date in early November. Two weeks before I'm due to start in my role in London, and having already moved and signed a long term tenancy agreement and resigned from my previous job etc, they ring me and tell me they have decided against recruiting at that location but can offer me Dover or York (bare in mind I have just moved to Essex to be in commutable distance for London). I'm shocked and at first decline, however after further communication they promise that if I take one of the positions they will move me to London as soon as possible. I accepted on this basis, I kind of felt pushed into a corner with just moving my entire life elsewhere for a job and having financial commitments in terms of rent agreements etc.
Since day one in the job my line management have been fighting my corner with HR trying to get me moved because it's ridiculous I am driving a 5 hour round trip plus doing a 12 hour shift for a circa 17 hour day, not to mention £500 fuel per month. Day and night shifts. Anyway, after months of these emails and phone calls back and forth and delaying tactics by HR, I decided I would have to raise a formal grievance to get some kind of official answer. It's taken them six months to give me an answer on the grievance and I feel as if they have been hoping I'd leave rather than have to make a decision on it. They finally sent me a letter saying my grievance hasn't been upheld last week, and I am now in the process of appealing it.
My grievance centres around the fact that I don't have a formal contract stating my place of work is Dover, I was led to believe I would be moving to London as a priority, my original job offer was never formally retracted, I have terms and conditions for another workplace (which I wasn't aware of until months into the role as they were never sent to me but uploaded to the HR intranet website and I was never notified but found them while fishing for stuff to assist me). They said the workplace named on the terms and conditions is down to a typing error from resourcing and therefore actually Dover (it says Southampton).
Sorry for the long post, I tried to be concise but... it didn't work as well as I planned.
They have been taking so long to sort this out and coupled with all the travelling and worry about my situation that after sticking at it for just over a year I've now been signed off work for the last five weeks as its been causing me problems with my sleep, appetite and mood.
I want to know if it's just a case of being unfair and immoral, or whether this is breach of contract?
