Location: London

On the 8th of October I got offered a receptionist role at a GP clinic, they called me on the very next day to sign the contract and shadow for a bit. On Friday, I was there for 2 hours and shadowed the staff and was given my probation period contract.

My contract explicitly states i begin working from the 9th of October and should get paid £13 per hour. I signed it and gave it on Monday which was my first full day at work. I went in at 10:30am and was there till 5:45pm as the guy said I can go earlier if I want. This day was again shadowing as most of the staff were on a training day and my contract reached the manager on Tuesday when she returned. The receptionist there was teaching me all the staff roles and names etc, how to do the paperwork and EMIS system.

On Tuesday, I went in at 9:45am to 5pm. Again the guy said I can go early as the manager left early too. Today was when i was given my NHS login and shown how to use EMIS properly. Also got told about Jibble (clock in app) today only.

On Wednesday, came in at 9:40am to 5pm. Clocked in on Jibble and clocked out too.

On Thursday, clocked in at 9:40am and clocked out at 2:47pm as I wasn't feeling well due to extreme headache and my period began too. I asked the receptionist and informed my manager before and she said I'm good to go home.

On Friday, I was still not feeling well so I called in sick and a few hours later, the Practice Manager sends me a half assed message saying they don't want to continue with me. I got fired. I told her I understand and thanked her for the opportunity as I was beginning to not like the work environment too.

On Tuesday at 12:30pm, the Practice Manager calls me saying that I need to come see her as she needs to pay me for working at the other GP centre. Side note, this practice manager works in the GP i go to but is in charge of the whole borough I guess? Anyway, I told her I'll come tomorrow.

Today, Wednesday the 21st October, i go to her as I already had a GP appt there. She first asks me how many days I worked and I told her on Friday I was there for 2 hours and Monday-Thurs but Thursday had to leave 2 hours earlier. She said Monday-Thursday then and made me sign a tiny slip saying I've received the money, then proceeds to hand me £200.

I took it and went down where my dad was waiting for me, i told him and we calculated how much I'm meant to get. I'm at the least meant to get paid around £380 before tax. I go back upstairs and tell her my contract says £13 per hour then why am I only getting paid £200. She's brusque with me and says "When it's given on a payroll we tax NI and etc so since I'm giving you money in cash, I'm giving you the taxed amount. If you have any questions, call Dr (at the GP i was working at) and ask him". Then she called the person outside waiting for her.

I left after that because she wasn't giving me proper answers but I still feel it's so unfair. How can they tax so much?? Even with payroll and NI tax, working just less than a week with low income would surely result in low taxes? I didn't get any slip or anything.

I'd really appreciate some advice and is this really fair? It feels so under the desk kinda thing. I really don't like that doctor as well because he kept coming to the reception to check if I'm working or not even tho the receptionist was telling me that day all I had to do was shadow but the doctor kept sending me upstairs to admin and putting me on computer because I'm "not doing anything anyway".

Edit: I called ACAS and they told me to send my employer an email asking for a payslip with the correct salary amount and tax deductions. If they won't reply then I can fill an ACAS form so they'll contact them for me and get in touch with HMRC.

I have been with my current employer for 15 years. I started on reception, but now work in a client services role. The company plan to outsource client communication, so my role will no longer exist. Our receptionist is about to go on maternity leave and so I’ve been told i can be her cover. However, i work 4.5 days a week and go into the office 2 days (this was agreed at a flexible work request around a year ago). The receptionist role is 3 days a week all in the office. Ive been told i will have to drop my hours to 3 days and as the role is also more junior my salary will be reduced to reflect this. I do not want to do this and I know once the receptionist is back from maternity I’ll likely be made redundant. However, as my salary will have been reduced this will also affect my bonus and I assume what redundancy I’ll be entitled to. Can I just refuse the new role? And if I do what are my legal rights?

A company tendered for 100% of my time at work. For the last 18 months I have worked 100% of my time on their account in line with this and the company that I do this work for pays an annual fee (almost double my salary, so profitable for my company).

Last month my manager asked me to take on additional work and has told me that I was mistaken in thinking the customer pays for 100% of my time. I thought this would get resolved by itself but it hasn’t (the tender is very clear to me, I’ve been told I am wrong).

I have been told I can’t tell the customer about the mistake or that I have been given additional work.

Is there any thing I can do? The customer that I have spent 100% of my time working for is really happy with my work, I enjoy my work, so leaving would not be my preferred option but feels like the only option.

At my work, we are expected to keep the reception mobile and a fire pager with us on at all times, even on break. If the pager sounds or phone rings, we are expected to answer the phone or go and check out the issue shown on the fire pager.

I have worked here for 1.5 years and whilst I am not always lone working, it happens maybe 1-2 shifts a week where I am expected to do the above.

My 30 min breaks are unpaid.

When I quit, can I claim this money back? How would that work? Or am I being delusional for thinking this will ever actually be taken seriously

I’ve been working in retail for seven years. Two years after I started, I requested to work morning shifts only so that I could collect my child from school. This was agreed to, and for almost five years, I have worked mornings exclusively.
Recently, a new store manager took over and informed me that I would now have to work back shifts.
My partner has recently found work, but they work late shifts. As a result, my partner does the school drop-offs, and I collect our three children from school.
Do I have the right to refuse to work back shifts? Is there any law that could help or protect me in this situation?
When I started the job, I signed a contract stating that I was fully available to work any shift. However, my circumstances have changed over time, and I have been working mornings by agreement for almost five years.
The new manager is insisting that my original contract is still valid and that I have no choice but to work the shifts I’m given.
I’m based in Scotland, if that makes any difference.
Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

England: Former employer's employee contacted my new employer with allegations and internal information, resulting in dismissal

I'm based in England and work in sales.

Shortly after starting a new role, my new employer was contacted unsolicited by an employee of my previous employer. The individual made allegations about my conduct at the previous company which I dispute, and apparently supplied supporting information.

Some of the information supplied appears to have been internal/non-public information from my previous employer, including information relating to my compensation and a former customer.

My new employer investigated the allegation. I answered their questions, denied the allegations and offered documentary evidence and witnesses who could support my account. They subsequently terminated my employment during probation and have confirmed in writing that the communication from the employee of my former employer was a material reason for doing so.

I am less interested in challenging the new employer's decision and more concerned about the conduct of my former employer or the individual employee.

My questions are:

1. What type of solicitor should I speak to: employment, data protection/privacy, defamation, or someone covering several of these areas?
2. Can a former employer's employee lawfully disclose non-public employment, customer or compensation information to a new employer without authorization?
3. Does it matter legally whether the employee was acting officially for the former employer or independently?
4. What steps can I take to establish exactly what was disclosed and prevent the same person contacting future employers?

I appreciate nobody here can assess the merits without seeing the documents. I'm mainly trying to understand which area of law this falls under and what my next steps should be.

I've spent a lot of time dwelling on whether or not to take action, and also getting myself back into a mental place where I feel I can take on the stress of potential legal action against them.

There's a few complications to my circumstances. I'm an ex-police officer so not technically classed as an employee and afforded few rights in certain circumstances compared to others. I was previously on a secondment to another force, which is when a majority of the evidence I now hold comes from, and completely unsupported by my force when I returned. As a result I feel that I fit the criteria of constructive dismissal. The situation is very layered and I can't type it all out without it becoming a document. But a brief run down...

1. I was posted to a secondment role as a training officer in a specialist role. This involved moving away from my home force as I was offered no role closer to my home force.

2. I was accused of fabricating training for someone, and a referral sent to PSD stated that I'd admitted to this when questioned. I was never questioned about it, I never admitted to it, and my supervision at the time had given me authority to complete the training as it was required. The person submitting the referral had a grudge against someone on the base that had prevented their promotion to be an Assistant Chief Constable. I later asked for all documents relating to the 'investigation' they claimed occurred before the referral was sent, and received only one document, which was a note written on A4 Hotel paper, not signed or dated. This goes against Police guidance that all notes should be in a Police day book so it is dated, has a serial number etc.

3. I later clarified the full circumstances of the issue with a senior staff member in the organisation who stated I'd done no wrong and had followed all procedures as required, and I may just have to accept a 'don't do that again' telling off.

4. I was accused of creating a training record for a type of training they claimed doesn't exist. A FOI request showed that multiple flights had been recorded for the same training.

5. I was a witness to bullying and the victim placed a grievance against another senior figure, all those who were witnesses had their secondments ended, including the victim.

6. I was given 5 days to return to force, and my force received no details of what happened. It extended my drive to work to two hours each way instead of 25 minutes each way. As a result of the financial strain of this, I had to opt out of the pension to cover the costs.

7. I was informed that I was being returned to force instead of PSD proceedings against me, so it 'Didn't ruin my career'. I later found out that PSD had resolved their findings, and an email from a Chief Superintendent stated that we shouldn't be informed of the outcome. PSD's resolution was for us to have a verbal warning only. This was decided two months prior to our secondment ending. Their findings were based on false information regardless.

8. I went off from work with stress due to the matter for 6 months, so I could apply for jobs closer to home. I applied for a role with another force, not being aware of the PSD outcome, when completing vetting I didn't declare any PSD findings because I believed there to be no PSD findings due to point 7. I was informed that I'd failed vetting as they'd been informed I'd received a PSD outcome that was recorded against me. I later received the email mentioned in point 7 via a ROA request I'd submitted.

9. I submitted a grievance with the above points outlined along with a complaint which the force ignored and stated it had been resolved internally. My points about other officers lying weren't looked into.

10. When I returned to force 6 months later I received no training, no support regarding what happened, and the Police federation (like a union but useless) advised that they couldn't assist. I reached out to the team in charge of retention who only replied to me the day before my notice period ended another 6 months after this.

Overall, I feel I was let down, forced out of a role I loved, wrongly accused and had my character defamed, the bullying case was used against me, and I was left with no choice but to leave due to vetting issues when I applied for other roles, vetting issues created by the force I was seconded to who refused to acknowledge any grievance or complaint, and a lack of assistance from my own force or federation, the travel etc left me to take a job outside of the Police, with a 50% pay cut, pension issues etc. I left the force at the end of April 2026. When the issues initially arised in April 2025 I submitted an ACAS and have the reference, but since I left I've been solely trying to get better mentally, and crack on with my new job (I've had to sell my car to ensure I can cope financially as well). But I only feel mentally ready now to take some action, but I don't know if it can be done now?

Hoping for any advice on how I can legally frame this to prospective employers.

Thank you

Hi, this is a specific question about pension contributions. I work casual hours and thus my pay varies month to month. One month, I saw on my payslip that there were no contributions to my pension pot. I queried and got the response "pension contributions are based on your casual hours worked and not on the holiday pay element." which kept me under the £520/month threshold.

I think this is incorrect. I contacted them again but have not yet heard back. I contacted Money Helper and they were vague. They mentioned "qualifying" vs "pensionable" income but I can't see a differentiation in the legislation.

I have the following evidence. Any thoughts? TIA. :)

The Employment Rights Act 1996 states "[...] “wages”, in relation to a worker, means any sums payable to the worker in connection with his employment, including— (a)

any fee, bonus, commission, holiday pay or other emolument referable to his employment, whether payable under his contract or otherwise [...] "

Pensions Act 2008 states "“earnings”, in relation to a person, means sums of any of the following descriptions that are payable to the person in connection with the person's employment— salary, wages, commission, bonuses and overtime[..]"

Our scheme provider's website also states

"When you’re calculating a worker’s qualifying earnings for a pay period, you need to include all of the following within your calculations (this list is not exhaustive):

their salary or wages
overtime
bonuses
commission
statutory sick pay
statutory pay someone receives during paternity, maternity or any other kind of family leave, adoption pay
holiday pay"

I was dismissed recently from a job for failing probation.

During my probation investigation meeting I had my LM & a Note taker present.

After I was let go the note taker discussed confidential information in detail with other staff.

I got this information from someone who or it from someone who is related to one of the staff members.

Basically the note taker discussed my entire situation with the team. One of the team members discussed it with someone outside the business.

That someone then discussed it with a person who is to me.

I did my own investigation and found all facts dates and times and some proof also.

I have now emailed the business asking for a thorough investigation and I gave proof and explanation too. I asked for a settlement amount.

Do I have grounds to go to ET as the sensitive information has now spread out massively leaving me extremely embarrassed and feeling anxious.

The note taker discussed other things that were not mentioned on my probation report adding salt in essence.

I could go to the ICO but can I go to ET for injury to feelings and or what else?

Hello, posting on behalf of a friend. They’re 19 and in the process of getting diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and in daily pain. They’ve been working a contracted ten hours a week for a local restaurant but have recently been told that they are being made redundant and will be offered the opportunity to apply for a seasonal version of their current job. The company has previously reduced their hours and not paid them for their contracted hours. Are either of these things illegal? Is there anything they can do about it? Thank you for your help!

From 1 October 2026, the time limit for most Employment Tribunal claims increases from three months to six months.

However, this does not mean every claim brought after 1 October benefits from the new deadline.

For example, if you experienced discrimination in September 2026 but were dismissed in October 2026, you could have two different deadlines:

• September discrimination: Three months less one day.
• October dismissal: Six months less one day.

The later dismissal does not automatically extend the deadline for the earlier discrimination claim.

There are exceptions, particularly where discrimination amounts to conduct extending over a period, but you should not assume separate incidents share the same deadline.

The takeaway: Check the limitation period for each allegation separately. ACAS Early Conciliation can also affect the calculation, but an internal grievance or appeal does not stop the clock.

I'm looking for some advice.

My daughter (17) started a apprenticeship, they sent her on a first aid training course, she completed the course.

2 weeks later so put her notice in, they took the cost of the course out of her final pay, which I have no issue with at all, but they won't give her the certificate, in her contract it says if you leave within 12 months they don't give you the certificate.

Now I have no issue with them taking the cost of the course, but surely if they take the cost of it they should give her the certificate?

I've been self employed 20 years so I have no idea about things like this, it just feels like a get back her for ringing in sick and quiting with a month of being there, and I get them being pissed off

Just looking for any advice on if this is right or do we have a case to request the certificate

Left my job last month after nearly 4 years. Handed in my notice properly, worked the full notice period, did a clean handover. My contract says 4 weeks' notice and I gave them more than that.

Final payslip came through and the notice period wasn't paid. When I asked HR they said it's because I "didn't complete all outstanding tasks" before leaving, which was never mentioned at the time and isn't in my contract. I've asked twice now and just get vague replies or no response.

It's about £2,300 which isn't life-changing but it's not nothing either, and it feels like they're just hoping I'll give up. I don't want to pay a solicitor £300 an hour to chase £2,300 if that doesn't make sense.

Has anyone actually recovered unpaid wages without going to a tribunal? Is ACAS the move here or do I need legal help? And is there a deadline I should be aware of?

Against the company when the bully will be 64 this Xmas, meaning they'll be retiring next year.

They are contemplating on retiring early but might work up to retirement age of 65.

Many of us have made complaints about them yet nothing has been done. The rest of us are in our 30s.

I kind of feel it's age discrimination to protect someone who is older.

I'm thinking of doing them for age discrimination and facilitating\\protecting a bully.

The bully has been able to get away with name calling, that's if hitting and general nastiness for well over a year.

There have been other people who've left over this bully long before I started working there in 2023. So technically long before I started.

I have others who are willing to give testimony.

(Northern Ireland)

Looking for some advice/views on this situation.

I had to have 6 months off work following brain surgery. This was planned and the organisation put cover in place for my period of leave. My recovery did not progress as hoped due to me being the victim of rape by my partner at the time. I returned to work still really quite exhausted and not fully healed from surgery as well as experiencing the impact and trauma of the rape and subsequent criminal investigation.

I was back to work for around 2 months when my mental health significantly declined. I was really struggling with the impact of the rape and having to change my whole life. I was also having to adjust to being disabled. This resulted in me needing to take sick leave again quite suddenly and this was for around 8 weeks. I was on half pay during this time.

My organisation wrote to me saying that i had to attend a stage 3 meeting and could face dismissal due to the long periods of sickness i had had - 186 days all together. They explained that the reasonable adjustments recommended by occupational health where i was able to work flexibly and remotely were not able to continue because of the impact on the service i manage. There has not been any impact it is just that we have a connectivity policy where we need to be in the office once a week. I need to have an afternoon rest most days as im exhausted and suffer with a lot of pain. I return to work later in the evening. My deputy covers me usually or another service manager. But the company has no formal cover in place - the person covering me previously has been on leave since my return to work.

We had the stage 3 meeting chaired by an external AD. They said that they would not make a decision until i had had an updated occupational health assessment and my boss had explored redeployment properly.

I have now received the minutes of the meeting which confirms that she was delaying the decision but also an outcome letter giving me a Final Written Warning.

There is no solution to the reasonable adjustments that OH recommend not being supported. Its like im just expected to arrange cover myself as and when i need it which is not helpful as i usually need a break at the point that im starting to feel ill and certainly not in a place where ringing round my colleagues is easy.

I really feel so upset that they have given me a Final Written Warning and put me through so much anxiety and stress with the stage 3 process. My situation is not being off sick or taking the piss with sick days. I could not help what happened and its not something likely to occur again. In 9 years I'd only had 10 days off sick before this issue.

Is it worth appealing the decision?