Termination of Agreement

[earlsgate]

my wife was working on a 3 week placement, for a large live in care provider, with the following terms as part of the Termination Agreement

"The Business may end this Agreement by giving notice at any time to the Worker which shall have effect at the end of the current Pay Reference Period." "'Pay Reference Period' means the length of the booking"

without any reason or notice given, on the twelfth of those 21 days, she was asked to immediately leave the place she was working in, only received pay for those 12 days she was there. There were no disciplinary reasons for her dismissal.

With the terms quoted above, can we expect the the small claims court to settle in her favour, and award pay for the full length of the original booking, if the employer does not respond favourably to a letter before action?

Thank you Martin

[Arborbridge]

my wife was working on a 3 week placement, for a large live in care provider, with the following terms as part of the Termination Agreement

"The Business may end this Agreement by giving notice at any time to the Worker which shall have effect at the end of the current Pay Reference Period." "'Pay Reference Period' means the length of the booking"

without any reason or notice given, on the twelfth of those 21 days, she was asked to immediately leave the place she was working in, only received pay for those 12 days she was there. There were no disciplinary reasons for her dismissal.

With the terms quoted above, can we expect the the small claims court to settle in her favour, and award pay for the full length of the original booking, if the employer does not respond favourably to a letter before action?

Thank you Martin

This hinges on two things, in my view: a) whether it is an unfair contract condition and b) the semantics of the ambiguous phrase "...the length of the booking". They would argue the length of the booking was only that particular day, I assume, whereas it could be argued that it is the 21 days that she has been "booked" for .

Hopefully a solicitor will be along soon.

[Dod101]

From a layman's point of view, the clause enables the employer to do exactly what he has done. I do not understand why anyone would take up employment on that basis and then complain if the clause is implemented to the extent that they want to go to the Small Claims Tribunal. Presumably your wife signed this agreement and if so, presumably read it or had the opportunity to read it before signing.

Dod

[earlsgate]

to clarify, other terms:

Point A "We would like to offer you work with a **-year-old*******************************************commencing 03/01/24 – 24/01/24 for 3 weeks."

"Pay Reference Period' means the length of the booking (A, above)"

thanks

martin

[GoSeigen]

to clarify, other terms:

Point A "We would like to offer you work with a **-year-old*******************************************commencing 03/01/24 – 24/01/24 for 3 weeks."

"Pay Reference Period' means the length of the booking (A, above)"

thanks

martin

I think you can safely ignore the earlier replies which apparently didn't even read your OP

You appear to have a good case. Hopefully a solicitor or HR person will comment because there may also be statute working in your wife's favour.


GS

[monabri]

A significant problem ...as soon as you approach a solicitor there is the cost of their services versus what you might recover !

[kempiejon]

With the terms quoted above, can we expect the the small claims court to settle in her favour, and award pay for the full length of the original booking, if the employer does not respond favourably to a letter before action?

Did you think about employment tribunal for wrongful dismissal? I've found ACAS helpful.
https://www.acas.org.uk/dismissals/unfa ... tice%20pay

Wrongful dismissal
A 'wrongful dismissal' is when an employer has breached an employee's contract. It's usually to do with notice or notice pay.

Examples of wrongful dismissal can include:

dismissing an employee without giving them a notice period or notice pay
not giving someone the full notice period they're entitled to
If an employee wants to make a claim for wrongful dismissal, it does not matter how long they've worked for their employer.
You do not have to give any personal details.
If you have any questions about unfair dismissal, you can contact the Acas helpline. Helpline 0300 123 1100

[earlsgate]

"Did you think about employment tribunal for wrongful dismissal? I've found ACAS helpful."

I did phone that number, on my wife's behalf, but did not get the impression the person at ACAS was that well versed in legal matters to understand the terms I have now quoted here.

There are other factors that could be used to contest an unfair dismissal, but the main aim, for the time being at least, is to resolve the perceived breach of contract by the employer and the resulting loss of earnings

[kempiejon]

I did phone that number, on my wife's behalf, but did not get the impression the person at ACAS was that well versed in legal matters to understand the terms I have now quoted here.

Well at least you explored the option.

[Arborbridge]

to clarify, other terms:

Point A "We would like to offer you work with a **-year-old*******************************************commencing 03/01/24 – 24/01/24 for 3 weeks."

"Pay Reference Period' means the length of the booking (A, above)"

thanks

martin

I think you can safely ignore the earlier replies which apparently didn't even read your OP

You appear to have a good case. Hopefully a solicitor or HR person will comment because there may also be statute working in your wife's favour.


GS

That's a bit unfair on me - the detail above wasn't in the OP and I most certainly didn't ignore it. Which is why the second email clarified the points. Having seen the definition above, it's clear that earlsgate has a good case - I'm not a solicitor, but it seems to me the employer hasn't read his own contract and is just hoping your wife hasn't either.

Arb.

[Clitheroekid]

With the terms quoted above, can we expect the the small claims court to settle in her favour, and award pay for the full length of the original booking, if the employer does not respond favourably to a letter before action?

On the basis of the information provided then the answer would be yes. The contract terms are quite specific, and your wife was entitled to payment.

However, as always, I have to caveat this by saying that conclusive advice can never be given on the basis of an extract from a document, as there may be something else in it that contradicts what you've quoted.

"Did you think about employment tribunal for wrongful dismissal? I've found ACAS helpful."

You can make a claim through the Employment Tribunal, and it's cheaper, in that there is no court fee to pay. However, your reference to a claim for unfair dismissal is a red herring. If you read the contract carefully it refers to your wife as a `Worker'. This has a specific legal meaning, and means that she is not an employee. She therefore has no right to claim compensation for unfair dismissal.

But once again I have to add a caveat. There have been many situations where an employer has prepared a contract that purports to treat the employee as a `worker' or even self-employed, solely in order to avoid the onerous obligations of being an employer, and there have been many litigated cases where a court / tribunal has decided that there was in fact an employment contract, so that the employee had all the relevant protections.

In other words, what counts is the factual relationship, not how the employer chooses to describe it. if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it may just be a duck!

[earlsgate]

thanks for the numerous replies to my original post here. Looks like this is a fairly straight forward case of reminding them of the terms with a letter before action. I was always confident she would be legally entitled to the full three weeks pay once I had seen those surprising terms.

my wife remains stressed by these events so I will write the letter on her behalf which I believe I can do as her husband. this action is intended moreover to restore pride rather than financial loss

I was aware of her status as "worker" rather than "employee" which gives no opportunity to contest an unfair dismissal. We may look into future avenues of redress for the way this termination was conducted and the abuse she received from a member of the clients family resulting in a forced early retirement from the work she always gained considerable respect whilst fulfilling other placements.

[gryffron]

It doesn't matter who writes the letter, but wife should sign it. You signing on her behalf will only confuse the matter.

Don't you have to work somewhere 2 years to claim "Unfair Dismissal" (barring discrimination)? I would avoid use of that term and stick to "breach of contract".

Gryff