Legal advice in relation to employment terms.

Defy Belief

Defy Belief

Defy Belief

Soldato
Joined
29 Sep 2010
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Good evening, had some news today with my job which I'm thinking I could potentially be entitled to compensation. Would like some opinions or what my best path would be if anyone is good with legal stuff :)

So March this year I handed in my notice to my employer, they did not want to lose me in the role so they offered me to work from home with the same benefits (currently commuting to Cardiff from Gloucester so that was a large reason as to why I wanted to leave to spend more time with my daughter)

I was advised it would take approx 4 weeks to setup and I'd be away working from home in April, great I thought so I verbally accepted and I would decline the other job offer for this.

3 months later, huge lack of updates despite chasing the managers constantly, only for them to pull out of the offer and say it's no longer something they can offer, almost as if it was a lie to get me to stay just that little bit longer.

Had a meeting today and they seemed pretty scared I'd be taking some kind of action in regards to this, what could I do realistically? No written contract was created as it never got the go ahead, have chain mails of emails confirming they are trying to sort it out for asap etc. 2 weeks ago we were given the verbal go ahead they were just waiting for the final date.

I'm now leaving the company due to this, but I'd like some thoughts as to what I may be able to get out of this? I've pretty much wasted 3 months of commuting to Cardiff on a daily basis only for it to be pulled, declining a job offer where I could be well and truly settled by now and potentially earning more money than I'm currently on and most importantly (to me) more time spent with my daughter.

All thoughts welcome :)
 
speak to a solicitor

though I don't understand what they had to 'set up' for you to work from home, they agreed for you to work from home so why didn't you just stay at home and work from there from whenever they initially agreed
 
Yeah I will be but just finished so was wondering if anyone could shed any light before hand :)

They had to (apparently) get contracts sorted and IT needed to give it the go ahead, they were also unsure as to how data protection would work with the role from home, also compliance (it's a telesales role)
 
that is bizarre, so no one in that organisation has ever had to take their laptop home and use VPN to connect? Sounds like a pretty backwards place
 
I'm not sure, majority of work is done in house although there are employees that do work primarily from home, so I'm not sure why it was any different to them doing it, just a case of mirroring their contract terms, seems like I've had smoke blown up my ar*e for a while! It's a ftse 100 company too.
 
Not much point in asking such a specialised legal question, I would imagine you would have some grounds for legal measures however even if it was just a verbal agreement, it would more than likely come out in court if it went that far.
 
I have a Business Management degree including business law but I'm certainly no lawyer.

Verbal contracts are just as valid as written ones, but as my Law lecturer used to say "they're not worth the paper they're written on". In other words, proving they exist is nigh on impossible.

Having said that, if you have e-mails that strongly imply one was made then I'd say you have a decent chance of arguing breach of contract and at least claiming any loss of earnings you may have suffered.
 
Asking for legal advice on a computer forum can be just as dangerous as asking for medical advice. In my opinion, of course.
See a solicitor, first hour consult is usually free (or used to be)- get real advice from a professional in the field.
 
Yeah I plan to get real advice just thought I'd ask the question as people may have some reasonably relevant degree/qualification, such as above. :) thanks! Will update on any progress once I've had a chat with one.
 
I think it would be pretty impossible to take this to an employment tribunal, not to mention costs, in many situations like this there is **** all you can do, they screwed you, time to move on
 
Could be a claim for constructive dismissal but iirc you have to leave and bring a claim in 3 months. Seek some proper advice.
 
Seek proper advise, from what you've said I think you can argue that there is a verbal contract in place, and, as a previous poster mentioned, they are just as binding as written ones.

What I'm not so clear on is whether, even with the breach, you'd be entitled to any recompense. You could potentially argue that you turned down an alternative job offer, but then can you prove any kind of loss on account of this.
 
FortuitousFluke said:
What I'm not so clear on is whether, even with the breach, you'd be entitled to any recompense. You could potentially argue that you turned down an alternative job offer, but then can you prove any kind of loss on account of this.
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I kind of agree here - what can you actually claim, you wanted to leave, you changed you mind to stay for the same money/benefits. All that happened was just didn't get to work from home.

In reality, apart from travel costs, you've lost nothing in terms of benefits/salary etc.

I would still speak to a specialist about it - however I don't really see what your "claiming" for. You made it clear you wanted to leave of your own accord when you were going to accept the other job, so I can't see a constructive dismissal going anywhere now.

good luck either way.
 
You could cause them some grief on it, legally, but it wouldn't be worth your time and the hassle unless you can prove significant loss.

Just move on and keep things civil.
 
booyaka said:
I kind of agree here - what can you actually claim, you wanted to leave, you changed you mind to stay for the same money/benefits. All that happened was just didn't get to work from home.

In reality, apart from travel costs, you've lost nothing in terms of benefits/salary etc.

I would still speak to a specialist about it - however I don't really see what your "claiming" for. You made it clear you wanted to leave of your own accord when you were going to accept the other job, so I can't see a constructive dismissal going anywhere now.

good luck either way.
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cheesyboy said:
You could cause them some grief on it, legally, but it wouldn't be worth your time and the hassle unless you can prove significant loss.

Just move on and keep things civil.
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I dunno, Gloucester -> Cardiff -> Gloucester every day is a 120 mile round trip. At HMRC mileage rates, that's £48/day. Times that by 3 months (48x5x4.333x3) = £3118

Not to mention the extra few hours every day spent travelling (lets say an hour each way being generous) = (2x5x4.333x3) = 130 hours (I'm sure you could put a value on that.

So at best you're down ~£3k and ~16 working days (assuming an 8 hour day) because of them messing you around.

Obviously take off your travel costs/time for the new job to find the difference, but if e.g. it was just round the corner then I'd say that's quite a significant loss.
 
Have you no evidence of the offer, even now in writing? like the company e-mail etc? If so forward those home if they don't contain confidential information or print them off and keep copies for later.
 
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