Need some help with a problem.
My mum is disabled and she employes carers. Now one of our carers has become a bit of a problem. Her job discription is to help my mother out with everything, from gardening to cleaning (only spring cleaning, as we employ a seperate cleaner)to taking my mum shopping. Now she has been working for us for 3 years and recently she has decided that she doesn't like doing certain things such as gardening, which she refuses to do, and cleaning which she moans and groans about. To make matters worse last week she bought a new car and has now decided that she is no longer going to use her new car to take her out (even though we pay milage and her road tax).
Now, we have a standard contract which outlines how much people are paid, how much holiday they get and contains a job discription, however she refuses to sign this.
So my questions are;
1) Do we legally have to pay her holiday pay?
(gov states 28 days holiday a year, including bank holidays, in the contract they get 25 days off and bank holidays)
2) Can we say we no longer want to employ her and she does not need to come to work next week?
(in the contract, after a month cooling of period, both parties have to give a months notice, however she has not signed it)
3) Can we reduce the amount of pay she gets without notice?
(providing she has not already worked the hours already)
Many thanks in advance for people information.
Ian
You're best getting accurate advice for this issue.
Read up or see Citizen advice peeps.
It all depends exactly how she's employed, but as Zaskar says get specific advice, as HR law is heavily weighted towards the employee and it's much easier to muck it up than do it right. The last thing you want is to be caught in an unfair dismissal situation.
IF she hasnt signed a contract then you wont be breaking a contract if you decide to sack her?
I plan on getting/researching info provided on here before we do anything, but i know that people on here know their stuff and that there are some experts on here to. But I am just trying to see if what I think is right first so I don't start making wild assumptions....
davidtaylforth: She hasn't signed the contract, we provide one, and she refuses to do so....
I am not calling it sacking, mearly no lonmger requiring her services, i.e. a notice period is 1 day
The first assumption not to make is because she hasn't signed a contract there's nothing to break.
Same difference
Thats my worry
Indeed acurate advice needed.
Why has she not signed the contract if she has been working for 3 yrs?
I believe that the duties she has been doing for the terms and conditions she has worked under will form the basis of her contract if she has not signed one.
The basic way of going about this is to tell her these are her duties and she has to do them. If she refuses then its breech of contract and she can be sacked - would need pay in lieu of notice including holiday pay at teh rate she has been paid - probably one months pay plus a pro rata amount of holiday pay for the time she has worked in teh holiday year- she has effectivly broken the contract.
If she accepts that she needs to carry out the duties but then does them badly of not at all its a disciplinary route - first time she does not perform she is told to improve her performance and this is put in writing - you need to discuss with her why she is not performing and this needs to go in writing to her.
2nd time - same again - telling her it is her final warning
3rd time - sacked. this could be done in a very short space of time
It is very easy to sack someone who is not performing and her not signing the contract will make very little difference. You just need to make sure the sacking is fair. ie you have a reason for sacking her that is not unreasonable, you have given her opportunity to improve her performance and she has not improved her performance
[b]THIS IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PROPER ADVICE[/b]
There's excellent information on the [url= http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073858787 ]Business Link[/url] website
Although she hasn't signed the contract, as long as she hasn't formally queried it, I reckon you could go down the performance route based on it's contents as TJ says. Contracts of employment don't need to be signed to have validity.
Is your mum getting funding from the independent living fund? they have support and advice for people in this position. even if thats not where her funding comes from they might be able to advice or point her in the right direction for advice
Make sure you get it right and don't just sack her tomorrow no matter how tempting - you could end up in a real pickle. If you really don't want her back in the house suspend her
Thanks Tj and everyone else, we are in no rush to get rid off her, but I was fuming that after 6 months of taking my mum swimming she refused to on friday as she didn't want the wheelchair in her new car (even the small non electric one).
It is indeed the ilf who fund part of it, we shall contact them as well as CIB but I just wanted a better picture before I started.
I think it's the fact that she now refuses to take my mum out in her own car, that we shall use to get rid of her, as in the interview it was clearly stated that she would use her own car, and has done so for the last 3 years.
The reason she never signed the contract, was at that time we didn't have an official contract because when we started we were rookies, and only bought the contract in about 2 years ago.
Ian - use that link - they are the experts in this field.