Hi There,
I was just wondering if there were any legal eagles out there who might be able to help me.
In 2013 I was working as a call centre advisor but gained a promotion within the same company to a position of a "customer experience analyst". Upon beginning my new job where the manager took an instant dislike to me.
While working under her, I began to get the clear feeling that she was discriminating against me.
She required me to send "ins" e-mails every morning, similar to a register in school. My new job was quite responsible and even though I found this quite demeaning to be asked to do so, I went along with it as it was a career I was really interested in pursing and didnt want to ruin the opportunity. After sending my ins e-mail religiously for several weeks I found out that this was only required of me and one other guy and not the 2 other people in our team.
Due to the low wages and living on my own, I could not and still cant afford to buy and run a car so I depend on public transport to get to and from work, for which the journey takes over an hour.
Public transport is an entirely external service which I have no control over, eg if I hear on the radio there will be traffic I cant ring the bus depot and ask them to send the bus 5 minutes early, to take into account the heavy traffic, it turns up when it does and if there are any delays these are unfortunately beyond my control.
Despite the above, I would get a complete dressing down if I was literally minutes late, for example, my working hours were 09:30-17:30. One time, not because I was late, because the computer I use is about 20 years old, and takes forever to load up I sent my ins e-mail at 09:32. All hell broke loose and I was asked why I was late and told that this was not good enough and to make sure it didnt happen again.
My colleagues all live much closer to the office than I do and have their own cars (so are therefore better able to control the times they can arrive to work than me, e.g if they hear there is roadworks they can make a detour which a bus cannot.) Despite this, my manager was sat with me one time and another girl in our team who drives a sports car and lives 5 MINUTES from work, walked in 15 mins late and NOTHING was said.
As my job is administrative in nature, my daily tasks can be done regardless of whether it is 10 in the morning or 10 at night. My first summer in the customer experience analyst role, the bus service I was using started arriving earlier than it had been, probably due to no schools traffic on the roads. Around this time, due to my earlier arrival, after loading my computer, and logging into all systems, I was ready to send my Ins e-mail around 09:10/09:15.
One day, it was quiet on the workfront and everything I needed to do was done by about 16:45. I resolved that as we were required to do such a precise system of clocking in/clocking out and my manager had not said anything about my Ins e-mail being sent earlier than usual at 09:10, I would be fine to leave at 10 past 5 as all my contractual obligations were fulfilled for that day, and I would JUST be able to make the earlier bus which would be great as I would get home slightly earlier.
I arrived at my desk the next morning, to an e-mail from my manager "did you leave early yesterday Fran?" As I had worked the 8 hours contractually required of me and there was no time owing, I replied saying no. She then replied saying "Just wondering why you didnt respond to the e-mail I sent at **17:27** yesterday?"
I went back to her pointing out that I had sent my Ins e-mail at 10 past. She then launched into tirade telling me that I cannot "pick and choose" to turn up and leave "whenever I want" and she was "not saying this to be a scrooge" or "check up on me" but aparrently it is "for my own safety."
Fast forward a couple of weeks, and it was another girl in our teams (one of the boss's favourites) boyfriends birthday. She is part time and her working hours were meant to be 09:45-17:45. As she wanted to go and spend some time with her other half she left at like 3pm despite starting at her normal time. Shortly after this about half 3 my boss actually turned up at the office to find the girl in question not there. This would have meant the boss would have known she left 2 hours early but nothing was said to her over leaving hours early when a big deal was made to me even though there was no time owing from me.
As mentioned before, I do not have a car and my office is on a remote industrial park quite a distance from my flat. I was told by my manager when I got the job that I would be able to "do whatever shift you like, you can do an 8-4, a 7-3, just let me know." I was moving flats in the summer of 2013 and decided that an earlier start time would help me immensely with simple tasks associated with moving such as going to the bank, going to my estate agents etc. I was not able to do these things during the week because of my hours and the remoteness of the location of my work.
I explained to her that for these reasons I would like to change my shift patterns (as I was told I could do previously) to 07:30-15:30. Even though when I was told about negotiable start times at the begginning of my employment, I was told all I had to do was 'let them know' my boss told me that to do this I would have to undertake a 3 week trial and then compile a summary to prove there was a benefit to me doing these hours including feedback from different areas of the business.
I did exactly as was asked. After first submission of the summary was compiled, I was told I would need to amend it to include statistical evidence. I did this and then submitted again. I was then told that I would need to sit down with my manager and re-format the proposal. Only then was I told that from there this would then be transferred to the big bosses to make the final judgement call on whether I would be allowed to start at 07:30. After I have sent the final draft this was never mentioned again. The trial, summary and subsequent sign off from senior management may legitimately be the process that had to be followed, but as this was not mentioned when I was initially told about negotiable shift patterns, coupled with the fact that there were other people in the team who worked this pattern and also that the process seemed to be moving very slowly, understandably, I felt that things were being made deliberately difficult for me.
On the other hand, another member of our team was needing to take an 8 week sabbatical for a religious pilgrimage right as some important changes were being implemented in their area of work. My manager took ownership of sorting this out for the individual concerned and the sabbatical was granted within a week.
Once again, it just seemed completely inane to me that I had to go through such a long rigamarole, which the manager was seemingly not keen to help with, merely to start work just 2 hours earlier. Especially given that another individual within the team needed to take 8 weeks off work completely, just as their job required all hands on deck and this was sorted out no questions asked. I once again felt singled out at the speed and ease in which this was sorted for my colleague no problems, but for me it was projected that I was asking too much by requesting to slightly change my working hours.
It got to the point where I was terrified after every e-mail I sent, that she would come back and give me a dressing down for something which I had did wrong. On this basis, I booked an appointment with HR to see if they could offer me any assistance in how to deal with this situation.
The only thing they could suggest was for them to speak to the manager themselves but given the arrogance and extreme mood swings she exhibited I did not think this would help at all and would in fact probably have inspired further hostility.
Before my meeting with HR, every employee had had a review for a merit based salary increase. As I had said before, I really wanted to build a career in this sector and so had been working very hard despite all the animosity with my boss. Rightfully, I got an overall rating for my performance of "exceeds expecations" and told I had qualified for a pay increase of 3.9%.
A day or 2 after my meeting with HR, I received this e-mail from my boss:
Hi Francesca,
Further to our review I have spoken with HR and, because you had a pay rise at the beginning of the year, you are not eligible for an additional rise at this point.
Based on your overall assessment you would have been eligible for a 3.9% rise. I tell you this, not to focus on the fact that you do not qualify this time around, but to show you that your hard work does not go unnoticed. If you were to replicate a score like this in the next review, you would achieve a comfortable uplift in salary.
Any questions, just let me know.
Thanks
During the meeting with HR, the HR rep had been taking notes. My first thoughts upon hearing that I would not be able to have my salary increased this year were that despite my requests not to, HR had went and told my manager what I had said and this was her revenge.
My company has a policy where after 6 months of service you receive a pay increase from 14,000-14,500. I joined the company in June 2012 as a telesales advisor and got the standard increase in December 2012. The merit based salary review took place in August 2013, so technically it was not the same calendar year, even though it had been in the past 12 months.
By this point I was so worn down by all the harassment I was constantly receiving from her I just wanted a quiet life and decided not to say anything more and just accept it.
In the aftermath of this, some friends who had started work on the phones at the same time as me and still worked as advisors, indicated that they had received the 3.9% merit increase, despite also receiving the standard increase in December 2012 from £14,000-£14,500. However, I still did not wish to broach it in case of further even worse animosity as things had got slightly better but there was still not sufficient supports in place if she reverted back to her old ways.
In April of this year the manager from hell finally got a job elsewhere and left the company.
A couple of months after this, I was talking to a friend of mine who works in Payroll, we were discussing salary and he was shocked to find out that I was on the same salary I had been on when I was a call centre advisor, despite the fact I had the ability to earn commissions as an advisor to bolster my income and that I had took on numerous extra responsibilities in my role as Customer Experience Analyst. He enquired what had happened to the merit increase I should have got last summer and I explained that it had been denied as I had aparrently had a pay increase in the same year. He also corroborated what my advisor friends had said that there was no reason I should not have got the increase as it is based on calendar years, not 12 month periods and I had received the standard increase in December 2012.
The manager who took over after the hellish one left, held a meeting with us shortly after he joined. The purpose of the meeting was to gague how we felt about our jobs, the positives, the negatives etc. Over the past few months, as well as customer experience, we have taken on complaints handling after the complaints guy left and was never replaced. This means the company has saved his salary yet increased our workload significantly.
I took the meeting as an opportunity to say that I did not feel that we were paid enough given the resposibilities of the job and the increased workload. As I have never received even a cost of living adjustment after starting there in June 2012, meaning that due to inflation rises my standard of living was now of a lesser standard than of that when I first joined the company, which isnt really a great way to reward loyalty.
I also mentioned how I suspected that my pay increase in 2013 had been deliberately denied. I mentioned that I had only recently found out that I should DEFINETELY have received it, and that I did not feel I had sufficient support in place to raise the issue before now. I said that I felt I should be refunded for the money I have lost out on to date, my pay moving forward should be readjusted to reflect the increase I should have received in 2013 and any future increases based on the rate I should have been receiving.
He has arranged a meeting with HR. I today receieved the below e-mail:
Hi Fran,
I have arranged something for later this week. I will send Catherine (HR LADY) a note and ask her to come in to so you can have a full explanation regarding the situation.
Will probably be late Wednesday or Thursday will that be ok?
Thanks
I seem to think that as the HR lady is "giving a full explanation" this means an explanation of why I cannot have the rebait and/or my pay re-adjusted to reflect the increase I was wrongfully denied.
So I do not just sit there like a nodding dog, could anyone tell me what my legal rights are in regards to both pay increases and workplace bullying.
This way, if they try to feed me any balderdash about why I cannot have the increase/rebait I will be on point with my responses.
Sorry for the mammoth essay and thanks in advance for your help.
Fran xxxxx
I was just wondering if there were any legal eagles out there who might be able to help me.
In 2013 I was working as a call centre advisor but gained a promotion within the same company to a position of a "customer experience analyst". Upon beginning my new job where the manager took an instant dislike to me.
While working under her, I began to get the clear feeling that she was discriminating against me.
She required me to send "ins" e-mails every morning, similar to a register in school. My new job was quite responsible and even though I found this quite demeaning to be asked to do so, I went along with it as it was a career I was really interested in pursing and didnt want to ruin the opportunity. After sending my ins e-mail religiously for several weeks I found out that this was only required of me and one other guy and not the 2 other people in our team.
Due to the low wages and living on my own, I could not and still cant afford to buy and run a car so I depend on public transport to get to and from work, for which the journey takes over an hour.
Public transport is an entirely external service which I have no control over, eg if I hear on the radio there will be traffic I cant ring the bus depot and ask them to send the bus 5 minutes early, to take into account the heavy traffic, it turns up when it does and if there are any delays these are unfortunately beyond my control.
Despite the above, I would get a complete dressing down if I was literally minutes late, for example, my working hours were 09:30-17:30. One time, not because I was late, because the computer I use is about 20 years old, and takes forever to load up I sent my ins e-mail at 09:32. All hell broke loose and I was asked why I was late and told that this was not good enough and to make sure it didnt happen again.
My colleagues all live much closer to the office than I do and have their own cars (so are therefore better able to control the times they can arrive to work than me, e.g if they hear there is roadworks they can make a detour which a bus cannot.) Despite this, my manager was sat with me one time and another girl in our team who drives a sports car and lives 5 MINUTES from work, walked in 15 mins late and NOTHING was said.
As my job is administrative in nature, my daily tasks can be done regardless of whether it is 10 in the morning or 10 at night. My first summer in the customer experience analyst role, the bus service I was using started arriving earlier than it had been, probably due to no schools traffic on the roads. Around this time, due to my earlier arrival, after loading my computer, and logging into all systems, I was ready to send my Ins e-mail around 09:10/09:15.
One day, it was quiet on the workfront and everything I needed to do was done by about 16:45. I resolved that as we were required to do such a precise system of clocking in/clocking out and my manager had not said anything about my Ins e-mail being sent earlier than usual at 09:10, I would be fine to leave at 10 past 5 as all my contractual obligations were fulfilled for that day, and I would JUST be able to make the earlier bus which would be great as I would get home slightly earlier.
I arrived at my desk the next morning, to an e-mail from my manager "did you leave early yesterday Fran?" As I had worked the 8 hours contractually required of me and there was no time owing, I replied saying no. She then replied saying "Just wondering why you didnt respond to the e-mail I sent at **17:27** yesterday?"
I went back to her pointing out that I had sent my Ins e-mail at 10 past. She then launched into tirade telling me that I cannot "pick and choose" to turn up and leave "whenever I want" and she was "not saying this to be a scrooge" or "check up on me" but aparrently it is "for my own safety."
Fast forward a couple of weeks, and it was another girl in our teams (one of the boss's favourites) boyfriends birthday. She is part time and her working hours were meant to be 09:45-17:45. As she wanted to go and spend some time with her other half she left at like 3pm despite starting at her normal time. Shortly after this about half 3 my boss actually turned up at the office to find the girl in question not there. This would have meant the boss would have known she left 2 hours early but nothing was said to her over leaving hours early when a big deal was made to me even though there was no time owing from me.
As mentioned before, I do not have a car and my office is on a remote industrial park quite a distance from my flat. I was told by my manager when I got the job that I would be able to "do whatever shift you like, you can do an 8-4, a 7-3, just let me know." I was moving flats in the summer of 2013 and decided that an earlier start time would help me immensely with simple tasks associated with moving such as going to the bank, going to my estate agents etc. I was not able to do these things during the week because of my hours and the remoteness of the location of my work.
I explained to her that for these reasons I would like to change my shift patterns (as I was told I could do previously) to 07:30-15:30. Even though when I was told about negotiable start times at the begginning of my employment, I was told all I had to do was 'let them know' my boss told me that to do this I would have to undertake a 3 week trial and then compile a summary to prove there was a benefit to me doing these hours including feedback from different areas of the business.
I did exactly as was asked. After first submission of the summary was compiled, I was told I would need to amend it to include statistical evidence. I did this and then submitted again. I was then told that I would need to sit down with my manager and re-format the proposal. Only then was I told that from there this would then be transferred to the big bosses to make the final judgement call on whether I would be allowed to start at 07:30. After I have sent the final draft this was never mentioned again. The trial, summary and subsequent sign off from senior management may legitimately be the process that had to be followed, but as this was not mentioned when I was initially told about negotiable shift patterns, coupled with the fact that there were other people in the team who worked this pattern and also that the process seemed to be moving very slowly, understandably, I felt that things were being made deliberately difficult for me.
On the other hand, another member of our team was needing to take an 8 week sabbatical for a religious pilgrimage right as some important changes were being implemented in their area of work. My manager took ownership of sorting this out for the individual concerned and the sabbatical was granted within a week.
Once again, it just seemed completely inane to me that I had to go through such a long rigamarole, which the manager was seemingly not keen to help with, merely to start work just 2 hours earlier. Especially given that another individual within the team needed to take 8 weeks off work completely, just as their job required all hands on deck and this was sorted out no questions asked. I once again felt singled out at the speed and ease in which this was sorted for my colleague no problems, but for me it was projected that I was asking too much by requesting to slightly change my working hours.
It got to the point where I was terrified after every e-mail I sent, that she would come back and give me a dressing down for something which I had did wrong. On this basis, I booked an appointment with HR to see if they could offer me any assistance in how to deal with this situation.
The only thing they could suggest was for them to speak to the manager themselves but given the arrogance and extreme mood swings she exhibited I did not think this would help at all and would in fact probably have inspired further hostility.
Before my meeting with HR, every employee had had a review for a merit based salary increase. As I had said before, I really wanted to build a career in this sector and so had been working very hard despite all the animosity with my boss. Rightfully, I got an overall rating for my performance of "exceeds expecations" and told I had qualified for a pay increase of 3.9%.
A day or 2 after my meeting with HR, I received this e-mail from my boss:
Hi Francesca,
Further to our review I have spoken with HR and, because you had a pay rise at the beginning of the year, you are not eligible for an additional rise at this point.
Based on your overall assessment you would have been eligible for a 3.9% rise. I tell you this, not to focus on the fact that you do not qualify this time around, but to show you that your hard work does not go unnoticed. If you were to replicate a score like this in the next review, you would achieve a comfortable uplift in salary.
Any questions, just let me know.
Thanks
During the meeting with HR, the HR rep had been taking notes. My first thoughts upon hearing that I would not be able to have my salary increased this year were that despite my requests not to, HR had went and told my manager what I had said and this was her revenge.
My company has a policy where after 6 months of service you receive a pay increase from 14,000-14,500. I joined the company in June 2012 as a telesales advisor and got the standard increase in December 2012. The merit based salary review took place in August 2013, so technically it was not the same calendar year, even though it had been in the past 12 months.
By this point I was so worn down by all the harassment I was constantly receiving from her I just wanted a quiet life and decided not to say anything more and just accept it.
In the aftermath of this, some friends who had started work on the phones at the same time as me and still worked as advisors, indicated that they had received the 3.9% merit increase, despite also receiving the standard increase in December 2012 from £14,000-£14,500. However, I still did not wish to broach it in case of further even worse animosity as things had got slightly better but there was still not sufficient supports in place if she reverted back to her old ways.
In April of this year the manager from hell finally got a job elsewhere and left the company.
A couple of months after this, I was talking to a friend of mine who works in Payroll, we were discussing salary and he was shocked to find out that I was on the same salary I had been on when I was a call centre advisor, despite the fact I had the ability to earn commissions as an advisor to bolster my income and that I had took on numerous extra responsibilities in my role as Customer Experience Analyst. He enquired what had happened to the merit increase I should have got last summer and I explained that it had been denied as I had aparrently had a pay increase in the same year. He also corroborated what my advisor friends had said that there was no reason I should not have got the increase as it is based on calendar years, not 12 month periods and I had received the standard increase in December 2012.
The manager who took over after the hellish one left, held a meeting with us shortly after he joined. The purpose of the meeting was to gague how we felt about our jobs, the positives, the negatives etc. Over the past few months, as well as customer experience, we have taken on complaints handling after the complaints guy left and was never replaced. This means the company has saved his salary yet increased our workload significantly.
I took the meeting as an opportunity to say that I did not feel that we were paid enough given the resposibilities of the job and the increased workload. As I have never received even a cost of living adjustment after starting there in June 2012, meaning that due to inflation rises my standard of living was now of a lesser standard than of that when I first joined the company, which isnt really a great way to reward loyalty.
I also mentioned how I suspected that my pay increase in 2013 had been deliberately denied. I mentioned that I had only recently found out that I should DEFINETELY have received it, and that I did not feel I had sufficient support in place to raise the issue before now. I said that I felt I should be refunded for the money I have lost out on to date, my pay moving forward should be readjusted to reflect the increase I should have received in 2013 and any future increases based on the rate I should have been receiving.
He has arranged a meeting with HR. I today receieved the below e-mail:
Hi Fran,
I have arranged something for later this week. I will send Catherine (HR LADY) a note and ask her to come in to so you can have a full explanation regarding the situation.
Will probably be late Wednesday or Thursday will that be ok?
Thanks
I seem to think that as the HR lady is "giving a full explanation" this means an explanation of why I cannot have the rebait and/or my pay re-adjusted to reflect the increase I was wrongfully denied.
So I do not just sit there like a nodding dog, could anyone tell me what my legal rights are in regards to both pay increases and workplace bullying.
This way, if they try to feed me any balderdash about why I cannot have the increase/rebait I will be on point with my responses.
Sorry for the mammoth essay and thanks in advance for your help.
Fran xxxxx
Legal Help Needed - Pay Increase Wrongfully Denied - LOOOOOONNNGGG POST!
