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Saturday 28 March 2009

All's well that ends well.


The postman finally delivered the outcome for my appeal today against the decision regarding the three grievances I raised against my former employer. They were very minor points in the scheme of things, but it was a matter of principal, about sending a signal to them that their behaviour towards me was not acceptable, and they were accountable for the effects of all of their actions towards me.

The three points that I raised were as follows:

1. That they had miscalculated the amount of overtime that I am owed due to missed lunch breaks at my first store - that it is 8.5 hours instead of the 7 hours they agreed. This has been upheld.

2. That I am owed money from my second store in regard to staying late to assist with deliveries and to attend meetings regarding Christmas trading and so on. This point has not been upheld, since they insist (without talking to me I might add, to get my side of it), that I was informed that this was voluntary and unpaid.

3. That after they agreed that my contract had been changed without consent, and I had in fact been working more hours than the new contract allowed for, and because bonuses were paid pro rata to contracted hours, these should be adjusted accordingly. This point has also been upheld.

So, there is just this one small very minor point (point number two), which remains. I am talking about maybe 5 hours pay. In the scheme of life it is not that important, and certainly not worth bothering with an industrial tribunal for. It is time to let it all go.

When I think about all the Sundays I worked, where I was paid 8 hours for a 6 hour day, it probably has balanced itself out. When you look at it like this, I am probably not owed anything at all. Like I say then, time to let it go and move on with my life.

Still it is good to know that common sense and justice has prevailed, and I did get them to concede on the other more important points. Namely, that they could not change peoples contracts without informing them, that they had to set much clearer policies and guidelines as to how staff are paid (for example, whether they are paid for the 15 minutes before and after closing), and that when they agree to give someone a pay rise they have to honour that.

I suspect that I am not the only one affected by these points, but cannot worry about others. If they choose (or not) to pursue this for themselves and claim the money that they too are owed, then that is up to them and nothing to do with me. Nothing about that company is of any concern to me at all, not any more. It is time to let it go. Suffice to say, I will not be shopping there again.

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