Employment Contract

[alison43331]

Hi

A colleague of mine would really appreciate some advice

Her mother works in a care home and they keep arranging staff meetings on her days off which are unpaid and she has been told that if she doesn’t attend these meetings, although they fall on her days off and she has told her employer she has problems getting childcare, she will receive a disciplinary

And now they have arranged staff training, one for a full day and another session lasting two days, and she has been told that failure to attend will result in the cost of the course being deducted in full from her wages?

I told her I don’t think this is right but I will ask for some help, so any advice you can offer would be great.

Thanks

[pixie373]

I'm sure someone qualified in Law will come along. But from experience, when I worked in a care home and this happened, we were told that nobody is allowed to lose money for attending courses and staff were paid the extra. It seems extremely unfair to me. Is she under contract for a certain number of hours a week, or is she Bank/Relief staff?

[factor-fiction]

If it's a fairly regular thing she should ask to simply swap her days in the weeks when there is such a course

[alison43331]

Thanks factor-fiction but she can't change her days because she has child-care commitments that can't be avoided. Apparently this was the reason she took the job in the firstplace

[tonywiltshire]

If the course days are for study or training and her employer has over 250 employees and they have worked for the employer for at least 26 weeks the employee is protected by section 63D of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
In section 13 of the same act the employee is protected against unauthorised deduction of wages unless it is in the Contract of employment or the employee has given written permission for this deduction.
I would not only study this act I would look a little deeper why are the employers acting in this way and does it apply to everyone, or is it discriminatory?