In October last year my mum got signed off on the sick due to nerve damage. It looked like she wouldn’t be able to return to work so a temporary cook was employed while my mum was still on the sick. She now feels like she is able to return to work but when she went to see the manager today she was told the owner had given the temporary cook a full time contract. My mum is still employed by this establishment and has never been signed off work by the doctor or handed her notice in or been given notice by her employer so she is still employed but was on long term sick leave. She was not informed by the owner or manager that a new full time cook had been employed. She has had regular contact with the manager throughout her illness but the owner has never contacted her and has never asked her what her plans were regarding her job. According to the owner, she can hire another full time cook as according to ACAS (have not confirmed this) they need a full time cook. (This is a residential home). Three years ago my mum comitted fraud but the manager and owner at that time knew about it and did not take any action and kept her employed. Now the current owner is saying she will do a CRB check on my mum. My mum feels this is a threat but the manager and previous owner (who is the current owners brother) knew about this, did not take any action against my mum, kept her employed and even used her as team leader cover handling residents money and drugs. My mum has been employed for five years in this job and has a contract. Where does she stand? The manager also told my mum that she had never written to the company telling them of her plans but my mum has had regular phone contact with the manager and has been down to see the manager on numerous occasions. The cook was only taken on temporarily to cover my mums sick leave but according to the owner, as they need a cook she was given a full time contract so what about my mums contract? They only have one full time cook. My mum is going through the shaw trust who work with the job centre who help people who have been on the long term sick to return to work. I don’t know if it makes any difference but my mum has been on incapacity benefit for the last few months. My mum feels like she has been stabbed in the back by the owner. What can she do?
Lisa Robson