Jobs: Know your rights Sacked after fraud fears; With Justin Madders, Employment Law Specialist at the Paul Rooney Partnership . . .

Byline: Justin Madders

Q: I started my new job about six months ago working in the cashier's department. I was surprised at first at how many times the management were submitting expenses for what I thought were personal items. One manager even submitted invoices for flights to Nice for him and four members of his family. When I questioned my manager about this I was told that it was not my concern and I should just process the invoices as normal. However, I was concerned that I could be implicated in a fraud on the Inland Revenue and therefore after a lot of thought decided to contact the Revenue directly with my concerns. The Inland Revenue contacted the company a few weeks later to discuss this and I was sacked virtually immediately after their meeting had ended. As I had not been there a year I don't think I can claim unfair dismissal. Is this right?

Justin says: You are correct that in most circumstances you will be unable to claim unfair dismissal until you have been continuously employed for one year. However, you could argue that your dismissal comes under the Public Interest Disclosure Act which deals with ``whistleblowing'' cases. You do not need one year's continuous employment to claim under this Act and if you can show that your dismissal was related to what is known as a ``protected disclosure'' to a specified body, which could include the circumstances you describe. You may well then be able to make a claim for unfair dismissal under the Act, although you would need to lodge your claim with the Employment Tribunal within three months of your dismissal.

Q: I work in a kitchen in a restaurant and recently had an accident where I smashed quite a few plates. When I received my pay packet at the end of the week I found that pounds 15 had been deducted from my wages. When I asked why I was told it was to cover the cost of the broken crockery. I do not have a written contract of employment and have never agreed at any time that they could take money out like this. Is there anything I can do?

Justin says: An employer can only deduct monies from an employee's wages if they have indicated in the contract of employment that they are entitled to do so or the employee has previously signified their consent in writing. I believe that you may well have a claim for unlawful deduction from wages which you would need to take to an Employment Tribunal. You have three months from the date of the deduction to bring the claim.

Q: I worked for the same company for 12 years. Recently, I was sacked because I hadn't completed a form correctly. I had a previously clean disciplinary record and I think my dismissal was unfair because I know of one of my colleagues who had done the same thing the week previously and had only been given a verbal warning. Is this unfair dismissal?

Justin says: It may well be. The issue to consider is whether your employer has at any time indicated to you that a dismissal could result from completing the forms incorrectly. I do not know how serious the mistake was but certainly if someone was only given a verbal warning the previous week for the same mistake it may well be difficult for your employer to justify dismissing you a week later, unless there had been some policy change within that week. It is also worth checking your contract of employment or disciplinary procedure to see whether your employer considers what you did to be gross misconduct.