Residential Homes Head Office: ‘Copperfields’ 42 Villa Road, Higham, Rochester, Kent, ME3 7BX. ‘Tel/Fax: (011474) 824122 Email: larchwoodcourt@tiscali.co.uk www-larchwoodcourt.co.uk Mrs Laura E Sherlock Regulatory Employment Officer Royal London Group Royal London House Alderley Road Wilmslow Cheshire SKS 1PF 19" November 2003 Your Ref: ES/Sales & Premium Operations/LES Dear Mrs Sherlock, Re Simon Andrew Keith D of B 06.04.1979 Mr Keith was rostered to work on the day before he was to go on annual leave; the shift he was working was overtime to cover another member of staff who was on holiday. On the morning in question Mr Keith did not attend for duty, did not telephone and did not answer his mobile telephone. On retum from annual leave his only explanation was that he would have worked more than 48 hours if he had worked the shift. He had no explanation for not informing us before This was a typical example of Mr Keith's attitude to the job which involves anti-social working hours, as to whether he would perform better in a less structured environment | cannot say. is | would not re-employ Mr Keith due to his unreliability and lack of commitment to the job. Yours sincerely pbs Janet |. Aldridge C..S.W. Dip., S.W. Manager Homes at: ‘Copperfields” 42 Villa Road, Higham, Rochester, Kent. ME3 7BX. (01474) 824122 Larchwood Grove, 60 Parrock Road, Gravesend, Kent. DA12 1QH (01474) 352722 Larchwood Court, 39 Stade Street, Hythe, Kent. CT21 6DY (01303) 267274 tered Office: St James’s House, 8 Overcliffe, Gravesend, Kent. DAI! OHJ Reg No. 2455814i ~ 4 WO 2008 HRESLESIT e GENERAL REFERENCE REQUEST | Name: Simon Andrew Keith Day month —_year Day month year MH Sune TA H Petiod of Service From 26 | PR I. BOLO. TO eu Bl PAR 200d (please give exact dates) Capacity in which employed Re Socernyet PH PCORT.. M2QORISOMR. Reason for leaving BOWED... R2. ATED... FOR. DATY. Please indicate your opinion of the above named by marking the appropriate section below:~ : Excellent | Good Average Poor General Conduct A Attitude & Co-operation a7 Honesty es Initiative fe [Timekeeping a Number of days absent in last 12 months ‘Are you aware of any medical condition which may affect work performance YESINO Do you have any connection with financial companies that sell or market insurance YESINO- IF so please give details? Would you re-employ yesmo Ifno, please state reason a Bae ie Se ee, i . a Company Stamp:- Signed a V ee fe (This is essential to Name + TM ICT. Hed Ik NRE. a authenticate the reference response) Position held... WAVACRAR... Date eee) ea kcoiaez Telephone No. .....n DMD BDL GADD cscecrserecrcesesn If you do not have a company stamp, please retum the questionnaire with your business card, or compliment slip, or reply on your headed notepaper in order to verify your identity.a 5/54 Windmill Street Gravesend Kent DAIBD Me SOLICITORS B B P Fax: 01474-328315 I 1 DX _: 6800 Gravesend e-mail: melanie. webb @cbhbpsolictors.co.uk (CHURCH : BRUCE : HAWKES : BRASINGTON & PHILLIPS © DONOT ACCEPT SERVICE BY E-MAL ‘www.cbhbpsolicitors.co.uk OurRet’ ~MSW/TRI/168145/3 MrS A Keith 330 Valley Drive one GRAVESEND Kent DA12 5SU Dat: 23 December 2003 ‘When telephoning about this matter please Dial (01474) 330117 and ask for etintNNew Your Olesiag This off wil cove kom 1.00pm on s Weloweey 20 Decorber "unt Miss Webb 9.00 on Evil 2 Janeary. Dear Mr Keith Re: __ Employment We refer to your recent appointment with Miss Webb. You explained that you stopped working for Larchwood Grove in March 2001. You believe that you were unfairly dismissed and that there was a breach of the working time regulations. However, you decided not to proceed further with your claim due to the evidence. ‘You explained that you have been in the financial sector for 2% years. You have, therefore, been seeking employment in this area and have been unemployed for 3 months. You have been offered positions, subject to references. Upon receipt of the reference the prospective employer has retracted their offer. You estimate that you have lost 4 or 5 jobs and have recently been offered another position subject to references. You believe that your former employer is providing a bad reference. However, there is also the possibility that another previous employer has not given a good reference. The type of reference provided by your former employer is a corporate reference which should only be provided by specific people within the organisation. You believe that the Managing Director of Larchwood Grove, Janet Aldridge, is the person providing the references. nme in Pilips oP, row LB. ot) Notry Plc Thomas WE. Mims Grane FBentey LB (ion) estat Sts ews Aen Sunh Cage! LLB. (ns) ‘Siriano Conant sain ¥Bgon We have membership of the Law Society Personal Injury and Children Panels Regulated by The Law SocietyCBHB&P Continuation.. Cont'd MrS A Keith 23 December 2003 Whilst the reference is in the possession of your former employer, you are not entitled to see that reference. However, as soon as the reference is in the possession of the prospective employer, you are entitled to see it. The prospective employer may, of course, decline to reveal certain aspects of the reference, such as the writer, to protect such persons. Furthermore, you are entitled to a copy of your personnel file from your employer. You are also entitled to see any confidential information. It may be that the references are contained on your personnel file. We therefore suggest that we write to your former employer, Larchwood Grove, to request a copy of your personnel file, In the event that the references are on that file, this will of course avoid the need to involve any earlier prospective employers. There is also the possibility that the prospective employers have disposed of the reference. However, if the references are not contained on your personnel file, we will need to write to the prospective employers. In any event, it would be beneficial to have sight of your personnel file, as this will of course give us the information from which the reference should bbe based on. If it appears that your employer has given a bad or negligent reference, you may have an action against them for malicious falsehood. We cannot, however, take a view on this until we have obtained all the information, We therefore suggest that we write to Larchwood Grove to request a copy of your personnel file. We would be grateful if you would confirm that you agree to us taking this course of action. We will also require the details of the prospective employers who offered you a position and subsequently withdrew that offer, so that we may write to them for a copy of the reference if necessary. We enclose herewith 2 further letters containing details of our professional rules and details of the Legal Help Scheme under which you are being advised. We look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely Inn Ene reteset 00€ 2Keith. 23601 : Bhowth Nave Qiven nim V menths Nosice. — he hoot hack presioss warnings but nc& turning up iS Noe a aresS cismissat offence + oe ecole warnings wWhin co YY ove another giving ne Gue_co imerove_. Nek given CPSSR FO wel notice. Unlour olsmnissal — No Claim onlesS Can we SNES cUsmisscU Was Aue +o crefosed +o vocene in excecs oF 4S Hes Per weet . v dis v. bordatwe - on Ages A wageslipS iT Aces average to About SO Ws per wee —Sr bo I> weste={ proe- +e cosmissed Be exec mes WorleA Uveoutol be pease +o arirm ttus - shoud nse. conproiunt mote Fo et lees noc previcla ott VAS Yelena Hh. 3B. WAcermen Noor = ue TO See . "gaa — Cecec Aen apna a fio a ut eae = IS OMS due (en4 iy ys Pye 1S ree Le MinsATTENDANCE NOTE Fee Earner: Miss A Keable Date: 1 May 2001 Client/matter: MR S A KEITH - Employment - 168145/1 Attending Mr Keith on Ist May 2001. Mr Keith explained he had received my letter this morning and rang to inform me that the letters WIN were in fact W/N which stood for waking night and represented a 10 hour shift. I added these onto my calculation of hours worked in the past 17 weeks and then added on the 14.5 hours he would have worked on the Saturday if he had gone into work, although divided by 17 this still only comes to 47.38 hours per week. I therefore explained that unless he had definite proof of working at least, .T hours per week of his sleep overs he was not going to be able to succeed in a claim for unfair dismissal. With regard to the claim for wrongfl dismissal, I suggested that Mr Keith file an Application in the Employment Tribunal in the basis that not tuming up was not a gross dismissal offence especially in view of the fact he had forewarned his employers he would not be working on that day and that he should have received notice of the termination of his employment. I said that I could not guarantee he would win the case but it was arguable that he should have received notice in view of the fact his previous warnings were about different matters than not turning up. I suggested that if Mr Keith is making an Application to the Employment Tribunal he may wish to include as complaints other breaches of the working time regulations such as the fact he did not receive 11 hour rest breaks between shifts as required. Mr Keith also said he was going to report Larchwood to the Department of the Environment for breaches of the working time regulations because although in fact in his case this would come out at just below 48 hours per week he thought that on average everyone was definitely working over 48 hours per week and if he could make the working environment better for the other staff there he wanted to do so. Mr Keith is going to obtain a copy of the Application Form from the CAB and complete it but will drop it into us for us to have a quick look at before he actually issues it in the Ashford Employment Tribunal. I made it clear to Mr Keith that we were not able to represent him in the proceedings as he was being advised under the Legal Help Scheme. Mr Keith asked what his likely damages were and I explained that in a wrongful dismissal action it would simply be the one month’s notice he was entitled to under his contract of employment but if the unfair dismissal action had been a goer he would have been able to claim any financial losses he had suffered as a result of the unfair dismissal. Time engaged - 18 minutes uA 188145100116466AK FN51-54 Windmill Street Gravesend Kent DAI2 IBD SOLICITORS. oO Fax : 01474-328315 CBHB&P ae e-mail : ChurchB1@aol.com tea pain www. cbhbpsolicitors.co.uk. RASINGTON & PHILLIPS Ourke 2/AK/SCA/168145001 Mr S A Keith 330 Valley Drive tom fe GRAVESEND Kent DA12 5SU Date: 27 April 2001 When telephoning about this matter pease ial 0147433017 anda for Miss Keable Dear Mr Keith WA Re: Employment ‘We have now received from Larchwood Court Ltd copies of your rotas for the period requested. We enclose copies of these rotas for your information. We have gone back seventeen weeks from the 9th March 2001 and have added up all of the hours you have worked according to these time sheets. We have calculated it to acuate to 761 hours which comes to 44.76 hours per week. However, we do note that for the 6th, 7th and 8th March no hours were recorded and instead the letters WIN were entered and we should be grateful if you could explain what the meaning of these letters is. \ qo Sm The DTI guidance says that sleep overs will not count towards working time and therefore the time when you were actually asleep during sleep overs will not count although any time you ‘were up and actively working will count. If you have any evidence to prove that at least 4 hours per week of your sleep overs where spent actively working it may be possible to succeed in a claim based on the fact you were dismissed for refusing to work over 48 hours per week although we anticipate this as likely to be difficult if no record was kept of the times you were awake during your sleep overs. Essentially we are saying that providing the documents we have enclosed are correct we do not consider you have a claim for unfair dismissal based on refusal to work more than 48 hours per week and even if the documents had shown you had worked over 48 hours per week it would have been a straight forward claim in any event as we would also need to show in the tribunal that your refusal to work the Saturday was because of the fact you had already worked 48 hours rather than the fact you was going on holiday and needed to take that day off. ek Pipe Calin PCrowat LL Hons) Nowy Pe Mowsas WE Manns ‘Grae Bey Li. on) V. Bring Aasta Slicers ele Brastgon LLB. (oes) Nea Alen Ange Kea LB. Qn) Nal Hass L (een): Sarah Clana! 1B (Hon) We have membership of the Law Society Personal Injury and Children Panels ississworaisactse er Regulated by The Law Society in the conduct of Investment BusinessCBHB&P Continuation... This leaves us with your claim for wrongful dismissal on the basis your employer did not give you I months notice when they dismissed you. As to your chances of succeeding in recovering 1 months notice we believe having looked at the documents that it is quite finely balanced. On the one hand not turning up to work on one occasion is not usually considered to be a gross dismissal offense and so even if your employers wanted to dismiss you they would still need to give you the requisite period of notice as required under your contract of employment. On the other hand the fact that your employers view it as very serious because of the fact that the home was under staffed placing vulnerable adults at risk could mean a tribunal would lean towards thinking not tuming up was a gross dismissal offence. Obviously you had warnings recently although these were not of the same kind as the incident you were eventually dismissed for. You will note that your employers say that the reason you are not allowed the holiday was because you had already exhausted your annual leave and you will see from their letter dated 4th April (copy enclosed) that they say they had no idea you would not be coming into work on the Saturday, If you do wish to pursue your claim for wrongful dismissal you should issue an application in the Ashford Employment Tribunal immediately and certainly no later than 7th June 2001 as that is the expiry time for you making a complaint. It will then be for Larchwood Court to decide whether or not to defend your application and if they do they will need to explain why they consider your not turning up to constitute a gross dismissal offence. Tf you have any queries arising from the contents of this letter please do not hesitate to contact, our Miss Keable who will be happy to assist. The legal help scheme you are being advised under does not permit us to act for you in the tribunal proceedings although we can give you advice and assistance in connection with these if necessary. We would therefore be grateful if you could Iet us know whatever you decide to do and look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely Miss A Keable a r at wee a 4 Ene 16814500\2M4CLIE LETApplication to an —— Employment Tribunal=‘ If you fax this form you do nok need to”serid nein the, "This form has to be photocopied, Please. carta (if possible). * Where there are tick boxes, pl Focotcoure Ply / | [Received at ET eal | | Se eas Case number [tT OUST FOTTT OO a] ees flare [Toes tnitiats Please give the type of complaint you want the tribunal to decide (for example, unfair dismissal, equal pay). A full ist is available from the tribunal office, If You have more than one complaint list them all Wrogg (il AeSmisal Please give your detaiis oe(ZT tes Sumeme (KK EUTH Date of bith ye, hp QP Address 3 ZO YALE Y DRE GRAVESEND, KEnT. Postcode DF 2- Sst a miss[_| ms [_] omer 4 Please give the dates of your employment $-B-o) & Please give the name and address of the employer. ner organisation or person against whom this, complaint is being brought Fem! 27 [é/ex | Name LAKH UDOD C.Renit Aedes BO PARRECL STREET | CRANESEND, KENT, Postcode Phone mde ON) y Please give the place where you worked or applied to work if different from above tone mumberrygq79_ 923429 Daytime phone number Sey ye ase give an address to which we should send cocuments if diferent from above AS ABONE. Postcode 1 Ifa representative is acting for you please give details (ellcowaspondence wile sentto your representative) Name a] Address Address SAE. Postcode © Please say what job you did for the employer (or what job you applied for). If this dces not apply, please say whal your connection was with the employer> tense tre lise ot iia SS etc [| SU ee salar at i eae EHO al | eachweek date when the matter you are complaining sbout lock | | place Hours per week ARIE: Min 2 haus | | forsmissal eae i @ Please give your earning details 10 Unfair dismissal appiicants only Please indicate what you are seeking at this st ee O 8 ONO a S (e | vouein your cove! £ 4 Jo pe Pf bear | Reinstatement: to cary on working in you" old job as before Avrage take ome py EI eee Basic wage or salary £ FOG en Pe! Month [| Re-engagement: tostar another job ornen contract wth = ‘your old empoyer (an order for re-engegement nermaliyiclutes Other bonuses or benefits ‘Sn award of componsation for uss af earnings), £ = pet Nome [Ej Compensation onty:tge:an award money LE 11 Please give details of your complaint If there is not enough space for your answer, please continue on a separate sheet and altach it lo this form. . was, employed by lorchwead Grove aS a Suppo rk wore, EE wenton holiday And when Zt rekuned T AScuscred ¥ empPgement OS bermimaterd . Zo Pave Sought legal adwce cand my Ssire have A CSe fo wrongfill AiSmisal and “bo Wns 1S bececse by my Contract of em plos Chak Bom due One maathS ratic Ss The @aSan TF WSS Fred (3 Because F cofleci b DH seh Erak would hove taken my eer ce Ese Se Near errtcing See , OS TS Ty eight , Ft Canned be Aissmised for refusing bs work cues UF hoirS Gnd thus 2 “@e\ Breve been unkurly treated. =e IS @& regular @ccurance in Lhe © - oP be expcteet CO toorte the Has ae Pg OF aN SR C\til2) hours, Orc Sha? meres Ao break im thak Sie a May con leave the wonky ensireament_ My TimetheetS cae c pipe Fela occurance for Sin to @x idence of Wis. +TLis aBo Some on duby ene morning Ond Rab leave Eke FOr another “3-& days, betmuse [= hove all documantetran RomIn the application of Mr S Keith This form has to be photocopied, If possible please use Black Ink and Capital letiors * If there is not enough space for your answer, please continue on a separate sheet and attach It to this form EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS NOTICE OF APPEARANCE BY RESPONDENT Case Number 1100879/2001/L. fease quote in all correspondence) 7. Full name and address of the Respondent: Laacuwoonm conde Latctwesn Gee Lo Yatoa Roos Post Code DA\Q 1 SEA 3. Do you intend to resist the application’? (Tick sppropriate bax) NO LJ 4. Was the applicant dismissed? (Tick appropriate box) No ave Reason for diemiseal VWecnecriw Vue Clenre 5. Are the dates of employment given by the applicant Correct? (Tk aporaprist tox) YES No Tolophone number: Ow 252722 7 a Tif you require documents and notices to be sentto representative or any other address in the United Kingdom please give details: plenne give correct dato below Began on Ended on . Are the details given by the applicant about wagesisalary, take home or other bonuses correct? (Tick appropriate box) lotus give comect dota batow Basic Wagos/Sai: E 4-45 por “Average Take Home Pay £926.00 per_nos: ‘Other Bonuses/Benefits F PLEASE TURN OVER Tor office use only Date of receipt Initials[7- Give particulars of the grounds on which you Intand to resist the application. ‘Mr Keith Simon in fact only worked 30 hours on the week commencing Monday 5" March 2001, that was Tuesday 6", Wed 7” & Thurs 8® (10 Hours each shift) With regard to his statement about long hours and no time away from the working environment ‘At Mr Keith’s interview for the position of Assistant Care Worker 1 explained in length about the need to have commitment and that the job of caring for adults with a learning disability would be anti-social as they required continuous care on a 24 hour 7 day a week ‘oasis and that the clients that he would be responsible for would be receiving respite care | ‘and would be very vulnerable and that occasions would arise at short notice when it would be necessary to work overtime. Mr Keith agreed to this and accepted the job However the first 2 months of his employment he was given a verbal warning as to his poor standard of work including poor supervision of vulnerable clients and his probationary period was extended by a further 2 months and extra tuition provided In February 2001, he was late for work no less than 4 times and left work on one occasion (sick) without seeking permission to do so, to allow for cover to be provided He also stated that he was refusing to work overtime 1 pointed out to him that it was one of his conditions of his employment and that the previous month he had only worked an average of 48.12 hours per week. ‘On Sunday 4” March 2001 a member of staff telephoned the senior carer at home as Mr Keith was again neglecting his duty. In addition to this he excluded himself from the clients that he was responsible for, for about 1 hour so he could engage himself in private conversation on his mobile telephone. On the day Mr Keith Failed to work i.e. Saturday 10" March 2001, he had previously been | told when he applied for annual leave for that day that he did not have enough annual leave outstanding to cover this day and when he asked if he could take it as unpaid leave I told him that staffing levels could not permit this. He did not attend any pari of this rostered shift or make any atiempt to communicate with the home with any reason for his non attendance. ‘The period between his previous holiday in November 2000 and the termination of bis, employment/holiday in March 2001 (15 Weeks) Mr Keith worked an average of 46.6 hours per week ‘The reason for Mr Keith's dismissal was not his refuusal to work over 48 hours but was his neglect of vulnerable people in leaving the home understaffed without any prior notice to myself or the Senior carer. Please sign and date the form. IsSigned Yeh, Dated ISH Juue Zoot DATA PROTECTION ACT 1984 /e may put some of the information you give on this form on to a computer. This helps us to monitor progress and roduce statistics. We may also give Information to: the other party in the case ‘other parts of the DTI and organisations such as ACAS (Advisory Conelllation and Arbitration Service), the Equal }pportunities Commission or the Commission for Racial Equality. Please post or fax this form to : The Regional Secretary Tufton House, Tufton Street, Ashford, Kent, TN23 1RJ. “IF YOU FAX THE FORU, DO NOT POST A COPY AS WELLMr Simon Keith 330 Valley Drive Gravesend Kent DA12 5SU 42 March 2001 Dear Simon, Re: Termination of Employment as of 10" march 2001 itis with regret that | have to write to you and inform you that you are, with immediate effect dismissed from your position within the company. You have received numerous verbal warnings and 3 letters of your poor working performance were given to you on 11" August 2000, 28" February 2001 and 7" March 2001 You were due to perform duty on Saturday 10" Merch 2001, 7.30am until 10pm. You had been told previously that you had exhausted your annual leave enlitiement and when you asked for unpaid leave for that day it was explained to you that staff levels would not permit this. You failed to report for any of this duty Page 9 of your Staff Guidelines, clearly states that disciplinary action will be taken should you fail to report for duty You have on numerous occasions, as explained in the three letters you have received to date, shown a total disregard for the Rules, Policies and Procedures of the company and in addition, Instructions given to you personally. You will be paid up to and including the 8" March 2001 your last worked duty, 2 waking night. Yours sincerely Janet |. Aldridge C.Q.S.W. Dip, SW. Manager