suspended from work

hi i need some advice, there is a little boy at my work who was found with scratches on his neck and 2 members of staff has said that they saw me grab the child by his scruff off his neck in the morning, i wasn't anywhere near the child that morning, isnt this classed as slander. what can i do? i have a little boy of my own and this sort of accusation can lead to a lot. please help.

It is much harder to prove slander than to prove are are not guilty - if you can afford the cost of the court and the barrister to persue the case. You say that two members of staff have said that you did this - has your employer taken any action?

And PS - a note to Joachim. Your memory is very poor, because I have told you this before. You have no knowledge of social care legislation or employment AT ALL. Investigations into this area are bad enough and scary enough for people - please stop acting like an expert and scaring people even more. If it is necessary to elaborate on the safeguarding processes involved in social care and how they may impact on someone - leave it up to those who know something about it. You are not helping by scaring the b***y life out of someone. There is no such thing as being "struck off" in this field of work - it is an entirely different matter and process.

To the original poster - I am sorry, but in order to correct Joachims erroneous post, it is now necessary to say that whilst no allegation of this type is trivial, there are possible implications in regards to future employment if a case was proven. Whilst I am not going to say that they are harmless, the situation you describe is not as awful as Joachim portrays. If you tell us what the employer is doing about it, we will try to help you through it.

well the child im supposed to have grabbed by the neck is part of one of the witness group, and its her who has to take this child out of the room on her own to change there nappy, the other witness is her friend. my employer said that they were going to ring on the monday but i had to phone her and she told me she was busy and she would phone me today but she never i had to phone her again and she said she was busy again and still i am non the wiser of whats going on. i am doing a modern apprenticeship with them and they are not paying the modern apprentice wage either and i questioned the manager about this at the beginning of my employement which has only been a week. im thinking that all of this could be connected in some way.

Ah - excellent! Well no, not really, but much better. You should have an agency which provides oversight for your placement I think - Bubbles is the expert on apprenticeships, but I seem to recall him saying this - and you must contact them and tell them everything. Keep records of everything and start putting all your questions and issues in writing. If you are able to show that you have questioned their legal responsibilities towards you and there has been a complaint of this nature against you within such a short time, it should help to show that there are other issues at play here. It isn't evidence that you aren't guilty of this, but it muddies the waters enough.

Right now there is nothing much you can do except wait until the employer gets back to you. I have asked Bubbles to have a look at the thread from the point of view of the apprenticeship rules, and then we will have to see what happens next. Try not to worry.

well i have contacted the employment person at my collage and told them everything, i have also kept my contract from them that states the wage they were going to pay me which is well below what it should be.

Hi

Assuming you are an emplyed apprentice. you ought to be paid at least £95 a week.

This is separate from the National Minumum Wage rules, that also apply, once you reach 2nd year of apprenticeship and age 18.

Your training provider is supposed to liaise with the employer to ensure that you have a proper employment contract and the minimum wage etc., so you may need to bring this up in writing with them if this isn't happening.

Your training provider is also supposed to be fully involved in any disciplinary problems and to advise the employer / placement.

If you've been suspended (why the need ?) then it should have been on full pay, pending a full investigation.

Also, because you are an apprentice, you are supposed to be effectively supervised at all times, otherwise the placement is seriously breaching health and safety etc.

It ought not to have been possible for you to have done what's alleged - a qualified staff member ought to have been supervising and stopped it.

And, within reason, you're just learning - an apprentice - so cannot be expected not to make some mistakes - hence the need for supervision.

It is your local Learning and Skills Council who are ultimately responsible for all this, so you might want to contact the Contract Manager responsible for childcare apprentices at (wherever).

Your local branch of Connexions ought to be able to help you too.

Bad employers are rife in child care sector, so none of this surprises me !

Keep us posted

hi well ive received a phone call today from my employer stating that they will not be keeping me on because of the 2 witnesses. ive had no letters through or any meetings with the employer. i am filing a grievance with the employer and then taking them to a tribunaral. is there anything else i should do?

Hi

Complain about all this to your training provider and to the Learning and Skills Council and, if your provider isn't supportive, complain to OFSTED as well.

Get your MP involved if the Learning & Skills Council isn't supportive.

Stress the supervision angle I raised before, as well as the failure to hold any form of proper hearing before dismissing you, which sounds just plain outrageous.

If an employer dismisses an appprentice unfairly, there is clear legal precedent that a tribunal can award the apprentice damages that cover the whole of the uncompleted apprenticeship + loss of future earnings that would otherwise have been earned post-apprenticeship + in your case a surcharge for failing to follow dismissal procedures. You need to have worked there at least a year, though,