Any legal eagles out there ?

Well someone close to me has just received a contract of employment , where none was before ? He has been employed there as an apprentice for the last 2 years , also all the rest of the employees have had contracts also, non of the employees are happy with what's written an example of this is :

You repair a vehicle in good faith but something you missed or mistakenly done has done damage , so it was a mistake and not a malicious act you the mechanic / engineer will rectify the damage by working for free and paying for items damaged

Does this sound right ? I've worked for nearly 40 years and never come across such stuff , I've read this document and it's so one sided towards the employer it's disgraceful, the person I am close to wouldn't be there for much longer after qualifying as a mechanic anyway as he wants to see more and better himself , what course of action would these mechanics be able to do ? , I thought ACAS maybe join a specific union that understands this line of work ? It's apparent that this employer is trying to "get one over" on these lads , apparently what's happened a mechanic who was sacked due to his workmanship has taken the employer to court for wrongfully sacking him so this may be panic setting in as there was no contracts before this issue

There all the same mate i work for a large bus company, all the cars we have to move more than 2 or 3 times on occasions during the night.

All have keys put in as drivers have to leave them or get blocked in,they are parked at owners risk which puts the onus on the people moving them. Now we have to move them

to park the firms buses. What if a vehicle is stolen by somebody? Whos Liable? be an interesting one when they ring the insurance up are we covered to move them its private land

My extremely limited knowledge of the law would tell me that doing anything 'for free' can't be an enforceable part of a contract. I may be wrong though.

Depends, in theory, workers in a lot of industries can be docked for breakages, etc. 

 

I've got a couple of mates who work in garages, and if someone properly buggers something up through their own stupidity, it's fairly common for them to have to go in on their own time at the weekend to sort it out. 

 

You have a right to a contract after 90? days of employment. But there's no legal onus on you to sign it, but if you don't, it is a valid reason for dismissal. 

It may be common practice, but I doubt it's a legally enforceable part of anyone's contract. Excessive stupidity or inability is a fault of the employer's selection process, or training process just as much as the employee's.

I was an apprentice mechanic at a main dealers for a while many moons ago. Deal there was £1000 excess on any damage caused to a customers vehicle payable in full by person who is working on it apprentices included! That was one of the many nails in the coffin for me at that place. Essentially it was a years apprentice pittance at the time. Just forced a culture of in the unlikely event you do something to a customers vehicle, bodge it quick. Inc service manager super gluing back on headlight washer jet arms on an at the time 6 month old MG. That came into force after a big claim on their insurance before I started where a Defender or a Disco was left on a lift overnight and one side collapsed impaling and twisting said 4x4 and writing it off. (crap old lifts tbh) 

I am not sure but I think if you sign then that's it you are now liable. Previous dealership I worked at made everyone sign for the first £2000 accident damage excess whether your fault or not. ...consequently road tests were very short if at all.

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Any legal eagles out there ?

Well someone close to me has just received a contract of employment , where none was before ? He has been employed there as an apprentice for the last 2 years , also all the rest of the employees have had contracts also, non of the employees are happy with what's written an example of this is :

You repair a vehicle in good faith but something you missed or mistakenly done has done damage , so it was a mistake and not a malicious act you the mechanic / engineer will rectify the damage by working for free and paying for items damaged

Does this sound right ? I've worked for nearly 40 years and never come across such stuff , I've read this document and it's so one sided towards the employer it's disgraceful, the person I am close to wouldn't be there for much longer after qualifying as a mechanic anyway as he wants to see more and better himself , what course of action would these mechanics be able to do ? , I thought ACAS maybe join a specific union that understands this line of work ? It's apparent that this employer is trying to "get one over" on these lads , apparently what's happened a mechanic who was sacked due to his workmanship has taken the employer to court for wrongfully sacking him so this may be panic setting in as there was no contracts before this issue

 

I'd suggest they get a solicitor or a knowledgable union person to look at it. (and everyone join the union).

 

I was given a 12 page employment contract in 2007 for a casual sub-contract job.   One of my good mates is a solicitor (mainly large corporate transactions) so his "employment contract" knowledge is a bit rusty.  We went through the document over a few beers and red penned it down to 1 page which the contractor was happy to accept.

 

Basically he was trying it on & his contract hadn't even been looked at by a legal person.  It was a wish list of ambit claims and much of it was illegal (restriction of trade, illegal transfer of responsibilities to another party).

 

Tell them not to sit back & take it without questioning first.