Some advice please on situation at work.

[oiteach]

hi,

I have worked for a company for 10 months. It's a bit complicated but....
I was taken on to start up a new part of the business which was a franchise through a third party.
I am employed by the core business.

We had lots of issues with the people runnung the franchise business, culminating in me having to make a written request not to have to work with one of the owners as he was sexually harassing me.

before I put it in writing he had made various accusations about my standard of work to cover his lack of information/promised leads etc.
My two bosses (joint owners of the core business) were initially very much on his side, I was threatened with the sack at one point and there was a lot of bad feeling.

I have since been proven right, everything I said was proved by legal documents we found, records of emails etc.

We are now no longer associated with these people. I didn't receive an apology at any point despite some awful treatment but had decided to chalk it up to experience, in this climate a job is a job.

We are now running a new operation which has the same function as the old franchise but we operate globally.
It has gone very well, I have been over my target for June and will definitely be over my target for July and August.
We have employed another sales person and a technician who I have had to assist with training, procedures etc.

my role has been completely changed with no discussion, it now involves alot more travel, some overseas and I am the main liason with our colleagues overseas.

The new operation is jointly owned by three people; my two original bosses and a third guy in holland.
This guy came over a couple of times and did some sales meetings with me. On the last day he was here he asked me to "book a hotel for the afternoon" so that we could "relax".
I refused, didn;t make a big deal of it but flatly said no and took him to the eurostar at Paddington.

I went over there for two days training in April, it was ok but I was promised a lot of vital documents, procedural info etc to follow, I have only started to receive this in the last couple of weeks despite various requests.
I have been working as I thought I should and have brought in lots of new business with some very large projects starting over the next few weeks that far exceed my targets.

The three bosses met up last week. The dutch guy who trained me has done a hatchet job on me.
He has said that he trained me on lots of things that he hasn't....
The other two guys called me in today and have basically told me my work isn't good enough, they were very abrupt. The atmosphere was not nice at all.

Day to day one of my bosses wil call me early mornings, late at night.
I went on holiday for a week a couple of weeks ago and I was called every single day, if I didn't answer my mobile my boss would call my house phone repeatedly. He gave my house number to my technician who called me several times after 8pm for very minor queries.
I switched my mobile off on the thursday night. I switched it back on on Monday when I returned to work and there were 17 text messages plus 8 voicemails from my boss all over the weekend demanding a call back.
Nothing was urgent, it was all very very minor queries.
He then gave me a rollicking on the MOnday for being unavailable over the weekend.

my contracted hours are 9.30 -3.45 on a Mondat and friday.
8.30 - 5.30 on a tuesday weds and nthursday.

Today I was told that I must sell over three times my monthly target by mid August, non-negotiable.
I was also told that the new operation is now registered as a separate company but I will not be employed by this company.
I wassn't given a reason, I did ask but the glossed over it.

I feel that I am being discriminated against; none of the other employees in sales roles are treated in this manner, no phone calls on holidays, targets are set and adhered to etc.
I also feel that I have been sexually harassed by the dutch guy (the request to book a hotel) and think that he is being duplicitous because I refused him

I now feel that they simply want to get as much as they can out of me before getting rid just before the 12 month mark.

Am I right in thinking I have fuck all rights as I have been here less than a year?

I'm trying to consider the best course of action whether that is to go and see an employment solicitor or simply have a "clear the air" type meeting with the two british owners.

Any advice (if you've got this far) would be appreciated.

[Vulture]

First thing I would do is to document everything you have said here with dates etc so you don't forget things. Then I would isolate what you believe your main grievances to be. In the meantime I would avoid being alone with any colleagues i.e. always have a witness there and I would document any meeting with a quick email to the person you met with just to recap what was discussed and what you both expect the outcomes to be of any agreed actions. Can you join a Union? If you can they can be very helpful. Alternatively perhaps you could ask to meet your bosses to 'clear the air' but ask that you bring along to the meeting an independent person to mediate - someone you both feel comfortable with. Prior to that meeting you should both put forward an agenda of points you wish to discuss. I am no expert but it seems to me that you need to break the issues down into bite sized chunks and to be totally objective. I would also be more assertive in the workplace - if the Dutch bloke had harrassed you then you should have documented it there and then by emailing him and CC his colleagues with a polite refusal.

[oiteach]

Hi.

thank you.
I am starting to document everything now, I think it is the general attitude.

For example, today I had a flat tyre. I changed it but I only have a space saver and need to drive to birmingham tomorrow.

So I called my boss and asked who we use for new tyres as it is a company car and we have a lease plan.
He told me I don't need to know who we're with, in any case he hasn't bothered coivering my car and I should pay for it myself.

EVERY other employee is covered for tyres through our company lease plan. All of the cars are company cars.
Why am I being treated differently.

It is a very small company and they tend to make disciplinary matters public knowledge, when I put it in writing about the harassment from the previous partner it was a office joke very quickly.
I'm the only woman there and I think that is a factor.
They openly surf porn when I am talking to them in the office etc despite me saying that it's inappropriate.

[StealthPolarBear]

I think your response to any comment like that needs to be "can I have that in writing please"

[oiteach]

I have tried emailing now just to recap the conversation today about the tyres. I think I'll keep doing that from now on.

Ideally I'd like to keep my job until next year when I'll be more qualified and I'll have about two years on my cv with one company.
Before this I was made redundant twice through the recession and a third company went into liquidation so my cv is not good in terms of stability at the moment.

I'm not sure that is going to happen though.
Either I'll crack or they will sack me I think. Tis all very odd, I am over performing, I would have thought it would be an idea to keep me....