Money claim for breach of contract

[JudgeRinderOrJudy]

I am desperate for some help please.

I have received a letter in the post today from my previous employer which is a money claim.

I will briefly outline the back story...

I worked for a small cleaning company and was doing roughly 32 hours a week.
My brother died suddenly in March and I requested compassionate leave. I was given 2 days. I then requested leave for his funeral which I also had to organise as I was his only close family left and wasn't given any time off however, I took it upon myself to take two days off which I wasn't paid for- fine.
The email correspondence I received from them was stressful, hostile and rude and it made me look for another job.

I found another job and handed in my notice stating I was giving one weeks notice although, I was aware that my contract stated I give one months notice but without going in too deep, I could not spend another day working for this company due to their treatment of me.

My new employer wrote to them requesting a reference and the one supplied stated that I was rude, unapproachable and came to work drunk. I have NEVER turned up for work drunk and I completely disagree that I was ever rude or unapproachable.

Thankfully my new employers understood my situation and took no notice and hired me anyway however, I cannot explain what that letter has done for my mental state. Ever time I think of it, I feel sick and worry so much that I work myself up in to having a panic attack.

I received emails stating that my previous employer would take me to court and they have now done this claiming for breach of contract and loss of earnings to the sum of £1500. This is almost double what I earned in a month, let alone the 3 weeks I did not work the notice period.

I accept that I breached the contract in not working the stated period however I feel I had no other choice and in the month before my resignation, my hours were slowly reduced to less than 20 hours a week which I was struggling to survive on.
I believe I was close to a breakdown and would cry myself driving to work each and every morning.

I would really appreciate any advice on how to handle this as I honestly don't believe that the consequences of me breaching the contract has equalled £1500 in loss of earnings.
I accepted that I would not get paid for the remaining and was even willing to forego the 2 days paid holiday I had accrued.

Will they have to evidence the loss of earnings and can I ask for them to provide proof?

I am still friendly with a few former colleagues who informed me that they dished the scheduled work in those 3 weeks out to the other members of staff.

Please can anyone offer any advice as I am at the end of my tether and not sure I can cope with this on top of everything else.

Have you actually received the court paperwork (in the post) or is this just a letter from the employer?

Is the employer trying to get you to 'pay up' without going to court?

The court paperwork will give you the option to file a defence and counterclaim.

Basically, they can only claim for actual losses - so, if they managed to cover the work anyway, they have lost nothing.

Have you tried citizens advice?

I have received the paperwork from the government department asking me to go to a website with my claim number and to respond before 20th Aug or risk a CCJ 😔

Will they need to prove the losses or is it up to me to prove it didn't cause them to lose out?

Thanks for replying

Oh sorry forgot to add, the CAB are first on the list to ring on Monday morning

What government department was this?

Check your contract . They may have been breaching YOUR contract for reducing your hours , or for not giving you compassionate leave or holiday for example .

Depending on what they were writing to you in the emails they were sending , they may have also caused YOU some personal injury in terms of the anxiety that they caused through those emails when your brother died. Irrespective of all this breach of contract stuff .

DONT panic . You can and WILL sort this out .

Don’t get bullied .

Sorry for your loss . Congrats on the new job .

Can you copy your contract on here so we can see the relevent clauses please or pm? You must respond to the claim as default judgment will be made in your absence. Also ACAS are very helpful re employment issues, they have a general public helpline.

As they have already issued a claim, you can counter claim. In your position I would advise counter claiming for the same amount for emotional distress, damage to your professional reputation and for inaccurate references and for breach of your implied right to time off to arrange a funeral and attend the funeral of a dependent. Although your brother was not a dependent if there was no other relative in existence to make arrangements and attend the funeral you had little choice. You will need a copy of the reference. This information below may help you. Judges are human, and you should attend the court hearing to give evidence and to plead your case. The claim is spurious and i suspect may get adjourned for further evidence or dismissed as spurious but who knows.
beta.acas.org.uk/providing-a-job-reference/if-you-get-a-bad-reference

And yes, they have to show their losses, as the burden of proof is on them but the burden of proof in a civil case is the balance of probability

Thank you everyone.
I will dig out my contract and post it.

The department was HM courts and tribunals service.

for breach of your implied right to time off to arrange a funeral and attend the funeral of a dependent.

What implied right?!

Personally I'm not sure I would bother with a counter claim. But, as the previous poster says, your employer will have to show that, on the balance of probability, they did suffer a loss. They cannot simply assert it. They have to show that either they lost income from their clients or they had to pay more to others to get the work done. They will also have to subtract from any increase in costs the saving they have made by not having to pay you for your notice period.

Yes , I completely agree that you might have some grounds to counter claim on the inaccurate references they gave you .