Is that a CHICKEN roasting in the oven Rob, or are you just pleased to see me? Oh and Hayley, LTB. Discuss The Archers here.

[PseudoBadger]

How about we immortalise Schrodinger's Baby in the opening paragraph?

How long will this thread last DadDadDad?

From my experience managers have a fleeting knowledge of employment law. They tend to contact an expert when they need to...

Poor Hayley - having to hide it. It will all come out soon enough I'm sure and it will have been a waste of her angst. She is very practical. And vengeful!!! Glad someone she is looking at the employment law and the famous usha makes her way back!!! Shame there is only one lawyer in the whole of borsetshire....

Poor Robert still confined to a silent role. Lucky old mungo having fun granny Lillian!!

USHA!!!

Finally someone mentions her name.

I don't think Hayley's behaviour is strange. She's trying to fend off despair.

Hayley has just had her world ripped apart an it is not unusual for the wife to blame the ow because it means she can take out her anger etc but try and protect her relationship.

And I hope they do screw lizzie for every penny because Hayley will get half!!!

Oh dear, Hayley is going to find out all the sordid details, isn't she?
Maybe it will be the push to get rid of Gollum...

On a lighter note, Mungo is beginning to grow on me as a name, and where did the knitted flower pot come from?

"Shame there is only one lawyer in the whole of borsetshire...."
There's also Annabel Scrivener, but I don't think Employment Law is her thing!

I'm hoping matt bought it to purposely drop lil in it!! Sound like his kind of sense of humour!!

I don't know about Hayley - finding out your h has sleep with someone else must be the worst. The other stuff can't make it that much worse (in this circumstance)

I also think Roy decided he was in love and wanted to make a go of it with liz because he ultimately is a 'good guy' and to justify doing something so hideous he needed to call on the name love. However, he could have told Hayley at any time to free himself for lizzie - he didn't need lizzies permission. I think deep down that's not what he really wanted. People who have affairs are very often duplicitous to themselves and the ow, as well as their wife!!

Ah yes, annabel, guess she will be getting a call from ll shortly!!!

I think Roy's total ignorance of the most basic employment law is reason enough for Lizzie to sack him now!
And evidently Hayley is not a mumsnetter or she'd have had chapter and verse from an informed poster before the ink was dry on Roy's confession.

Lizzie will be livid when they involve a solicitor and I think she will then tell Hayley he planned to leave. I also think she will use the stalking obsession stuff as a defence. I wonder is she'd already retained Usha after Friday's row?
That would be good. Usha is already less likely to believe good of Roy because of the whole Nazi episode.

I can't imagine LH hasn't got insurance cover but I don't think the SWs will want to complicate the plot overmuch with legal stuff.
I would reckon Lizzie's going to have to cough up a sizeable sum to R&H to get them to go quietly. I have no idea what sort of reserves she has if she doesn't use her insurers but it's going to make a dent in Freddie's inheritance.
It irks me though that Roy is going to come out of it well though I hope Hayley does.

In my ideal scenario Freddie will take an interest in the business very soon, see a walloping payment to Roy and go ballistic (at the Hunt Ball as previously discussed!)

Somehow I have a mental picture of him in Nigel's gorilla costume.....

But only lizzie knows he offered to leave Hayley.

If she brings that up Roy can deny and Hayley is likely to believe lizzie is trying to defend herself with lies.

Usha is a professional so I'm sure would do a good job. Hopefully she would also tell Hayley that she has a claim for constructive dismissal!!

Employment law is quite complex and I think we do a disservice to employment specialists to expect a manager at roys level to be fully up to speed with it.

DH has such insurance and it comes with free hotline for legal advice. But I wouldn't like to be Lizzie explaining THAT on the phone!

On the archers education front I think an unfair dismissal story would be good! People are generally ignorant of their employment rights.

I hope usha doesn't advise them to not pursue a case due to cost or something!

Also, why would you tell all to a solicitor that lives in your village? She might be bound by confidentiality but it would be uncomfortable for her surely

I wonder if Borsetshire's owners of grand estates still think they can shag and discard the staff?

I don't suppose either of them have been giving any thought to contraception.... another plotline looms.

I think a pregnancy was mooted on the other thread with liz dying cos of heart condition and lots of angst.

I think it wa decided unlikely due to her age though

Well if they dedded Elizabeth that would kill the entire LL story stone dead as well. Who would be the responsible adult bringing up the children and running the business? Don't think it could happen.

But a baby not-Pargetter would be fun.

Well auntie Shula would act as guardian! Or can we have a wicked uncle who tried to steal the booty for himself? Kenton?!?

Oh Roy it's all going to back and bite you on the bum...all those lies...

What a damp squib St Mungo's naming party was. I do hate when the Beeb can't afford a decent amount of people for a party. They should at least have had the father of the poor child there!

But babies are women's work so why would we need to hear from any men?

Do manager's know employment. I have never met an HR person who knows employment law or indeed their own policies!

Lizzie has been acting on impulse, she hasn't taken advice. She hasn't even sought advice. She's probably voided all insurance.

Does employment insurance work that way? Surely there'd be little need for insurance if employers didn't regularly do stupid things? In the same way as motor insurers pay out to the victims of an accident notwithstanding the fact that it was caused by an utterly stupid piece of driving on the part of their insured driver.

I must say I'd have thought Usha can't act for Roy given her friendship with Lizzie and past history with Roy. Surely it's a clear conflict of interest?

There's not a lot of choice though as she is the only solicitor in borsetshire (ie the beeb doesn't hae the budget to get an extra in now they've blown it on shiny new carol, Charlie, Celia imries grandson, johnny and pc plot, as well as leonie and James' cameo - is it only me who thinks they have their spending priorities wrong? Why have we not heard from matt on the mungo situation!!!)

Are the beeb going to blunder into political territory where R&H realise that they have a good case and should win but, due to the fairly recent introduction of hefty fees in Employment Tribunals, cannot afford to take their case to Court?

Quick question - what's the Usha, Roy, nazi backstory??

Roy was part of a racist gang that attacked Usha's house when she was living with Richard Locke (the GP Shula subsequently had an affair with, hence the ongoing coolness there despite Lizzie & Ruth both being big mates with her)
However she subsequently acted for Roy in his custody problems with Kate about Phoebe)