employment law - help

hi i have a situation where i need help as i have no knowledge on the subject whatsoever.
the facts are i worked for company a for nearly twelve years and last march i had a heart attack and was off till signed off fully fit in november last year i was a welder for company a, four weeks ago i was made redundant and within two weeks had an offer of a job with company b doing the same job , both companies were owned by the same firm as they were bought out alomst two years ago but retained seperate identities wage structures ,contracts etc .
i went for the interview and was offered the job on the friday and asked to start on the monday .after filling out all the relevant forms bank details etc and then going through the induction and given the key fob for access the manager of the company looked at my health records and said "i cannot start you until i recieve advice from higher up because of your heart attack
" fair comment you might say but in my defence i worked for the same com pany doing the same job and was signed off by my gp as fully fit to do the job .
i then recieved a phone call off the manager on the tuesday asking if they could contact my g.p and look over my medical records , i had no problem with that and signed the relevant forms .
that was almost 3 weeks ago and my g.p has heard nothing, i cannot get an answer from the firm and someone i know who works for them as heard through the grapevine that i'm a non-starter because of my "condition" .
my question is does anybody know where i stand legally . thank you in anticipation

Dutch I'm no expert but it sounds like you may have a case for a discrimination hearing. However, I would wait a little while longer if I were you and continue to to pursue the matter with the company. It may be, that they just have not yet got around to it due to an admin glitch as from what you say, no time frame was given. Meanwhile you could go to your local citizens advice and to the local job centre for advice. The job centre may actually phone them on your behalf and get things moving whilst quietly reminding them that they may appear to be discriminating if they do not at least get back in touch with you with an answer one way or another. Hope that helps mate.

Hi Terry
I'm Chairmann of the local CAB here in Aberystwyth so I have a little knowledge on this subject.
1. Have they given you a letter offering you the job? This is always helpful they then haven't got a leg to stand on!
2. If the company is the owned by the same people who owned the company you were made redundant from then technically you were not made redundant as part of the redundancy process is, if there is suitable alternative employment within the company struccture, they are obliged to offer it to you.
3. If you have been signed off by any doctor as fit to return to the work you originally carried out then they are discriminating against you as your origninal company accepted you back to work and this company is part of the same group.

As Gwyn suggests I would ring your local CAB office in Newport and explain the situation to them and they will act on your behalf....free. A solicitor will cost you and arm and a leg.

Good luck

Hingey

hi paul thanks for the reply and gwyn . paul one point although the company is owned by the same people as the company i was made redundant from they retain a seperate recruiting policy wage structure etc in effect they are but for the parent company a totally seperate company albeit under the same umbrella, also yes i have a letter of offer of employment stating that with effect from 22nd february 2010 my employment commences .
once again i thank you both for your help and advice as at the moment i'm thinking is this the way it is going to be from here on in , on the scrapheap at 50 (only kidding the mrs was looking over my shoulder )

Get to Newport CAB asap, you've got them by the short and curly's.

Hingey

Terry,

As Paul has stated go to your local CAB. While you are there ask them if the second company should have taken you on under the TUPE law. This means you should retain the terms and conditions you were originally on still stand.

What about talking to a 'no win - no fee' employment law solicitor. they are about!

Dutch I would imagine that the job was yours, otherwise they would not have asked you to fill in the relevent forms ect. I agree with Gwyn I'm sure that there is a strong case of discrimination here. If your GP passed you fit for work then that should be enough. The best advice is, are you a member of a union if so, then speak to your shop steward or full time officer about the matter and he will guide you on this. I don't mean to be disrespectful but unions are your best bet they deal with this sort of thing all the time. I am a union member of Unite and I will ask my full time officer for info regarding your problem and will get back to you as soon as i hear anything.

Allan Morgan 22

Dutch look on the ACAS site. Just punch in ACAS when it comes up on the left hand side you will see a table , click on CONTRACTS AND HOURS. when the next page comes up click on EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS. Have a read of that to see if it helps you. In my opinion you and your company already have a legal contract.
I hope that this info will be of asistance to you, should you require more please do not hesitate to contact me via the forum. Good luck.

Allan Morgan22

thanks to all of you for your help so far . mogs stupidly i came out of the union when i was made redundant not knowing if my next job would involve the union i was in so thats a dead end. i have sought advice and as soon as i get a letter comfirming the offer of employment is withdrawn (i have a letter of employment confirming start date , salary etc) i will be in a much stronger position .
as of this moment nothing has been confirmed officially it is only rumour conjecture and common sense telling me the job is a no go ( as my start date was 22nd feb and the manager on that date refused to start me after looking at my medical record). i do not know how i stand without official confirmation because lets be honest any employer worth his salt will go to human resources and try to find a way out of this i.e we have no vanancies at present or the job is finished , i really don't know how they will go about this but as i say common sense tells me that they are not going to employ me as the time scale is way beyond the urgency that they offered me the job , as far as they were concerned they needed me a.s.a.p as they were inundated . time will tell but once again thanks for all your help