seth82:

My understanding is that you would need to submit a grievance letter to your manager stating your case. In that letter you should ask for a copy of your original contract, together with any addendums (changes) to the contract.

Your company will have a set procedure for grievances and you will have a chance to have a meeting with a manager and or HR officer/manager to discuss your issues. To support you in the meeting, you are allowed to take along another employee, legal advisor or trade union representative. Nothing will be decided at the meeting, it is just a chance to understand your grievance and explain the process. After the meeting you will be given minutes of the meeting to make sure they are an accurate record of the meeting. The matter will then be referred to a senior manager or HR director, to issue a response on behalf of the company. If you are then unhappy you can take the matter up with acas if the company are willing to accept arbitration or take the matter to an industrial tribunal.

This process can take a number of months to resolve and you should not underestimate the impact of this on your relationship with the company. Sometimes it is better just to book a meeting with your line manager, to discuss your concerns and let them speak to your HR department.

Huckster

mrstella0: Hi, I probably shoudln't have used the expression ''genuine''. The matter is, that I have a serious reason to believe, that the company has been fiddling with some of the basic issues stated in my original contract and now they claim some things, in which I don't believe. But obviously I can not prove anything without the copy of my contract, so I have been asking for the copy with my clear signature (I know, that anything can be photoshopped today, but their trouble is that I have a 12-year experience in IT including Adobe PS). But somehow that seems to be quite incomfortable for them to get me the proper copy and that is the reason, why I asked for help on this discussion board :)

Hi,

I notice that you stated you requested the genuine copy. Does this mean you were wanting the original? If so, the reason HR would not give you it is that because you no longer have your signed copy, theirs is the only true, original, signed contract. They would give you a copy if you bugged them enough.

seth82:

I know for sure, that my company has its headquarters straight in this town, so I really don't know what was that all about. Thank You once again and have a nice day...Stan

Stan

The reason some companies store paper files offsite and not in headquarters is they would take up alot of expensive office space. So if a company can store the paper records somewhere else at a very low cost, the choice is obvious. Also some of the storage companies offer a very safe (security and fire precautions) environment for storage.

If you work for a reasonably large company, the amount of storage required for paper records would be huge. Companies have to legally hold records for a long time, so keeping all records in headquarter offices would be expensive and not a very good business idea. If it was your business, would you rather have 2 large rooms full of paper records or 2 large rooms full of sales staff on the phone earning the company money. Also from a fire risk point of view, it is not a good idea having all your records on one site.

Hope this answers your point as to why your records may not be easily accessible.

Huckster

Thank You very much for Your help, much appreciated, I will go through the ACAS. I know for sure, that my company has its headquarters straight in this town, so I really don't know what was that all about. Thank You once again and have a nice day...

Stan

seth82:

Stan

You can request a copy of your employment contract at any time. If you phone acas, they will tell you the relevant employment laws covering this but I do believe you have a legal right. See http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1410

You can also submit a Subject Access request under data protection paying £10, to see all information held on you by the company.

Some companies keep all their document files in off-site storage. It might be that they have to pay the storage company a fee to retrieve the file, so they will only do this if there is a really good reason. Therefore if the HR department can satisfy your needs with letters this is the best option for the company. If you advise the HR department of your requirements, they should be able to provide the information you require in a letter.

Huckster

Hi,

It seems that I lost the copy of employment contract, which I signed almost 4 years ago. I am still working for the same company and Student Finance Direct requested the copy of my contract to help them speed up the decision about my eligibility for student support. The problem is, that when I asked my company for the genuine copy of my contract, I got a negative answer (they provided the letter as a confirmation of employment, though) - the lady working in HR department didn't even tell me the proper reason, why I shouldn't get a copy, she just said ''because we don't do such things''. Is there any law or legal act that would confirm my right to obtain the copy of my employment contract, or is the matter lost forever now? I got through the Data Protection Act, but I couldn't find any part suitable to support my cause...

Many Thanks,

Stan.