Dropping the Ball (26/03/14)

A reader contacted me the other day to say that his union had taken up an equal pay claim several years ago, but only recently told him that it had made some kind of 'mistake' and that, as a result, the case could not now proceed.

Apparently, the nature of the 'mistake' has not been properly explained and the member says that the union refuses to discuss the situation with him or to provide a more detailed response.  

Now every union has a complaints procedure and if I were the member involved, I would definitely register a complaint and ask the union to make good any financial loss arising from case being dropped, always assuming the person had a valid equal pay claim in the first place.

But from the information shared with me that looks highly likely and the member has letters from both the union and the union's lawyer to say that his case was being taken up.

And if the union's lawyers has been have been involved as the member suggests, then there could be another potential complaint to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission which as an an independent referee in disputes between lawyers and their clients.

All I would say is that if a large and well resourced organisation like a trade union has indeed 'dropped the ball', an individual member should not be expected to pay the price for that mistake.