contracts not sent

[PH46]

I was recently offered work in north London, but the company never sent me a contract when they said they would. Despite reminders, the company still never sent me anything. Hence, I never turned up for the job. The company knew I had trouble getting accommodation, and from that moment they treated me like I was sh+* on a shoe . I've been digging for 6 months, so I know that some company's are good but From what i've heard this seems to be the norm, any thoughts?

[kevin wooldridge]

Sorry that you are having problems right at the beginning of your archaeological career, but hopefully the following may be of some use.

Although a lot of archaeological employers do provide contracts before work commences, that is not actually a statutory obligation.
The Employment Act 2002 states that an employer must provide "particulars of employment" to an employee within four weeks of him/her starting work. This is not the same as a contract of employment, which has to be provided within 26 weeks of starting work.

Legally you have little redress if an employer changes conditions between you agreeing to start a job and the job actually commencing and receiving 'particulars of employment'. However, employers that are IFA registered organisations might be liable to disciplinary action if they break the IFA Code of Conduct in the way that they deal with employees and I am sure that BAJR would always be interested in hearing about bad employers.

My own experience tells me that finding short-term accomodation for archaeologists in metropolitan areas is difficult. Your potential employer should be as aware of this as you, but at the end of the day it will be your choice whether to take a job on that basis. Unfortunately there isn't a 'central accomodation' agency for archaeology and my personal advice would be to decline a job if you don't have a place to stay. That would probably p--- off a potential employer less than if you leave 1 week into a contract after realising that you can't afford to stay in the Youth Hostel anymore.

Quite a few archaeologists in London, do commute to work from as far afield as Colchester, Oxford, Portsmouth, the Medway Towns etc etc.

[deepdigger]

A company I used to work for have openly said that they will only employ someone as a project officer if they relocate to mid-wales!
No wonder they have no staff!!

deep