Susan's Legal Bits

In July 2008 Susan was interested in.....

Answering an Expenses Question and Contracts

Hi all, I was delighted to receive a suggested topic for me to talk about - this time from Donna - one of our clients who has been using Gabem since 2005 and currently works as an Admin Officer.

She asked me to comment on why Gabem don't allow our operatives to claim for meals when some of our competitors are doing this.

Firstly, Gabem operatives can of course claim for meals (just send in the receipts) if staying away from home, this is as well as the daily allowance which we will automatically put through for you when we see receipts for any overnight accommodation.

However, claiming for meals during a normal working day requires prior approval from HMRC and any of our competitors allowing this will have received guidance from HMRC on the boundaries/procedures they would need to have in place internally before they can allow a client/operative to claim the expense of a meal whilst at work. In some cases it is only when you are away from home for longer than a certain number of hours.

We are aware of what our competitors are doing for their clients but we are unable to comment on their internal procedures or indeed relationship with HMRC.

Our situation here is that we haven't currently got a dispensation (approval) for allowing you guys to claim expenses for a meal during a normal working day but our internal processes are currently being reviewed by HMRC and we hope to know by the end of this month what we will be able to offer you all in the future.

We are looking forward to their visit and hope that we will be granted their permission/approval on several ideas we have in the pipeline which will then be introduced to you guys over the next few months.

I hope that answers your question Donna and thanks for getting in touch!

The second topic I wanted to cover was that of contractual documentation.

As a temporary worker you may be asked to sign documents with your agency or your client from time to time. It is however important, when working through a Gabem umbrella company, that you do not sign documents with a third party to do with your working relationship. You have your contract of employment with your umbrella company and then your umbrella company contracts with GML to provide your services to the recruitment agency. GML have Terms in place between us and your recruitment agency or end client.

You therefore do not need to sign anything with either the agency or the client and we would advise you to contact our contracts team here (or indeed me !) if you are asked to.

I look forward to any more suggested topics of discussion... have a good month.

To give Susan your suggestions and comments you can get in touch here.

All comments provided on my blog are for informational purposes only. My thoughts and opinions are my own with agreement from my employer as being suitable for sharing with the wider world. Any advice, or writing that might be taken as advice, should not be deemed in any way as professional Legal advice and are only the musings of a HR practioner whose sole aim is to help where she can.