Q:  I engage a number of entertainers to work in my restaurant bar six nights a week. They work on a rota basis and are treated as part of the team, attending meetings etc., but they are all self-employed. One of them has let me down several times recently, and because I was unable to fill her slot in time I decided to terminate her contract and engage someone more reliable. Now she says she has made an appointment to see a solicitor about taking me to a tribunal for unfair dismissal because she had a valid reason to be off work. How can she do that when she is self-employed?

Q:  My daughter lives with my ex-wife. Without even discussing the matter with me she announced last week that she is going to move our daughter from her existing secondary school to another school in September. I am not happy about this arrangement as I have heard less than favourable reports about this other school.  I have tried to talk to my ex-wife but she won't listen and says it is nothing to do with me because our daughter lives with her. What can I do?

Q.  We have an employee who has been arrested and charged as it is alleged he has stolen large amounts of money from our company.  The employee is not in custody and we do not want him to come into work so we want to suspend him.  His contract of employment allows us to suspend him with pay. However, as the allegations are so serious we want to withhold his pay during the period of suspension. If after we have investigated there is no case to answer, we would then pay him full backdated pay.  Can we do this?

Q:  I took in a lodger as I needed extra money. He has his own bedroom and uses shared facilities with me. I now want to move away and rent the property out formally to someone else. I have asked him to leave but he is refusing to move out. He says because I accepted money from him he now has a legal tenancy as he has been in the property over 12 months. We have no written agreement. What can I do?