Latest news with #Sarkodie
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Solicitor struck off for doing three jobs at once while working from home
A property lawyer who was caught working three jobs at the same time from home has been struck off and ordered to pay almost £9,000. Belinda Sarkodie misled her employer by claiming she was only working for them, while also working remotely at two other law firms, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal ruled. The tribunal said Ms Sarkodie capitalised on an 'extremely busy period for the conveyancing industry' during the Covid pandemic by taking on multiple jobs for her own financial gain without her employer's permission. 'She misled two firms where she worked as a locum, by submitting timesheets and claiming payment for the same hours on the same dates from both firms, while she was also employed to work full-time by a third law firm,' the tribunal ruled. The ploy came undone after clients complained about Ms Sarkodie's work and employers raised concerns that she was 'not readily contactable whilst working remotely'. In her defence, Ms Sarkodie told the tribunal she worked up to 100 hours a week while at home during the pandemic and claimed she was able to complete the tasks required under all three of her jobs by switching between them throughout her working day. The lawyer told the tribunal that she had 'worked hard in each of her roles and gone over and above the requirements', claiming she had an 'innate work ethic'. Ms Sarkodie also argued her timesheets reflected 'the total hours worked overall' while switching between tasks, 'as opposed to an accurate record of the time spent on a particular working day for each of the firms that she was contracted to work for.' However, the tribunal rejected Ms Sarkodie's explanations and instead ruled she acted dishonestly by filling out the timesheets incorrectly. Ms Sarkodie also tried to argued that her failure to abide by the terms of her contract had been 'an inadvertent error', claiming she was rushed into starting a job by a recruiter and didn't realise she couldn't take on other roles as the stress meant she failed to read the contract properly. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said Ms Sarkodie was given a week to read over her contract and said: 'The Respondent's assertion that her breach of contract was inadvertent lacked credibility.' Ms Sarkodie has now been permanently banned from working as a solicitor and told to pay £8,891.50 in costs to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which ruled she had acted dishonestly and undermined trust in the profession by misleading her employer. The property lawyer first qualified as a solicitor in 2020 before starting a job at London law firm Muve in May 2021. She later starting working two extra locum jobs in June that year, before quitting both jobs the following month. Ms Sarkodie was subsequently fired from her full-time position at Muve in September, at the end of her three month probationary period as a result of 'poor performance' at the conveyancing law firm based in Richmond, south-west London. The tribunal said that given she acted dishonestly the 'only appropriate and proportionate sanction' was for Ms Sarkodie to be struck off from the the Solicitors Register. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Solicitor struck off for doing three jobs at once while working from home
A property lawyer who was caught working three jobs at the same time from home has been struck off and ordered to pay almost £9,000. Belinda Sarkodie misled her employer by claiming she was only working for them, while also working remotely at two other law firms, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal ruled. The tribunal said Ms Sarkodie capitalised on an 'extremely busy period for the conveyancing industry' during the Covid pandemic by taking on multiple jobs for her own financial gain without her employer's permission. 'She misled two firms where she worked as a locum, by submitting timesheets and claiming payment for the same hours on the same dates from both firms, while she was also employed to work full-time by a third law firm,' the tribunal ruled. The ploy came undone after clients complained about Ms Sarkodie's work and employers raised concerns that she was 'not readily contactable whilst working remotely'. In her defence, Ms Sarkodie told the tribunal she worked up to 100 hours a week while at home during the pandemic and claimed she was able to complete the tasks required under all three of her jobs by switching between them throughout her working day. The lawyer told the tribunal that she had 'worked hard in each of her roles and gone over and above the requirements', claiming she had an 'innate work ethic'. Ms Sarkodie also argued her timesheets reflected 'the total hours worked overall' while switching between tasks, 'as opposed to an accurate record of the time spent on a particular working day for each of the firms that she was contracted to work for.' However, the tribunal rejected Ms Sarkodie's explanations and instead ruled she acted dishonestly by filling out the timesheets incorrectly. Ms Sarkodie also tried to argued that her failure to abide by the terms of her contract had been 'an inadvertent error', claiming she was rushed into starting a job by a recruiter and didn't realise she couldn't take on other roles as the stress meant she failed to read the contract properly. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said Ms Sarkodie was given a week to read over her contract and said: 'The Respondent's assertion that her breach of contract was inadvertent lacked credibility.' Ms Sarkodie has now been permanently banned from working as a solicitor and told to pay £8,891.50 in costs to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which ruled she had acted dishonestly and undermined trust in the profession by misleading her employer. The property lawyer first qualified as a solicitor in 2020 before starting a job at London law firm Muve in May 2021. She later starting working two extra locum jobs in June that year, before quitting both jobs the following month. Ms Sarkodie was subsequently fired from her full-time position at Muve in September, at the end of her three month probationary period as a result of 'poor performance' at the conveyancing law firm based in Richmond, south-west London. The tribunal said that given she acted dishonestly the 'only appropriate and proportionate sanction' was for Ms Sarkodie to be struck off from the the Solicitors Register. Sign in to access your portfolio
BBC News
05-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Hartpury's Stephen Sarkodie hopes to fly mum out for Wembley game
A goalkeeper who moved to England with a dream of playing at Wembley may fly his mother from Ghana to watch it come Sarkodie arrived in England in 2018 to pursue his education at Hartpury University in Gloucestershire, and turned down a professional contract to put his studies Sarkodie, who learnt English before moving, said the language had been "the most challenging", but had shared his culture with his team by cooking them jollof - a traditional West African rice a Master's student, he will play against Whitstable Town with his Hartpury University team mates on Sunday in the Isuzu FA Vase semi-final second leg. Mr Sarkodie told BBC Radio Gloucestershire he had been on "a long journey" since moving to England."I've always had a dream of getting a degree before I play football so I wanted to focus on that dream and that's how I ended up here," he said."In Ghana, going to school is one of the most important things to do and my mum has always supported that, so to fulfil my mum's dream, I just wanted to get a degree."Mr Sarkodie said to move to England, he had to pass his English exam, but the language was not the only "challenging" aspect of moving thousands of miles from home. Cultural differences "The culture is quite different to where I was, everything is about church, Christianity and religion [in Ghana]," he said."I'm still drawn to my local food, I still eat that a lot. My favourite Ghanaian food is jollof - it is made of rice and tomato sauce - with plantain on the side. "My favourite English food is mashed potato and sausages."The Sports business management student said he introduced his team mates to jollof, and they thought it was "the best food in the world". 'Wembley dream' Mr Sarkodie has special plans for 11 May at Wembley Stadium, if all goes well on Sunday."I'm going to fly my mum to England for the first time to watch me play at Wembley," he said."I've always had a dream of playing Wembley, the dream is not gone yet."We still believe, and I still believe, we're going to get there."
