Is my employer pushing the boundary?

[ryanspuppet]

Quick back story.

The owner of the business I currently work for (Business A) also owns a completely unrelated business (Business B) which he operates from the same office.

This man has made an enemy out of a customer for Business B and is demanding that I collect outstanding monies from this hostile customer. Can he make me do that?

[HeyPete]

What is your job role / position?

Your employer also has a duty of care to provide a safe work environment.

[ryanspuppet]

I am the Admin at Business A and paid only by Business A. I have never had anything to do with Business B until this request.

[Moz]

I'm no expert but this is my opinion.

From a legal/contractual perspective I believe a court would very likely say that you should comply with any reasonable and legal instruction made by your employer.

He could easily say that the collection of a debt is part of a service company A is providing to company B.

You might be able to argue that is it not reasonable because you are employed by company A for something completely different to managing debtors, and you have no skills or knowledge in that area. If say you are employed by company A in say IT support and you are now being asked to collect debts for a third party (company B), I would say that is unreasonable, but that's just my personal view.

However, if you employed as a book keeper for company A and debtor management is part of your job for company A, then it would be hard to argue that performing debtor management for company B is unreasonable.