Employment law

Not a fictitious example - this is actually happening to me as I write this:

A UK manufacturer of routers, multiplexers and VOIP gateways for satellite
communications hired me in 2004 to develop new business in France, Benelux
and Scandinavia. The products were already well-established in the UK, and
are employed by a number of well-known broadcasters, as well as forming part
of the "Skynet 5" military satcomm network.

Having spent most of 2005 developing an existing agent in France, and
finding new sales channels in NL and BE, our French agent asks us why the
products are not CE marked.

The company's position was that a Certificate of Conformity was shipped with
every box (contained in the manual) though, as I know now, this was a bluff.
The certificate was worded such that it only covered the equipment's
chassis, not any of the option cards. The chassis alone is of little use. It
appears that the most useful cards (analogue and digital voice) did not meet
EMC regulations, and that by putting a CE mark on the product itself, it
would be inferred that any combination of cards would be compliant.

The French distributor, whose business had developed to the point of
representing at least 33% of my 2006 target, walked away from us (and who
can blame him - as he said, he'd be liable to 2 years in jail and an
unlimited fine if he knowingly continued to sell the products).

Then the trouble started. A series of "Capability" letters and meetings
based on numbers that could be equated to the "lost" French business. The
company seems to have no interest in the fact that the business cannot be
developed to their satisfaction because the products are illegal to sell,
install or use anywhere in the EEC.

My questions are:

1/ Having put all these issues in writing to the directors within the last 3
months, and having received no satisfactory response within the last 4
weeks, if I now quite, will I have a valid case for constructive dismissal?

2/ Is there any case for financial compensation based on the difference
between what was promised for "On Target Earnings", and what was actually
achieved as a result of the above scenario.

3/ Having continued to sell the products after I became fully aware that the
products were non-CE compliant, have I broken any laws myself? I'm thinking
here of Nuremburg, and the claims of "I was only following orders!" I will
obviously not be inclined to pursue this case further if I could end up
sewing mailbags myself.

Sorry for not divulging either my name, or the name of the company
concerned, but there are 30 innocent hardware and software guys, admin and
assembly staff working there.

Thanks



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