YEP that seems to have sorted it
just tried the suspend merc/invite player/unsuspend merc
there is a slight issue.. I hired a merc, and suspended it, wife did the same,
we grouped, and she unsuspended her merc, I couldn't.. the button just clicked and nothing happened, I had to zone to get the merc back, HOWEVER.. loot, xp etc ALL seems to work on the small time I tested it.
I WILL do more testing later today and report back here.
Many thanks for your time, and your help.