Sacked while pregnant

Hello all,

I'm desperately hoping that someone can help me with this.

Where do I start? My most recent job was a sales role. Each sales rep has there own patch/area. I had been told that as long as the invoice address fell within my area then it was my sale so I signed a deal in May 09 with a relative (which the company say is not an issue) and the invoice address was in my patch. The registered office address was not. This is done by other members of staff also.

2 months after signing this deal when the remarks of not hitting target in a recession and other examples of bullying came to be too much I went to the doctors who signed me off sick with work related stress for 2 weeks. After 10 days of this sicknote my relative who signed the deal with me recieved a phone call accusing her of fraud. She cancelled the deal with my company in line with their proceedures. The stress of this and the company's attitude towards me caused the work related stress to continue for 6 months before they could get my doctor to write a report on my illness and could invite me to a meeting to discuss my illness.

While this sickness continued they only paid me SSP and after 4 months I discovered I was pregnant. Currently 20 weeks. I told work that I was pregnant at the meeting in which they confirmed that they would still investigate the deal I made back in May.

I returned to work on 10th Feb 2010 and on that very afternoon they held an investigation meeting. I was then told a few days later that it had been referred to a manager at a higher level and that they were recommending disciplinary action. I was sent a pack of information that they were to use a evidence in a disciplinary hearing. This pack contained a transcript of 1 conversation that never took place and another conversation that was not an accurate account. The meeting was scheduled to take place for 4th March in which my Union rep would be present. On 2nd March I was called into the office for what the manager called a 'quick catch up'. In this meeting I was told that I had been reported for not doing anything at my desk and texting on my personal phone during office hours. Both are completely untrue. I was then showed a print out of conversations I had had with a relative on facebook. A conversation that the company could have only obtained by hacking into my account as none of my colleagues are facebook friends and my profile is completely private. I got so upset by this invasion that I could hardly breathe and was shaking all over. My manager then told me to get back to work and continue to make cold calls to get appointments. I went to the toilet to try to compose myself to no avail. I then went back to the manager and said that I wanted to go home as I was clearly very distressed.

I attended the doctors that evening and my doctor was so disgusted that he wrote a letter for me to take to my disciplinary hearing suggesting they consider lighter duties and the possibility of getting their occupational health involved. They had also not done a risk assessment on me despite me asking several times and were sending me out onto patch in the car alone covering 800+ miles per week. He also signed me off until 5th Mar.

I attended the disciplinary hearing with my union rep in which I put my defence across ( I had been told that as long as invoice address was in my area then it was my sale and that if it was a problem I wouldv'e happily transferred the sale to a colleague but at no point was I given that opportunity). They told me that they would inform me of their decision hopefully within 5 days.

I went back to the doctor and gained another sicknote that took me upto 12th Mar. Then yesterday I went back to the doctor and got another sicknote. This morning I recieved a letter stating that I had been dismissed on the grounds of gross misconduct with immediate effect.

There are also issues with salary that they hadn't paid me correctly. But now I have blurted out the full story I wondered if anyone can give me any advice on a way forward. Of course I will appeal against their decision and then if that is unsuccessful I will submit an ET1 form for tribunal and also I will persue a personal injury claim as my poor mental and physical health it their fault. However in the meantime I am 20 weeks pregnant and have lost the company maternity scheme, there is also little chance of getting another job before my maternity leave. My partner has only got 3 weeks lefts at his current job and we do not know what will happen after that time with his employment.

We are luckily renting our home from a relative who has been very kind and has not had any rent off us this month but we do not know what we will do next month. I have never claimed any benefits before and I don't even know what I am entitled to. I know that realistically the company should lose at a tribunal but I have no idea what we are going to do financially until that is all over.

Any ideas anyone? That's if I haven't bored you to tears with my long story.

Thanks

I thought that I should just add, bearing in ming some of the comments so far. The facebook use the company refer to was during my own time and on my own laptop. Not the company's.

I had been more than capable of doing the role I was employed to do, hitting my targets. However when I was moved to a different team despite me asking for relevant training, I was never given it.

Also with regards to proving PI, I have two doctors letters that my GP wrote to the company asking them to change my working conditions as their actions were detrimental to my health. My midwife has also reffered me to couselling which I am currently waiting for an appointment to come through the post.