daughter given boot, advise please (update 9 sept)

silkyuk9

ok meeting arranged for 3-15 today, area manager coming to my home to talk to my daughter and ask her to go back.

not sure she will go back though.

anything i need to be aware of for this afternoon.

zzzLazyDaisy

silkyuk9 wrote: »

ok meeting arranged for 3-15 today, area manager coming to my home to talk to my daughter and ask her to go back. not sure she will go back though. anything i need to be aware of for this afternoon.

Make sure you are with her throughout the meeting and take comprehensive notes.

The area manager may offer her the right of appeal. If she does not want her job back there is no point, but at the same time if she does not give her employer the opportunity to put things right, this may go against her when compensation is calculated at tribunal.

If your daughter does not want to go back, then she needs to be negotiating a severance package based on what she might get if the case goes to tribunal.

Compensation at tribunal would include notice pay, any outstanding holiday pay, and possibly compensation based on loss of wages resulting from dismissal. This is more tricky because she has a duty to look for alternative employmemt (mitigate her loss) so much may depend on the job market in your area for student working. Also compensation may be reduced if the tribunal feel that her refusal to accept her job back is unreasonable.

The problem with going back is that the manager is not going to take kindly to her getting one over on him and may well do what he can to make her life a misery until she cannot take any more and leaves anyway - if she is worried about harassment or victimisation she must explain that she feels there has been a complete breakdown of trust and confidence and since it is obvious the manager wants rid of her she just doesn't feel she can go back to work there.

I'd start by looking for a figure in the region of three months' gross pay and see what response you get. This will give her time to look for another job.

Also, have a quick think about the sort of reference she would like and draft something up, and get the area manager to agree - in writing - that, if the company is approached for a reference this is what they will say, and nothing else. This will help to stop the manager giving her a poor reference (written is one thing, nod and wink over the phone is another).

If she does agree to go back, ask what steps are going to be taken against the manager concerned. The area manager won't be able to discuss details but should be able to tell you that the manager will be sent on a re-training course or whatever.

If she decides not to go back and a financial settlement is agreed, she may be told that she has to sign a Compromise Agreement - this is a legal document giving up her right to go to a tribunal, so she needs to be sure that she is happy with the amount she is offered.

HTH

Daisy

zzzLazyDaisy

Silky, have PM'd you

Savvy_Sue

Also if she's asked to sign a Compromise Agreement, she does have to get independent advice from a solicitor first, for which the company must pay reasonable costs. Lazy Daisy may have said that in her pm, of course!

elisebutt65

If it's the nationwide baker that begins with Gr***s then one of my students had a problem with them as well last year. I helped her sort it all out - The manager gave her a final written warning and really had it in for her after an incident in the shop when she wasn't even on shift!!!!

Obviously a problem with their personnel training of their managers.

CFC

Being released (even though correct procedures were not followed) on the grounds of wanting time off, it would be hard I think to argue that there was an irrevocable breakdown of trust with the employer. The manager made a mistake. Daughter was not bullied, she was not accused of wrongdoing unjustly, her privacy was not invaded etc.

If she's offered her job back and refuses it, this isn't going to be a 'shoo-in' I think.

Nenen

How did the meeting go Silky? One of the things that bothered me reading about your daughter's treatment was how/why the company employed her for so many hours (when she first started and she was under 16) on a Sunday anyway.

According to this website:
http://www.careersdirect.org.uk/Jobs%20Training%20&%20Education/Apply%20For%20Jobs/Jobs16Hours.html

the maximum a child under 16 can work is:

"Sundays – 2 hours maximum between 7.00am and 7.00pm."Maybe this would be another piece of ammunition for you as I assume (although I am not an expert) the company has been breaking the law in employing her like this.
The site also states two other things that, from the info in your OP, the company appear to have disregarded:
"Every child must have at least 2 consecutive weeks without employment per year and these must fall within a period in the year in which the child is not required to attend school.
The child must have a minimum of 1 hour break after a 4 hour period of working on one day"

silkyuk9

elisebutt65 wrote: »

If it's the nationwide baker that begins with Gr***s then one of my students had a problem with them as well last year. I helped her sort it all out - The manager gave her a final written warning and really had it in for her after an incident in the shop when she wasn't even on shift!!!!

Obviously a problem with their personnel training of their managers.

no it wan't that company.

silkyuk9

Nenen wrote: »

How did the meeting go Silky? One of the things that bothered me reading about your daughter's treatment was how/why the company employed her for so many hours (when she first started and she was under 16) on a Sunday anyway.

According to this website:
http://www.careersdirect.org.uk/Jobs%20Training%20&%20Education/Apply%20For%20Jobs/Jobs16Hours.html

the maximum a child under 16 can work is:

"Sundays – 2 hours maximum between 7.00am and 7.00pm."Maybe this would be another piece of ammunition for you as I assume (although I am not an expert) the company has been breaking the law in employing her like this.
The site also states two other things that, from the info in your OP, the company appear to have disregarded:
"Every child must have at least 2 consecutive weeks without employment per year and these must fall within a period in the year in which the childis not required to attend school.
The child must have a minimum of 1 hour break after a 4 hour period ofworking on one day"

Ok, the meeting went ok. The area manager admitted that there was mistakes made regarding the sacking without warnings given etc.

The manager told me that there had been a previous meeting, which i added was illegal, if however this meeting ever happened as my daughter had not had prior written notice was was not given the chance to have a rep with her. My daughter has said a meeting did not occur, however her line manager did have words whilst working, i am guessing that was classed as a meeting.

also i was not happy that my daughter went to work that final day not knowing a sacking was about to happen, when the comapny did, i told the area manager that this was unethical and according to ACAS illegal practice.

The area manager asked my daughter to go back to work and there would not be any reprocussions, however, it was very clear my daughter was unhappy and decided not to due to a break down of trust, which is perfectly understandable.

I asked for a severence package and gave this along with a reference which would be used if my daughter needed one for a new part time job.

The package i asked for was reasonable for us and the company, put it this way we will not be breaking the bank.

I am now awaiting a telephone call today from the manager to whether we have the package or we go to ET.

At the end of the day we cannot claim for EMA or any other benefits for my daughter, we have to pay travel costs for her to go to college which is over £20 per week.

She really needs a little job to fund herself with things as we are paying for all her educations fees as it is.

At the end of the day though, this bakery chain made errors which should not have happened, we are not talking about one little shop that is not aware of rules and regs, we are talking about a company who proberly employ hundreds and hundreds of eemployees.

silkyuk9

Nenen wrote: »

How did the meeting go Silky? One of the things that bothered me reading about your daughter's treatment was how/why the company employed her for so many hours (when she first started and she was under 16) on a Sunday anyway.

According to this website:
http://www.careersdirect.org.uk/Jobs%20Training%20&%20Education/Apply%20For%20Jobs/Jobs16Hours.html

the maximum a child under 16 can work is:

"Sundays – 2 hours maximum between 7.00am and 7.00pm."Maybe this would be another piece of ammunition for you as I assume (although I am not an expert) the company has been breaking the law in employing her like this.
The site also states two other things that, from the info in your OP, the company appear to have disregarded:
"Every child must have at least 2 consecutive weeks without employment per year and these must fall within a period in the year in which the childis not required to attend school.
The child must have a minimum of 1 hour break after a 4 hour period ofworking on one day"

My daughter is 16 so the 2 hours on a sunday does not apply.

Also according to the government a young worker must get 30 minutes break if they work more than 4.5 hours in a day, this break must not be taken at the start or end of a shift.

Even if they work 8 hours legally they are only entitled to a 30 minute break. Tea breaks are not official so there is no law regarding this. However, its up to the company to whether they give tea breaks.