Potential redundancy and now disciplinary procedure

BargainJunky

A friend is at risk of redundancy and I think that he will be made redundant as they have now made an offer etc.

However a mistake was made at his work a few weeks ago and they are now taking him through the disciplinary route even though someone else has admitted that it was there fault the mistake was made. Wrong figures etc being passed on to him.

Unfortunately some months back (July) this friend did make a mistake and the company never did anything about it however now they have decided to go down the disciplinary route with this mistake also.

He fears that they will sack him as a result of both these mistakes in an attempt to avoid paying redundancy. Can they do this? I would have thought that its a bit late to bring up the first mistake just because a second has happened which wasnt his fault.

Lorian

Your friend should seek legal advice.

MrsB2100

I'd be very interested to hear the outcome of this as we're facing a very similar situation. But, I would agree with Lorian, legal advice is probably your best bet. I'd suggest an Employment Law specialist - you can usually find an ad in the yellow pages or even, your local paper.

BargainJunky

Thanks for the replies - I will advise him to seek legal advise.

Wookey

Constructive dismissal is what its called should it come down to him being fired, he needs to take advice and also get the person who says they made the mistake to put it in writing.

Rolandtheroadie

Constructive dismissal is if you leave, not if you are fired. Belows from direct.gov website

If you're forced to quit your job because of the way you are treated, it's called constructive dismissal. Although there's no actual dismissal by the employer, the end result is the same as if you had been sacked. It's often very hard to prove that your employer's behaviour was so bad as to make you leave, so you should get legal advice before leaving your job.
The reason for leaving your job must be serious - there must be a fundamental breach of your contract. Examples include:

• a serious breach of your contract (eg not paying you or suddenly demoting you for no reason)
• forcing you to accept unreasonable changes to your conditions of employment without your agreement (eg suddenly telling you to work in another town, or making you work night shifts when your contract is only for day work)
• bullying, harassment or violence against you by work colleagues
• making you work in dangerous conditions

The employer's breach of contract may be one serious incident or the last in a series of less important incidents that are serious when taken together.

firesidemaid

ACAS have a phone helpline that can guide you / your friend.

it does look like they are trying to use both 'mistakes' to avoid paying redundancy - is the payout by them likely to be large? how long have they worked at the company.

generally, any disciplinary warning etc lasts, i think, for 6 months to a year, so in effect what happened in july would probably be spent by now anyway. does your friend have a copy of the company disciplinary policy?

if the policy is not followed/adhered to exactly, then any sacking would be automatically unfair anyway.

what has been the chain of events with the current 'mistake'? ie. has there been timetabled meetings, evidence gathered and presented in advance with copies given to your friend etc etc. plus he/she has a right to be accompanied - it is an offence not to allow someone to be accompanied too. normally there would be a record of what happened at each meeting to be signed and agreed by all parties involved.

it would also look really bad if as you say your friend has been made an offer of redundancy and then 'ooh, lets bring up this mistake from 8 months ago and discipline and sack them instead' - it would seem obvious that was what they were trying to do.

also, if the mistakes were similar then they are supposed to treat staff fairly. ie. if they did nothing re. your friend's mistake, then they should also have to behave similarly re this 2nd mistake.

you can google for ACAS's number. is there a union at all?

BargainJunky

Thanks for all the replies - I will print them out and pass them onto our friend.

We told him to seek legal advise but havent heard anything from him since.