Suspended from work! Please help!

bruciebonus_3

Hello there,

I've spent the last couple of hours searching for online help but still feel totally bamboozled so I was hoping someone out there might be able to help me?

Basically - I work in a sales/account management role - office based - and I've been there for a year and 8 months. Today I was called into a meeting and suspended whilst the case is investigated.

The circumstances are as follows. My job is mainly to speak to customers on the telephone and get them to increase spend on their accounts as much as I can. Occasionally I use e-mail to send special offers out etc - and on occasion - as I have such a great relationship with all my customers - I send an e-mail in the last week of the sales month asking if they have any orders they are looking to place in the near future, would it be possible to put them through this week so I have a better chance of hitting target - and I'll give the best prices I can. Very standard sales technique - always very nice about it - and usually I get a great response as a result.

On Tuesday this week, I sent this e-mail out for the first time in about 3 months - and although most people who received it were very nice and offered to help me with orders, I chap e-mailed back telling me to take him off my mailing list, that he thought my sales technique was grotesque and that they would only be using my company as a last resort from now on. Bear in mind that firstly - they weren't an active customer - I had been liasing with another lady in that company to try and get them to use us again - and also I have no idea how this chap got the e-mail - he wasn't on my mailing list and the only person I had on my list at the company was the lady I was dealing with. Now this has been made 10 times worse by the fact that the chap cc'ed in the UK manager and the European manager in his response - again - no idea how he had these details.

So in this meeting, I'm being asked if I think these e-mails are acceptable. I have said yes as they seem to work generally and I'm always polite but obviously this one chap has disagreed and I have already e-mailed him back to apologise and taken him off my mailing list as requested.

Now - here's the stumbling block. Firstly - an e-mail was sent out to our department from our management team on Dec 19th last year saying that any e-mails to customers needed to be run by them first. I finished work on the 24th for Xmas, didn't return until Jan 12th and completely forgot about this new rule - genuine human error - I simply forgot. Secondly - they have pointed out a line in the employee handbook which states that harassment is a reason for gross misconduct - so I think they're trying to pin this e-mail as harassment.

At some point next week after they have carried out they're investigations, I should have my disciplinary hearing and I have no idea what to do now. I haven't been happy in my job for a while anyway but it seems that they can still sack me even if I hand in notice if they want - from what I have read this evening. I just have no idea how to handle this and I'm so scared!

Please help!

Thanks

Horace

Tomorrow, speak to your union and ask your union rep to attend meetings with you. Also contact ACAS (https://www.acas.org.uk) as they will be able to give you some advice.

Have a look too at your company's disciplinary policy - they should send this to you anyway but if not ask for it.

It is easy enough to get email addresses of other people within your company, all the chap had to do was ring up or look at the company website.

HTH

ihatebt_2

If you are sacked, make sure you name and shame them on here.

olly300

OP I've sent you a pm.

LeeSouthEast

he wasn't on my mailing list

I have [...] taken him off my mailing list

Something doesn't add up there.

prudence41

Bruciebonus, the letter from your employer inviting you to a disciplinary hearing will need to explicitly state which company rule they think you have breached. Harrassment seems a bit of a stretch if you only sent one email to this guy.

As per Horace's advice, speak to your union and have someone accompany you to the hearing. Good luck.

martyp

Hate to imply any kind of doom or gloom but that sounds similar to my last job. I was getting a bit fed up with it mainly due to lack of interest and support from my manager. I worked in IT and did a relatively minor slip up which could have damaging implications to the business. In my case, I forgot backup tapes one day (need to be kept off site in case of fire) and my manager called me to a meeting and gave me a written warning about it (nothing in my contract, job description or any policy stating I had to perform this function). I thought that in itself was harsh but didn't appeal. About two weeks later I got called to another meeting and was sacked for some seemingly unclear and petty reasons, using my recent disciplinary as the main reason...
I thought it sounded similar as it's like the company picking on something relatively trivial. May be very different in your case of course. In my case I wish I'd have at least appealed to both decisions. I even asked colleagues for advice, little did I know that it was the nature of that place to suddenly get rid of people for obscure reasons...(my previous employer was nothing like that, very lenient)
I'd agree with going to the union if you have one for your company and consider appealing.
Also, I believe that you have the right to bring someone with you to the disciplinary hearing. Did they say that to you? I can't be sure if that's law or not but I was told that but chose not to. Worth doing if there's someone you work with who you feel you can trust and get along with or possibly even better, a union rep...

My last place made sure they got rid of me before I'd been there a year and therefore I had no employment rights other than discrimination. As you've passed the year mark you should have more grounds to go to an employment tribunal etc if you did lose your job.
Good luck with it

mymatebob

Hello there,

I've spent the last couple of hours searching for online help but still feel totally bamboozled so I was hoping someone out there might be able to help me?

Basically - I work in a sales/account management role - office based - and I've been there for a year and 8 months. Today I was called into a meeting and suspended whilst the case is investigated.

The circumstances are as follows. My job is mainly to speak to customers on the telephone and get them to increase spend on their accounts as much as I can. Occasionally I use e-mail to send special offers out etc - and on occasion - as I have such a great relationship with all my customers - I send an e-mail in the last week of the sales month asking if they have any orders they are looking to place in the near future, would it be possible to put them through this week so I have a better chance of hitting target - and I'll give the best prices I can. Very standard sales technique - always very nice about it - and usually I get a great response as a result.

On Tuesday this week, I sent this e-mail out for the first time in about 3 months - and although most people who received it were very nice and offered to help me with orders, I chap e-mailed back telling me to take him off my mailing list, that he thought my sales technique was grotesque and that they would only be using my company as a last resort from now on. Bear in mind that firstly - they weren't an active customer - I had been liasing with another lady in that company to try and get them to use us again - and also I have no idea how this chap got the e-mail - he wasn't on my mailing list and the only person I had on my list at the company was the lady I was dealing with. Now this has been made 10 times worse by the fact that the chap cc'ed in the UK manager and the European manager in his response - again - no idea how he had these details.

So in this meeting, I'm being asked if I think these e-mails are acceptable. I have said yes as they seem to work generally and I'm always polite but obviously this one chap has disagreed and I have already e-mailed him back to apologise and taken him off my mailing list as requested.

Now - here's the stumbling block. Firstly - an e-mail was sent out to our department from our management team on Dec 19th last year saying that any e-mails to customers needed to be run by them first. I finished work on the 24th for Xmas, didn't return until Jan 12th and completely forgot about this new rule - genuine human error - I simply forgot. Secondly - they have pointed out a line in the employee handbook which states that harassment is a reason for gross misconduct - so I think they're trying to pin this e-mail as harassment.

At some point next week after they have carried out they're investigations, I should have my disciplinary hearing and I have no idea what to do now. I haven't been happy in my job for a while anyway but it seems that they can still sack me even if I hand in notice if they want - from what I have read this evening. I just have no idea how to handle this and I'm so scared!

Please help!

Thanks

Your company sent out instructions to all staff, which you received, and then you ignored those institutions.
That seems to be the basis of what you said

I think you can only throw yourself at their feet and say "very sorry please don't sack me."

They told you what to do and what the rules were and you didn't do what you were told.

Your fault I am afraid.

slummymummyof3

Have you had any previous verbal or written warnings?

Sounds like your employer is looking for a cheap way to reduce their staffing levels without havng to pay out redundancy.

Contact the CAB and have a look on the ACAS website if you are not a member of a union.

bruciebonus_3

Wow. Never expected so much response! Thank you all so much. I'll try and answer all questions best I can...

Horace - Thank you. I will be contacting ACAS tomorrow when I have my full disciplinary paperwork in my hand so I've got it all to hand. Only thing is though - my work doesn't have a union to my knowledge! Anyway I can join one does anyone know?

ihateBT - don't worry - I will do.

Olly300 - you are amazing. That PM you sent me may just save me so thank you so so much.

LeeSouthEast - Sorry - left something out didn't i? The chap who complained wasn't on my mailing list - but the lady who I usually deal with was. I can only assume he's either accessed her e-mails or she's showed him - either way it'll hopefully give me a little more leverage as the e-mail was never intended for his eyes...

prudence41 - yes - you're right - and that's my main argument. Thanks.

martyp - it's a very unsecure place in general so I know I've got a fight on my hands!

mymatebob - again - totally right - my only defence is human error. I genuinely forgot.

slummymummyof3 - no warnings relating to this no - but if they are trying to do me on gross misconduct, they don't need to. I will be contacting both ACAS and the CAB tomorrow though.

As the old saying goes, things always look better in the morning. I feel loads better about everything now I've slept on it and know I should have a good argument here. And even if worse comes to worse, I'll either have to sign on whilst looking for a new job or get some temp work - and I have a friend who works for an agency who reckons he should be able to get me some temp work. So it ain't lookin all bad right now!

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated though. And thanks for everyone's help so far!!!

martyp

Just thought I'd mention that I tried calling ACAS several times the last week or so and was in a queue listening to annoying elevator style hold music for 20 minutes each time. Just in case and if you get charged for calling 0845 numbers, you might want to check saynoto0870.com to get the 01 number (if that's cheaper for you)...