dismissed via email?

Rebe

just a quick one - can an employer dismiss an employee via email? and how long will it take to hear back from an appeal letter?

Rebe

toothe

i doubt they can. To be dismissed it should be in writting. Not 100% but pretty sure

zzzLazyDaisy

If you have more than one year's service then the employer must follow proper procedures which include having a meeting with the employee and giving him/her an fair opportunity to explain their side of things. Even then the employer cannot dismiss fairly on a first offence, unless it is serious enough to amount to gross misconduct.

Unfortunately, since 6th April this year, if you have less than a year's service, the employer can pretty much do whatever they like, including dismissing by e-mail, provided that there is no unlawful discrimination involved such as, for example, age, race, sex, or disability.

Rebe

I had nearly been there a year - he suspended me for "gross misconduct" and made up a story basically, I went to hearing, he emailed me letter of dismissal, so I sent him an email attachment of appeal, but it just doesn't seem the proper way of doing it?!

tippytop

zzzLazyDaisy
can you please tell me what this new law april 6th is.?
I am going through something similar.

Rebe

tippytop - if you google it it comes up with some stuff, to much to write and not sure if i'm allowed to post a link sorry.

Anyone able to tell me re wait after sending appeal letter?

zzzLazyDaisy

Until april 6th this year, there was a statutory requirement on an employer to follow a set procedure. That law was repealed on 6th April because, frankly it was badly drafted and proved to be so full of loopholes that it was virtually unenforceable.

This is a link to an article about the law pre 6th april 2009,

http://www.tssa.org.uk/article-46.php3?id_article=1383

but as I say, this law has gone now, and basic employment legislation doesn't apply until you have at least 1 year's service, unless there is unlawful discrimination involved in which case the 'one year rule' does not apply.

zzzLazyDaisy

Rebe wrote: »

tippytop - if you google it it comes up with some stuff, to much to write and not sure if i'm allowed to post a link sorry.

Anyone able to tell me re wait after sending appeal letter?

Do you have a copy of the employer's disciplinary procedures? It should give the timescales there, but if not you would normally expect to receive an acknowledgment within a week or so, and that letter should tell you when the appeal hearing will take place etc.

But since you had less than a year's service, there isn't much you can do about it if the employer doesn't do things by the book.

One thing you might consider - were you dismissed with immediate effect, that is to say, without notice or payment in lieu of notice?

If you did not receive your notice pay and you feel that what you did (if anything) could not reasonably be viewed as gross misconcuct, you can make a claim to an employment tribunal for breach of contract to get your notice pay. The tribunal would have to consider all the facts to decide whether the employer acted reasonably in dismissing you for GM, and if they agreed with you, you would get your notice pay and a written decision from the ET that this was not GM. The case would be very unlikely to go to ET as the employer would almost certainly pay up, but as part of the settlement you might be able to negotiate an agreed reference, which might help you in finding another job.

On the question of the e-mail - I would normally expect an employer to tell the employee face to face, even if that meant calling another meeting. But to be honest, even if this went to a tribunal (which is unlikely) the employer might be warned that e-mails can go astray so it is not a great idea, but since you accept you did receive it, there would be no further repercussions.

tippytop

Hi

Thank you for your reply.

I think i will write a post as not fair to take over OP.

zzzLazyDaisy

If you would like me to comment, please pm me with a link to your new thread.

I am an employment lawyer, although the usual provisos apply - my comments are my opinions only and are not intended to be legal advice etc etc (just what you'd expect from a lawyer.....)