Unfair dismissal of an employee?

LindsayO

I think your MD has been very foolish, as he probably could have acheived the same end with no negative consequences to the company.

I'm assuming that the employee's 4 week trip was approved annual leave. If so he did nothing wrong doing that. He may well have been told that everything would be sorted in plenty of time to return within 4 weeks, when he handed over his passport, we don't know. So again we can't say he acted unreasonably. When he found out that there was a problem he contacted you and suggested a solution, again he was acting responsibly.

Now if the solution isn't workable, that too seems reasonable. So there ought to be a way forward for the company to be able to say, sorry we understand this is not your fault but we can't keep you job open indefinitely. There must be advice from bodies like ACAS on how this kind of situation should be handled. The company can't be expected to keep the job open forever.

fengirl_2

Well, Teri, you have admitted that you did not follow a procedure and in this case, the employee has a ET case on those grounds alone - forget whether the dismissal was fair or not.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

1) The MD is not an !!!!!!. Why should he pay for staff that are not working and act like this

2) An investigation has occurred. OP is absent and unauthorised. Circumstances are know. Seems enough info to me to constitute gross misconduct and dismissal.

This employee must have known this was possible and should have discussed it in advance. as it is he probably owes the company money back for holidays.

E-mail/write explaining his job cannot be kept open and if he does not return to work immediately discliplinary action will be commenced. If he doesnt do so write a letter giving him a weeks notice of a discliplinary meeting stating dismissal is a possibility. State if he doesnt attend the meeting will be held in his absence and that he can bring a representative.

If he attends the meeting/doesnt attend hold a meeting and minute the key facts. He was absent without authorisation, and that thus gross misconduct and dismissal.

Savvy_Sue

One question to ask is whether it's going to be necessary to replace this person, and if so how hard is it going to be? Yes I know there are 3,000,000 jobseekers out there, but how many of them are going to be suitable for any given role?

Recruitment costs money, and a successful outcome is never guaranteed. There are arguments for saying that the employee can take up to another X weeks unpaid leave, but after that will be liable to disciplinary action which could include dismissal.

Oldernotwiser

I think that the situation has become confused by some posters assuming that the absent member of staff is still being paid. There's no reason for this assumption so his wages could be used to fund temporary cover.

Savvy_Sue

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I think that the situation has become confused by some posters assuming that the absent member of staff is still being paid. There's no reason for this assumption so his wages could be used to fund temporary cover.

IF it's the kind of role which lends itself to temp cover. I'm not sure mine does ...

But it's a good thought: if this is otherwise a good employee you would want to retain, plant the thought in the MD's head that paying for a temp could well be more cost effective than recruiting.

Oldernotwiser

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

IF it's the kind of role which lends itself to temp cover. I'm not sure mine does ...

But it's a good thought: if this is otherwise a good employee you would want to retain, plant the thought in the MD's head that paying for a temp could well be more cost effective than recruiting.

I do appreciate that this isn't always possible but I just wanted to clarify what I think had become a misunderstanding.

arclight

The dismissal will most likely be an unfair one. Firstly, he seems to have merely asked for the extra time but the response was to sack him. Secondly, he was dismissed without any apparent consideration of a lesser sanction or exploration of mitigating circumstances. These would normally arise out of an investigation which apparently was lacking. For instance, how much more time did he need? Under what circumstances was his passport retained? His length of service and disciplinary record with the company? Whether he would be willing to take unpaid leave etc.

ps. Fengirl, if the dismissal is fair then there is no provision to "fine" the company for failing to follow procedure.

Roobarb73

LinasPilibaitisisbatman wrote: »

1) The MD is not an !!!!!!. Why should he pay for staff that are not working and act like this

2) An investigation has occurred. OP is absent and unauthorised. Circumstances are know. Seems enough info to me to constitute gross misconduct and dismissal.

This employee must have known this was possible and should have discussed it in advance. as it is he probably owes the company money back for holidays.

E-mail/write explaining his job cannot be kept open and if he does not return to work immediately discliplinary action will be commenced. If he doesnt do so write a letter giving him a weeks notice of a discliplinary meeting stating dismissal is a possibility. State if he doesnt attend the meeting will be held in his absence and that he can bring a representative.

If he attends the meeting/doesnt attend hold a meeting and minute the key facts. He was absent without authorisation, and that thus gross misconduct and dismissal.

Basically, I agree BUT the problem is it's too late now, as he's already been dismissed!