Disciplinary Hearing Help??????

mrg22

thanks foxy-roxy

mrg22

Well, He has just been handed his letter of dismissal at 8pm this evening and was asked to hand over his company stuff, The notes of the hearing have been left to read over and sign and I suppose that is it.

Words cannot describe how P****d off we feel, He is glad he is out of there but under these circumstances with gross negligence under his name it is so unjust!!!!

Please if anyone has any advice on the appeal please let me know, I have to go now cause i can't see through my tears.
Goodnight
XX

robredz

Contact ACAS on Monday, and see the CAB with for advice regarding taking the issue to a tribunal

zzzLazyDaisy

Oh Dear, I am so sorry. (((((Hugs))))

I know this probably doesn't help, but since they seem to have made up their mind to dismiss him, it is better that they do it now, having made such a hash of the meeting.

Did OH make a note of the conversation yesterday when he was told that they wanted to have another meeting? If not, do it now.

Re the appeal. If OH wants to make an ET claim (and he should at least give it serious consideration) then he must appeal. The letter should tell him who to appeal to, and by which date. The person hearing the appeal should be someone not previously involved in this affair, and who has the authority to over-ride the person who made the decision to dismiss.

He needs to carefully go through the minutes and make sure he agrees with them. I doubt that they will be a verbatim transcript of the tape, so if anything has been left out that he feels is important, he should make a careful note. If he is already well on the way to completing his own notes, he should finish them off and check them against the company notes. Alternatively, he can go through the company minutes and make notes of everything he doesn;t agree with, and/or anything that has been left out that he feels is important, and ask the colleague who attended to do the same.

Personally I wouldn't sign the minutes. I would say that I don't agree with the minutes (if that is the case) and ask for a copy of the tape so he can compare it to the minutes (unless, of course, he is satisfied that the minutes are a verbatim transcript of the tape?).

Come back to us tomorrow and tell us what the dismissal letter says.

Oh, and you might want to head over to the benefits board, and make sure you sign up for whatever you are entitled to.

Try and get a decent nights sleep xx

mrg22

Thankyou.......

The appeal is going to be done by my OH's now ex boss's son.....not going to be biased at all!!!!!!! but there we go.

The letter says that he has been dismissed due to gross negligence and that they have lost their trust in him.

On the information which I have given can anyone tell me if they think he may have grounds on taking this to an ET?

MrsTinks

If everything is as you say (and I have no doubt that it is!) then I would say he has a very good case for unfair dismissal. Do post the details of what the letter says but try not to worry too much - I'm sure with Daisy's help you'll get some good advice about appealing his gross negligence "blemish".
Also when it comes to new jobs and interviews then should the issue of why he was fired etc come up tell him to be very factual about it, not get angry or emotional, but state simply what happened and if the company does go bust tell him to mention that too... employers are not stupid and can soon check if a company has gone bankrupt at that time - if so I'd put 2 and 2 together and smell a rat real quick And it wouldn't be your OH I'd doubt - it would be the reasons for the company doing the diciplinary etc I've hired a lot of people (thankfully no more - I love not managing people!) and if that was the scenario I got then I'd not hold it against the candidate

ohreally

mrg22 wrote: »

The notes of the hearing have been left to read over and sign and I suppose that is it.

No, that is not it. This is now the beginning of the next step of the process, you have a statutory right (duty) to appeal this outcome. Start preparing your statement of case asap keeping copies of everything in addition to keeping a close eye on a ticking clock in terms of submitting an ET1 form to an employment tribunal - this must be lodged within three months therefore act even if the ex-employer drags their heels, don't wait for them.

zzzLazyDaisy

mrg22 wrote: »

Thankyou.......

The appeal is going to be done by my OH's now ex boss's son.....not going to be biased at all!!!!!!! but there we go.

Can you just explain the hierachy in the company? Was the boss (father) involved in the meeting? Did he make the decision to dismiss? And where does the son fit in, in relation to the person who made the decision to dismiss (whoever that was) - is the son senior or junior to him?

mrg22

The business is owned by the partners (husband and wife), As a small business the investigation was taken by them, the hearing was chaired by them, the desicion to dismiss letter is only signed by the male partner when all the other letters about this have had both their signatures? mmmmmm? And now the hearing will be conducted by their son, Not sure what position he holds?
It just seems as though everything is in their favour.
How is he supposed to be given a fair appeal now.
The notes of the meeting do not give a clear idea of how the meeting was, e.g that he couldn't get his point across and the sarky remarks from his ex boss, didn't mention that they had raised an issue with his work from 6 months ago. So cleverly done!!!!! It doesn't depict the emotion and doesn't mention what happened after which I suppose doesn't suprise me.
When My partner mentioned that he had written a statement of events during the meeting and after, the son just sneered and shook his head as if these events didn't matter.
Maybe they don't I don't know.
I am sure things will be clearer in the morning
Nite nite all.

zzzLazyDaisy

mrg22 wrote: »

When My partner mentioned that he had written a statement of events during the meeting and after, the son just sneered and shook his head as if these events didn't matter./QUOTE]

Which son? The one who is going to be chairing the appeal hearing?

Okay, I wouldn't normally raise this issue, but in this case I think it is relevant.

The law says that before going to an employment tribunal, both parties should follow procedures. Which means that the employee has a right/duty to appeal the decision. The penalty for not going to appeal is that if OH makes an ET claim and wins, the ET has the power to reduce his compensation award by up to 25%.

BUT it is only a power, not something the ET are compelled to do. If the ET come to the conclusion that the employee would not have got a fair appeal and/or there was no point in appealling, then no deduction will be made.

It would be wrong for me to advise you on an internet forum, so please only take this as my personal opinion.

But if I were personally in this situation, I would write to the employer and say that I feel that the decision to dismiss me is unfair, but that I do not believe that I would get a fair hearing if I appeal the decision, and in particularly I do not believe that there is any possibility that the son will over-turn his father's decision. So for that reason I do not propose to proceed with an internal appeal.

I would also state that I do not agree that the company's minutes are a true record of the disciplinary hearing and repeat my request for a copy of the tape (which I think, by now, will have suffered some unfortunate accident).

The reason I say this is because even if the appeal is conducted properly, all it will achieve is to give the employer the opportunity to put right some of the procedural wrongs - and most importantly the opportunity to state his case, and so weaken OH's prospects of success in an ET.

I would then concentrate my energy on making a claim to the tribunal.

NOTE, for anyone in a similar situation who is reading this - please DO NOT act on these comments. Refusal to appeal isn't a step that anyone should take lightly, but these are exceptional circumstances.

To OP - the penalty, even if it were imposed (which in my view is unlikely, although it is ONLY my view) is financial only. From what you say, if OH wins his case, there is a risk that the employer may not pay up anyway?