Help with disciplinary procedure.

vet8

This is a bit of a saga, I will keep it as brief as poss.

My OH works at a major supermarket, he has been there 5 years with an exemplary record, never had a day off sick etc. He needed the car to get to a dentist appointment on Tuesday at 8.30 a.m. so he dropped me at work at 7.00 and was supposed to pick me up later. He did not turn up and when I phoned the house there was no reply, so I walked home getting back about 2.00 p.m.

It was obvious that he had not been at home since first thing. His work uniform was still there and he had not eaten anything so I started to worry about him. I made a few calls, he had got to the dentist, I called his work and he was not there. I thought I would have been notified if he had had an accident, but I phoned the police anyway to ask if there had been any accidents involving a red Rover in the area. The PC took all the details and said they don’t start missing person enquiries for adults until more time has passed so if he was not back by 8.00 p.m. to ring again. Shortly after another PC called and having read the details she was more concerned, she said they had phoned his work also and wanted to come and interview me. I said leave it a bit as I was off to work again soon.

Shortly after that my OH came in looking dreadful! He had been driving back from the dentist about 9.30 and had a suspected heart attack. He managed to stop the car and a passer by called the ambulance, he was rushed to A & E and had loads of tests, they said it was not a heart attack, but something else. He kept telling both the paramedics and the nurses that they had to call me to let me know where he was. The nurse finally tried to call once at 1.30 when I was walking home. She left no message on the answerphone and when I did a 1471 the number could not be called, it was clearly a ring-out number only, so that was no help to me at all.

When he was finally released he had to get a bus back to where the car was and then drive home. He went straight to bed as he still felt dreadful. As soon as he came in I rang his work and explained what had happened. The rather dozy girl I spoke to took his name and department and I said he would probably be back at work the next day.

When he got in yesterday there was hell to pay. His had to see his big boss and explain and he was told that he had broken the rules by not phoning the special staff sickness phone line. Even when it was explained that he was in hospital having ECGs etc. the boss did not care. There was no record of my 2 calls, although they admitted that the police had phoned saying he had disappeared and they were trying to find him. He said that because my OH had committed such a serious offence - Really!! he had forfeited the right to go through the first 3 stages of the disciplinary procedure and would come in at stage 4 where there would be a hearing and he could in theory be sacked.

That is all we need after all this stress, this ridiculous attitude from his work. If he had had a heart attack and had been admitted to hospital he would have been unable to call the special number then.

Anyway the point of all this is to ask for information about the disciplinary process. I thought there were definite rules and guidelines that you had to have a verbal warning then a written one etc. I can not find this info. anywhere. Can anyone help.

Thanks.

ohreally

Firstly calm down, this isn't a hanging offence.

The employer is jumping the gun somewhat but never mind, deal with the situation as it develops. Management should hold an investigation to establish the facts, if they choose not to do so, use this to your advantage.
Their procedure must follow natural justice i.e there should be an absence of bias - the right to a fair hearing before sanctions are taken against oh - the right to state your case - the right of notice of any allegations - the right to challenge these allegations (test the evidence) - lastly, no one person should act as judge and prosecutor.

Now given that you can evidence what happened from both hospital and police records, no reasonable person would progress with a disciplinary hearing. The purpose of the disciplinary hearing is to bring an improvement, not to punish.

Get his union rep involved and i'd lay short odds this will go away before it gets started.

montyrebel

same as in asda,even if you are having a heart transplant you have to call in yourself even from your hospital bed,its terrible

foxy-roxy

montyrebel wrote: »

same as in asda,even if you are having a heart transplant you have to call in yourself even from your hospital bed,its terrible

I agree, ASDA are very strict regarding sickness.
When he goes for his hearing, make sure he takes suffiecient evidence and has a witness etc and explains the full situation.
I would find it very unreasonable if he gets sacked for this for a first time offence as well.

Good Luck

Tiddlywinks

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles - how is your OH now after his day at work?

Your OH's health is the most important thing at the moment; the job situation will sort itself out one way or another. Did the hospital say any more treatment was required?

As to work, the reaction from the boss sounds a bit over the top; are there any other things going on that you are not aware of? Personality clashes or other issues that have led to this reaction? Why was the matter not simply handled by the direct line manager?

This possibly heavy handed reaction could be seen as bullying behaviour. Does the company have a welfare officer or occupational health team that your OH could contact? If they do then I suggest he make an appointment with them ASAP as any stress from this situation will need to be managed and he will need internal support to do that.

Finally, I would get everything on record - get your OH to write to his direct line manager with a copy to the "big boss" and to HR - internal e-mail is ideal for this as it provides an audit trail. In writing he should apologise for not following company procedures and explain fully exactly what led to his day off and list the mitigating circumstances. It may be that the boss was so angry that he didn't fully appreciate the circumstances when he met with your OH and now he has calmed down he may see things differently. Copying in HR will also make them aware of the issue as they should always maintain an overview of such cases to ensure fair treatment.

Hope everything turns out well for you - please let us know.

Tiddly

BTW I would change your first post to remove the company name just in case anyone recognises your OH - companies don't like employees airing their dirty laundry in public and it may harm your case.... just a thought.

vet8

Thanks Tiddlywinks and others for your helpful replies.

My OH needs further treatment and needs to see his GP, but hopefully it is not too serious. He went into work again today and people were a bit more sympathetic, asking him how he was. The guy he had the meeting with on Wednesday just said hallo and nothing else. He has heard nothing about a hearing yet.

He is writing up his version of events, he will be contacting the Union rep. and will ask for a photocopy of the notes the boss took at the first meeting. I hope that once everyone has seen the reason for his absence they will realise that a disciplinary hearing will be way O.T.T.

It just makes me angry that after the worry of the previous day he was greeted in this jobsworth way when he went back to work.

I will keep you posted.

vet8

Well he recieved a formal letter this morning, saying he has the hearing on Wednesday.

It is all formal and serious, he can take a union rep with him or someone else if he likes. I still find it amazing that after they have been told the explanation they can still go through with this rubbish. He was clearly not just skiving he was ill.

I will let you know how he gets on. He is currently very stressed about it all.

foxy-roxy

vet8 wrote: »

Well he recieved a formal letter this morning, saying he has the hearing on Wednesday.

It is all formal and serious, he can take a union rep with him or someone else if he likes. I still find it amazing that after they have been told the explanation they can still go through with this rubbish. He was clearly not just skiving he was ill.

I will let you know how he gets on. He is currently very stressed about it all.

Good Luck, i can't believe it has gone this far either.
Is he taking a union rep with him?

Tiddlywinks

Who will be on the panel and what is the format of the hearing?

Will witnesses be called / statements presented?

It's pretty short notice - what does the union rep say?

vet8

AGGHHH! He went into work today with his version of events all typed up to speak to the union rep and he has just gone on holiday for 3 weeks!!!.

It says in the letter that he can postpone the hearing for up to a week if his union rep is not available, he needs a three week delay. Great! He is phoning the union helpdesk tomorrow for their advice.

The letter said it will be this boss from another dept. there with a note taker. It said they had enclosed all relevant papers, but there was nothing else in the envelope -great organisation.

Tiddlywinks

There should be another union rep covering whilst the other one is on holiday. If not, then your OH should request that the hearing be put back to allow him time to consult with the rep on his return from holiday. Does the rep work for the company?

Also, did he write to his line manager explaining the chain of events and did he get a reply? Has he spoken with ACAS?