Help I've been sacked

Valli

When I worked for a well known bingo chain I walked in at 5.25pm (started at 5.30pm) to be told by supervisor
'You should have been in five minutes ago'.
My reply was
'Why? What happened?'

-It was a good job I was VERY good at the job! Selling £3000-£6000 of books in just under 2 hours all cash, no calculators and being SPOT ON with my money!

juliescot

As others have indicated your rights as an employee are limited, however if the reason you were dismissed is, according to the company, for being late, and you were not I would have thought you have a reasonable case against them.

They may well be able to dismiss you however they cannot just make something up.

Do you have some paperwork relating to the dismissal which identifies the reason for your sacking?

terra_ferma

torbrex wrote: »

You have not made it clear when your manager told you that you had to be at your post at 8:50, if he did so when you first started and you ignored his wishes then you deserved to be sacked, it is not up to you to decide the starting time even though you may not get paid until 9am.
I doubt if you were 'clocking in & out', you were probably getting X pounds for Y hours rather than an actual hourly rate so it is the managers choice when you should be at your station.

Sounds like you are a well trained retail supervisor/manager...

No, it's not up to the manager to decide the starting time, the starting time is when you get paid, not in your own time!
Getting X pounds for Y hours means you are earning X pounds per hour, and this CANNOT be lower than the minimum wage.
Again it's not manager's choice when someone should be at their station, it's based on when they start getting paid.
How can staff be expected to work as and when managers please? They have childcare arrangements, maybe some go to college, or have a second job because they are paid too little.
There is also a legal duty of making reasonable adjustments for people who have disabilities, or considering them for those who are carers or have small children.

I'm not a militant union rep, I'm normally on the other side of the fence, but I believe staff need to be treated fairly, particularly when they are paid low wages.

Loralei

torbrex wrote: »

You have not made it clear when your manager told you that you had to be at your post at 8:50, if he did so when you first started and you ignored his wishes then you deserved to be sacked, it is not up to you to decide the starting time even though you may not get paid until 9am.
I doubt if you were 'clocking in & out', you were probably getting X pounds for Y hours rather than an actual hourly rate so it is the managers choice when you should be at your station.

I was told about the 8.50 start after the first time I was late. I did not simply ignore the wishes of the company. There was unexpected traffic complications on the two following days. You say it's the managers choice what time I start? Are you working for for this company I wonder because according to employemnt law for which I have been investigating I should have had a contract of employment stating what time I was expected to be in work for. I have never been given this and also I was not given any period of notice. I will be appealing this decison. this is a deplorable way to treat anyone but I can see that there are quite a few people out there who given a little power in the workplace, abuse that power and exploit workers. I think that you could be one of them?????

torbrex

terra_ferma wrote: »

Sounds like you are a well trained retail supervisor/manager...

Never worked in retail or been a supervisor/manager anywhere, also never been sacked for willfully disobying a manager.

terra_ferma

Loralei wrote: »

I was told about the 8.50 start after the first time I was late. I did not simply ignore the wishes of the company. There was unexpected traffic complications on the two following days. You say it's the managers choice what time I start? Are you working for for this company I wonder because according to employemnt law for which I have been investigating I should have had a contract of employment stating what time I was expected to be in work for. I have never been given this and also I was not given any period of notice. I will be appealing this decison. this is a deplorable way to treat anyone but I can see that there are quite a few people out there who given a little power in the workplace, abuse that power and exploit workers. I think that you could be one of them?????

Lora, as you have probably seen I'm with you on this, but unfortunately there is very little you can do, as you were employed for less than a year.
I would say you should be able to get your notice paid. You may be entitled to some money if the additional time brings you to less than the MW, but it would probably be a lot of hassle for little money.
You will not be entitled to claim unfair dismissal, because you were there for less than one year, there are some exceptions but I don't think they apply to your case.

terra_ferma

torbrex wrote: »

Never worked in retail or been a supervisor/manager anywhere, also never been sacked for willfully disobying a manager.

I have disciplined staff for refusing to follow reasonable instructions. But not for refusing to obey unlawful instructions. There is is a difference.

And I have been in trouble myself for disobeying managers (e.g. refusing to take disciplinary action I did not agree with, or enforce procedures that were unfair, and probably end up taking the blame for it).

torbrex

Loralei wrote: »

I was told about the 8.50 start after the first time I was late. I did not simply ignore the wishes of the company. There was unexpected traffic complications on the two following days. You say it's the managers choice what time I start? Are you working for for this company I wonder because according to employemnt law for which I have been investigating I should have had a contract of employment stating what time I was expected to be in work for. I have never been given this and also I was not given any period of notice. I will be appealing this decison. this is a deplorable way to treat anyone but I can see that there are quite a few people out there who given a little power in the workplace, abuse that power and exploit workers. I think that you could be one of them?????

It then became your duty to make sure that you were at work at the correct time regardless of traffic complications.
I am just an employee that does not allow himself to be exploited by knowing the rules and sticking to them. I once was employed for 2 years before I got a contract of employment but that didn't deter me from finding out what was expected of me.

Valli

Just to add fuel to the fire in the job I do NOW (and it's a professional one) I should START work at 8.45 am. I aim to be there for 8 am...and I don't hang around drinking tea or chewing the fat - I am preparing for the day.
The other week I was there until 7 pm one day!
And I have to work at home, too.

bumpoowee

torbrex wrote: »

It then became your duty to make sure that you were at work at the correct time regardless of traffic complications.
I am just an employee that does not allow himself to be exploited by knowing the rules and sticking to them. I once was employed for 2 years before I got a contract of employment but that didn't deter me from finding out what was expected of me.

Which rules do you stick to then? The legal/contracted ones or the ones made up by some jumped up little !!!!! working in retail management?

I have worked in retail when I was a student and you get treated like absolute !!!!. Usually there is no real reason for it, generally you find most of the supervisors are bitter and resentful individuals, my theory is that they are jealous that most of the staff they manage are better educated and have better future prospects than themselves (since they are usually young and/or students). These losers usually try to make themselves feel like their lives mean something by enforcing unreasonable expectations onto their staff as has happened in this case.

In retail there never is any give or take it's just take take take from the employer.