Help! OH just dismissed, eligible for JSA?

Paparika

omg it's not Fujitsu/Siemens is it.... the PDA issue has been around since they used the PDA's (5/6 years or more) my OH was made redundant earlier this year from them, really does sound like them

zzzLazyDaisy

SuziQ wrote: »

I think you should contact ACAS for free advice and support on this-they are excellent and could even support him through tribunal.

Good advice

I think he will have problems regarding lack of training on using the PDA however,as it is generally accepted to be your own responsibility to be trained to use something.

Sorry, I don't agree with this statement. If the employer expects workers to use equipment, it is up to the employer to ensure the worker knows how to use it, especially if there have been previous instances of confusion or mistakes. OH should have had training, or at least been shown what to do. But equally, if he was confused or unsure, he should have spoken up. A dismissal for GM seems a bit harsh for a mistake like this, but we don't have all the facts.

OP - if you need help with the tribunal claim, I suggest you start a separate thread for that

Good luck!!

sarymclary

Many thanks for the replies.

paparika - It's not Fujitsu/Siemens, although it's interesting to hear that they are just as bad. I'm not sure I can name the company on here, but there is an entire Blog created by a dissatisfied customer at a University, that has over 100 contributions to it, from staff and customers alike. It makes for very interesting reading, and really enlightened us. I'm not sure if I am allowed to link to the blog here? I'll put it in my post, but will remove it if it's not allowed :

http://www.ht2.org/ben/?p=17&cpage=3#comment-470

After reading it, I told my OH that no matter what he said at the meeting, he was going to be dismissed, and I was right. If a company dismisses other members of staff for being 'unsuitable', they'd get rid of him. The meeting lasted a matter of minutes, and when he pointed out that the pages he was able to use on the PDA to show the action he was taking (ie. a service job being repeatedly added to his list of jobs but already done) was to use a section for 'no action', and then he wrote 'done' as the reason why there was no action. His employers are saying that they've taken this to mean he's completed, or 'done' a service, and they've billed the customer. They have been billed 5 times in 1 month, at £20 a time. The employers also own a debt collection agency, so aggressively pursue their billing, so if a customer doesn't pay very promptly, they get threatened with court action. The customer in question is a small charity, and have questioned my OH previously about whether they have to have servicing work done, and how much it costs, etc., and aren't exactly easy to get along with, so it's no wonder they kicked up a stink about the bills.

The overall picture is that the company was a global brand, that was running at a loss due to poor management/work practices, and was sold this February for a very cheap price of £1M. They've already recouped £10M of outstanding debt, made many staff redundant, and have systematically lost customers, so that their warehouse instead of being filled with stock, is actually full of returned equipment. My guess is that they will be dissolving the business early next year, or selling it on for a profit, now that it appears to be a profit making business. However, the new owner is well known for buying a business and breaking it up/dissolving after maximising it's profit. He's not known for being a great boss, to say the very least.

Lazy Daisy I'll put more info about it all into a different thread re. a tribunal.

For now we have a joint appointment to go to the Job Centre tomorrow to put in a joint claim for Job Seekers. Having been looking for work myself for about 2 years now, I know it's going to be hard.