employment query

joanne_d_3

hi.

A few weeks ago i was sacked from my job. I was given gross misconduct as the reason. I am currently in the very early stages of setting up a tribunal. I cant go into too much detail on here the reason being my whole employment termination has been unique , trust me , so i dont want to be identified . My query is , i know for a fact that my termination was unfair , i know i was wanted out of the workplace and now today ,a former work friend has told me that my job has been given to the best friend of the company owner. The job was not advertised , it was simply given to him after i was sacked. Would tis be allowed ? Surely a job has to be fairly advertised ?

Any help or advice is appreciated

Thanks

Zazen999

No, a job does not have to be advertised. Sorry.

The fact that they have done this does add to your tribunal though, if they wanted rid of you in order to give the job to a friend of the owner.

joanne_d_3

Thanks for the swift reply.

joanne

Liz_the_Whizz

Hi joanne d

Sorry to hear about your predicament.

Not sure from your post, but have you been through an appeal process with your previous employer? They are obliged to give you the right of appeal by law. If they haven't, then that adds to the case against them.

Hope you get sorted out with another job soon.

joanne_d_3

Hi liz.

Yes my employer offered me the appeal process which i took but it didnt change the decision to sack me.

A bit more info , maybe others can offer advice.

I was accused of gross misconduct , an allegation that i know i am not guilty of so , on the day of this alledged misconduct i was suspended , 10 days later they sent me a letter to come up for a disciplinary hearing , i got this letter one day and the meeting was scheduled for early the next morning so didnt give me any time to prepare. any way , i went up tothe meeting and as soon as iwalked into the room my manager statedthe reason why i wasthere and swiftly told me i was summararily dismissed.

I asked for the chance to speak , to offer explanation , to defend my case but he told me to " save it for the appeal meeting" i seriously wasnt allowed to speak.

He carried out NO inverstigation on the matter , he only began to investigate THREE weeks AFTER i was sacked , and he only did it then because i informed him that i was going to seek legal advice.

Does this constitute my employer failing to follow the statutory dismissal procedures?

thanks for any advice offered

joanne

jazzyman01

Yup! Did you appeal? How do you know that he started the investigation after you were dismissed? Have you proof that you can rely on in ET?

You should have been given the evidence that they were relying on at the hearing in time for you to review and respond. By not listening to your side of the situation and just informing you that you were summarily dismissed clearly shows that the decision was made before you attended the hearing.

I hope that you fully documented the hearing, however brief, dated and timed it?

zzzLazyDaisy

Hi Joanne, I am sorry to hear of bad experience.

First, you should be aware that the law on statutory disciplinary procedures was repealed on 6th April this year. Before then if an employer failed to follow the statutory disciplinary procedure the dismissal was automatically unfair, even if the employee had less than 12 months service. That is no longer the case.

So, the first question is how long did you work for the employer?

Anihilator

Sorry but sounds like a perfectly reasonable and legal discliplinary process to me. Unless you want to give more details then no one can really help you further.

The fact they didnt interview for the job has little relevence to you

zzzLazyDaisy

Anihilator wrote: »

Sorry but sounds like a perfectly reasonable and legal discliplinary process to me.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I sincerely hope, for your sake, that you are not an employer.

joanne_d_3

it sounds reasonable to you ? Surely before any disciplinary action there has to be an investigation ? The decision to sack me was quite clearly made BEFORE my disciplinary hearing ! Wot happened to innocent until proven guilty lol. Yes i have kept records of EVERYTHING , i have the minuites of the meeting which clearly shows that i was sacked within seconds of entering the meeting , they also back up my claim that i asked to speak but was refused that right. The best thing about this fact is that these meeting minuites were given to me by my former employer so he cant contest them as evidence in a tribunal.

I know without a shadow of a doubt that investigations only began AFTER i was sacked as i also have this in WRITING from my previous employer ,they spoke to other employees regarding what had happened on 12th October , i was sacked on 18TH SEPTEMBER .

tHANKS FOR READING , KEEP THE RESPONSES COMING PLEASE

Anihilator

What part of it sounds wrong?

Suspend employee, carry out investigation, notify employee of decision, allow appeal.

What the OP thinks happened is irrelevent unless they can prove it