Sacked while pregnant

ssp_while_pregnant

HO87 wrote: »

Uncertain's comments are fair but I would add that were the OP to pursue an unfair dismissal claim to Tribunal then she will have to appeal the dismissal via the company's disciplinary process first. My fear there is that she may already have run out of time although this obviously depends upon the time limits the company has set out.

I only recieved the dismissal letter yesterday morning so I will appeal against their decision before submitting my ET1 form. As the dismissal incident happened in May 2009 although not being dismissed until Mar 2010 me and my union rep are under the impression that if they can discipline 9 months after the incident then I can submit my appeal letter within 7 days as they state I can on their letter.

Thanks

pinkshoes

What was the company maternity pay? Did this require you to return to work for a period of time after maternity leave? Isn't SMP just 90% of pay for 6 weeks, then £123 for the remainder of the 9 months?

Personally I'd think twice before fighting this. You've had a LOT of time off sick and over reacted to the situation. You're pregnant, and fighting this will be very stressful, and NOT good for your baby. For the sake of a small amount of money, is it REALLY worth it?

Go to CAB and see what benefits you'd be entitled to. It may be tight, but perhaps it's best to be poor with a healthy baby than have money to buy a few things and have a stressed baby?

dickydonkin

I have already got 3 solicitors who are happy to take the PI case on a no win no fee aswell as my home insurance saying that I am covered for it on my legal cover on my home insurance.

Then rather than ask for assistance on a public forum where you may be open to insults from the usual perpetrators and potentially be offered poor or incorrect 'advice' from unqualified people, why not take the advice from one of the many solicitors who are willing to take on your case?

You may have it covered on your house insurance but, as I found out last year, unless in the eyes of the solicitors that are appointed (you can't pick and chose your own)

Yes you can - provided they adhere to the terms and conditions of the insurance company. Last year my wife claimed for unfair dismissal and the insurers were happy for her to select her own local solicitor provided they met their criteria.

This was sorted out very quickly, the solicitor agreed she had a case, however, the insurers also paid for a Barristers report which also confirmed a 70% likelihood of success.

Incidentally, the grievance was remedied one week prior to tribunal.

GlasweJen

woody01 wrote: »

Of course it isn't. Where on earth do you get this information from? My employment lawyer
All disciplinary action warrants an investigation.

The days of sacking someone on the spot and getting away with it are long gone.

I had to fight a disability discrimination case (granted it was in 2006) and subsequently won. The company claimed that I was fired for gross misconduct and as per company handbook was sacked, lawyer at the time said that this would have been acceptable if there had been evidence that i'd done it (which there wasn't because I hadn't).

Eventually won for an unfair constructed dismissal, disability discrimination and got compensation for injury to feelings.

dickydonkin

Quote:
Originally Posted by woody01
Of course it isn't. Where on earth do you get this information from? All disciplinary action warrants an investigation.

The days of sacking someone on the spot and getting away with it are long gone.

I had to fight a disability discrimination case (granted it was in 2006) and subsequently won. The company claimed that I was fired for gross misconduct and as per company handbook was sacked, lawyer at the time said that this would have been acceptable if there had been evidence that i'd done it (which there wasn't because I hadn't).

Eventually won for an unfair constructed dismissal, disability discrimination and got compensation for injury to feelings.

Woody01 is correct.

You cannot SACK someone on the spot, however, you can SUSPEND someone pending an investigation.

Every breach of company policies and procedures whether it is deemed as gross misconduct or otherwise, should come under the companies disciplinary policy and should warrant an investigation with disciplinary hearings and any resulting 'punishment' implemented AFTER the company's disciplinary procedure has been exhausted.

Not every company has a disciplinary policy, although those that do may publish this in a handbook, separate document or intranet etc. There is however a statutory minimum disciplinary procedure that has to be conformed with.

Just because a company lists 'offences' that may be deemed as 'Gross Misconduct', that list will likely be examples of what constitutes as such, however, that list will likely not be exhaustive.

However, if an employee has not worked for a company for more than 1 year, if the dismissal is for reasons other than discriminatory, he/she would find it difficult to seek redress.

Uncertain

ssp_while_pregnant wrote: »

I only recieved the dismissal letter yesterday morning so I will appeal against their decision before submitting my ET1 form. As the dismissal incident happened in May 2009 although not being dismissed until Mar 2010 me and my union rep are under the impression that if they can discipline 9 months after the incident then I can submit my appeal letter within 7 days as they state I can on their letter.

Thanks

Yes, do go through the formality of an appeal. It is no longer an absolute prerequisite before making an ET claim but it strongly recommended.

ssp_while_pregnant

pinkshoes wrote: »

What was the company maternity pay? Did this require you to return to work for a period of time after maternity leave? Isn't SMP just 90% of pay for 6 weeks, then £123 for the remainder of the 9 months?

Personally I'd think twice before fighting this. You've had a LOT of time off sick and over reacted to the situation. You're pregnant, and fighting this will be very stressful, and NOT good for your baby. For the sake of a small amount of money, is it REALLY worth it?

Go to CAB and see what benefits you'd be entitled to. It may be tight, but perhaps it's best to be poor with a healthy baby than have money to buy a few things and have a stressed baby?

The company maternity as I have been there for almost 2 years was 6 weeks full pay and then 12 weeks at half pay then the remainder at SMP of £123/week. I did not have to return to qualify for this. I agree that I would rather be able to give the baby love and relaxed atmosphere than stress and material things but I'm just so worried that we will lose everything as I have never been in this kind of position before and I will fail as a Mum by not doing all in my power to give baby as much love as I can and the best start I can. Hope that makes sense.

ssp_while_pregnant

dpassmore wrote: »

Then rather than ask for assistance on a public forum where you may be open to insults from the usual perpetrators and potentially be offered poor or incorrect 'advice' from unqualified people, why not take the advice from one of the many solicitors who are willing to take on your case?



Yes you can - provided they adhere to the terms and conditions of the insurance company. Last year my wife claimed for unfair dismissal and the insurers were happy for her to select her own local solicitor provided they met their criteria.

This was sorted out very quickly, the solicitor agreed she had a case, however, the insurers also paid for a Barristers report which also confirmed a 70% likelihood of success.

Incidentally, the grievance was remedied one week prior to tribunal.

I just felt that I wanted to see what normal people in a normal world would say to this scenario. The solicitor and Union guys are going to be positive about it. I wanted to know what unbiased people think. Believe it or not I didn't really think that I would get insults, just advice. I've only had one person insult really.

I'm glad your wife's scenario was remedied quickly.

Thanks

ssp_while_pregnant

dpassmore wrote: »

Quote:
Originally Posted by woody01
Of course it isn't. Where on earth do you get this information from? All disciplinary action warrants an investigation.

The days of sacking someone on the spot and getting away with it are long gone.



Woody01 is correct.

You cannot SACK someone on the spot, however, you can SUSPEND someone pending an investigation.

Every breach of company policies and procedures whether it is deemed as gross misconduct or otherwise, should come under the companies disciplinary policy and should warrant an investigation with disciplinary hearings and any resulting 'punishment' implemented AFTER the company's disciplinary procedure has been exhausted.

Not every company has a disciplinary policy, although those that do may publish this in a handbook, separate document or intranet etc. There is however a statutory minimum disciplinary procedure that has to be conformed with.

Just because a company lists 'offences' that may be deemed as 'Gross Misconduct', that list will likely be examples of what constitutes as such, however, that list will likely not be exhaustive.

However, if an employee has not worked for a company for more than 1 year, if the dismissal is for reasons other than discriminatory, he/she would find it difficult to seek redress.

I had been told that I would be invited to an investigation meeting while I was off sick but then this fizzled away and I never had said meeting. This investigation was then never mentioned again until I told the company that I was expecting. When I told them that they told me that an Investigation meeting would take place within the first few weeks of my return. They in the end did this on my first day back. Then I was told a few days later that they were escalating it to a disciplinary hearing for me to put my side across. After this they told me by letter that I had been dismissed. In the whole time I was back at work I was not allowed to contact my old clients and any new clients that came into my area were farmed out to other members of staff. This led me to believe that they never had any intention of letting me talk to any clients before sacking me.

jdturk

Uncertain wrote: »

HO87's post is excellent.

The only area where I would differ is regarding the possibility of CA. IME this depends not only on the strength of your case but also on the company's desire to avoid hassle and possible bad publicity.

Yes, in a perfect world, this should not come into it. There is sometime a paranoia about possible litigation that is out of all proportion to the risk. "Warning contents may be hot" on a coffee cup is a good example! The fact that you are pregnant and there are medical issues may well increase the possibility of a settlement.

Fighting a case such as this will cost the company money, win or lose. I agree that is not "right" but is is a fact. I agree a NWNF lawyer for the PI claim is not ideal if you really want to go the distance. However it may be enough to provoke a settlement. Also an ET claim for UD will cost you nothing to instigate. They will make threats about costs but they will know that the chances of them being awarded will be next to zero. You would have to do far more than just lose. You case would have to be considered vexatious or totally without merit which seems unlikely. Their costs will clock up all the time and, as I said above, they will not want the possible publicity given the pregnancy issues. If they offer a modest CA it will include a confidentiality agreement so they may take the path of least resistance.

Best of luck.

This is not neccersarily true, there are HR companies out there that if you follow their advice exactly and get taken to an ET that they will pay the fees and costs for the ET but not the fine if there is one.

Obviously it costs time but monetary it doesn't have to