Dismissed on sick leave due to false allegations

boopopps

Following on from my above post the temporary role I secured turned sour and I have since left.

I was initially contracted to cover a maternity leave until the end of the year 31/12/2010, however the person I was covering decided in the matter of a week to cut short her maternity and only take 3 months and also do some work remotely whilst on leave. As a result of this communication and training from her came to a standstill.

The lady was due to leave when the baby was due in the next 3 weeks. I have spent most of the last 2 weeks sat doing nothing, watching the clock go by, which has been awful. She sat in her managers office and left me sat outside with the junior clerks. How was I supposed to learn her role when she purposely left me out? I did not even have access to one of the main systems I needed to complete the job. The first week I started she said I would have it at the end of the week, this then changed to the middle of the next week, to not even mentioning it at all.

The FD who I was to report to, was expecting me to be able to fully support him as soon as she left. I began to worry as I was in no way being trained in the role and systems to be able to do this. I attempted numerous times to resolve the situation with her but could not make any progress. This week I had to raise the issue with the FD. Considering my problem with my previous employer I could not afford to be seen as doing a bad job.

All credit to the FD he attempted to resolve the situation. He telephoned her from the Directors floor to ask her to attend a meeting with us. Now she hardly ever answered her phone, she would sit in her office and allow it to ring until one of the juniors answered it and made the excuse that she was either not in the office or at a meeting, when in fact she was there, but just could not be bothered to answer the phone. On this occassion she did not answer the phone again, however he told who did answer to tell her to come to the phone NOW! She took her time but answered and he asked her to attend a meeting.

After putting down the phone he said she would be with us shortly and that we were to both discuss whatever issues we had. Time passed and she did not arrive. He made conversation with me and you could see he was embarrased by the length of time she took. He made the excuse she was slow on her feet due to the pregnancy. After sometime he got up from his seat and actually had to fetch her to attend the meeting.

At the meeting she turned everything around and said she had been too busy with auditors and then SAP testing to spend time with me and she had gotten her assistant to show me work. This is true, but only two tasks and when I had completed them, despite the fact that the final figures were correct, I had not arrived at them the way she would have and therefore the workings were not correct. She also said I had wasted time doing unnecessary aspects, yet I had only done as her assistant had taught. I brought this issue up and made the point that if she did the training, then it would be done as she wished.

All I got in this meeting was criticisms, she said I was too slow and would not be able to complete the required in the timescales needed. The FD pointed out that there is a period of familiarisation for anyone coming into a new business and that speed comes with time and familiarisation.

It got to the point in the meeting that i just broke down and cried, I could not take anymore of her. With all what has gone on with my dismissal it has left me very weak emotionally. I decided the best thing I could do was request a termination of contract. The FD wanted to try and resolve things. He told me to go home and he would have words and speak to me today. He would take into consideration my request.

I got the call today and he accepted my request. He was fully understanding and very nice to me. However, I am extremely worried this may effect my employment tribunal now and make it worse for me. Has anyone had such an experience or known of one, and if it had any impact?

lynzpower

Oh boooo,

Im so sorry to hear this I have to say you reallydo sound very fragile and I wish I was near to give you a hug you really sound so vulnerable right now.

I dont have any experience of it but it sohuldnt make any difference as far as I understand it? Have you got medical support to help you emoationally cope? If not, now is the time to see if you can get some help, maybe someone to talk through this with and try to regain some strength for yourself

xx

boopopps

I was under a CPN and due to start counselling sessions, but with starting the job I had to cancel them all as the appointments were only in work hours and I could not have the time off to attend.

Thanks for the response. I do need help and I know I do, but am so desperate financially to get back into work I do not have the time to get the help. I still will not be able to claim benefits now and only have 2 months work of cash to cover the mortgage and bills. I think it is the financial strain that is my biggest worry at the moment. If this is covered then my next step is overcoming the negativity of others.

Horace

Boo - take time to heal yourself. I was unfairly dismissed by my old employer and it took me a long time to regain my mental strength - how strange it is to think that the eye disease that plagued me when I was working for ex employer has now disappeared now that I am no longer stressed. My ex employer tried to claim that I wasnt disabled and yet their Occy Health Dept had told them in writing that I came under the DDA..let's say they soon backed down and actually settled out of court (I didnt feel as though I had the strength to sit in the tribunal with them). My solicitor was an enormous help and far better than the union who wanted me to settle for less and tried to con me into signing paperwork so that I would get a lesser amount:mad: - my solicitor actually got double what the union thought I should settle for:j

It does get better - I am now back to being my confident self (although at networking meetings I am like a gibbering wreck inside). I now run my own business and I would never have done that before.

You need to start believing in yourself again - you are confident and you can do it..you need to start thinking that you are better than them (easier said than done, I know but that helps you heal)..start looking in the mirror and saying I love you (learning to love yourself) and I am magnificient (very empowering).

If you can - try temping because that way you can work when you want and it can be more fun going into different places of work, it doesnt matter so much if they are bad because you know that you're not going to be there for ever.

Good luck.

shikoku

Regarding the reference, in a similar situation to yours and on the suggestion of a friend I wrote directly to the employer who had unfairly dismissed me and asked them to provide me with a reference to use for job hunting.

To my immense surprise and by return they supplied me with a glowing one - probably concerned that I was about to take the action I had so far failed to take.

Had they provided me with a bad one that would have had implications for them too...

This reference was carefully filed away and a copy went out with every job application I subsequently made, (yes I found another job.) Had the former employer supplied something different and less favourable directly to the potential new employer they would have been throwing themselves open to legal action.

Just an idea, what they will say on the phone and what they are prepared to write down are often two totally different things

boopopps

The HR manager will not supply me with a reference personally, as she says that they do not do them for anyone. She will only answer written requests for references from agencies and prospective employers. She will not give them over the phone. I have been informed that the reference is bad. As a result of this some people will not deal with me. I have a letter stating my performace appraisal was good and giving me a payrise just before all this happened with my employer, so what they are saying in the reference is a contradiction to this.

My solicitors have not even sent the tribunal papers in yet and my deadline is next Friday. They are a nightmare. I have queried something with them for the last 3 days and still have not received a response. This is adding to my stress immensly.

boopopps

I received my payslip and P45 from the temporary role I have had the issues with. To my surprise, although the FD sent me home on the Tuesday lunch time as I was upset at the situation, they actally paid me until the friday, they also paid me holiday pay despite the fact I only worked 11 days. Surely if I was to blame for the fact things did not work out, they would not have done this, but rather just paid me for the days attended. This has made me feel a little better at least.

Good news has arrived to in that I have 2 interviews next week, 1 of them confirmed in writing, the other awaiting confirmation as there is a panel of 3 and with it being half term, there are staffing issues in HR. Hope they fix it soon and that I am back in the world of work.

dickydonkin

boopopps wrote: »

Thanks dismayed2. I was highly praised before going sick and had a good appraisal, in fact I have a letter saying so, and whilst others did not get a payrise I did, another reason why this probably all kicked off.

MrsP took her former employer to tribunal and he also threw the rattle out of the pram in respect of references. She too had excellent appraisals and the last one prior to her dismissal even instigated a substantial pay rise.

After the dismissal and when the employer was aware my wife was progressing an unfair dismissal claim, the references sent to prospective employers bore little resemblance to the appraisals.

We got a Subject Access Request to obtain these references when the recipients would not provide them willingly (you cannot obtain a reference by this method from the reference provider however).

We also asked (by the same means) for all of the appraisal documentation from her former employer which he was legally required to submit.

We now had evidence that the references provided were not a true reflection of her performance.

Incidentally, the dispute was remedied satisfactorily one week prior to the tribunal hearing.

boopopps

Thanks for this little chesnut, this is just what I have been wanting to know whether I can access.

My appraisal was on an online system so I have no copies. I also completed numerous online training courses and had certificates for these which are all on line as I never got chance to print them. I was congratulated in a global email by the top boss but again cannot access this. How do I go about getting one of these subject access requests please and who then do I submit it too and obtain the info from. This is just what I need. I think if I could obtain this info, I would be able to take action against them for a really bad reference which some agencies will not represent me because of, or say I will not last a trial period as it will not be classed as anywhere near satisfactory!

boopopps

Finally received confirmation that my case has been submitted to the tribunal..... reason it's been a rocky road is that my case is not being dealt with by a solicitor but a paralegal who obviously very dim, the documents were full of mistakes that i had to correct despite all the facts being in front of them. I am not pleased at all and will be contacting the insurance regards this.

On a more happier note I have had contact regarding 5 vacancies in the last few days, one with an interview on Wednesday which I hope I can secure. Hoping and praying that something will finally go right this year. May only be a temporary role but it may lead to something more I hope!