Advice Needed Please...Hubby sacked....does he have a case????

jacob0902

Hi all,
Happy New Year......well not for me :-( Hubby was sacked last monday,here is a brief outline of the goings on......does he have a case?

Sorry its long winded....hubby been there for 9 months!!

"MR A" is hubby lol

Over the new year,his workplace was broken into....he had had a text sent to him the night before by mistake,from an ex employee. Ex employee had meant to sent the text to another employee....it said "tell me when MR A has gone and Ill come down and do it,if anyone asks you were in the other building" So MR A is my hubby,he just presumed the text was about the ex employee coming down to collect his belongings that he had left there.

Anyway,next morning....place had been burgaled..Hubby told his boss and the police about the text.

He then worked as normal all day on the thurs and fri. He then had the weekend off....during the weekend he was told by other staff members that the boss was sure hubby was in on the burgalary,and so he wouldnt,on advice from the police he claims.. be paying any staff untill further notice (pay day was the 1st)

Hubby text boss saying you have to pay me etc etc,and also said he would pop down and see him on the sun.

So Hubby went down to see the boss and his partner....he was then told in no uncertain terms that "They believed he was fully aware the burgalary was going to take place" and he wont be paid.

Hubby got !!!!!!,as you would! And walked out,saying he would be in on Mon morning if required....Boss said yes.

Hubby went in on Monday morning,to be told he was sacked....reason given "he swore at his employers" However boss said he was sacking him because a)he doesnt trust him anymore because he didnt tell him he was going to be burgaled and due to my hubbys mental health problems (DEPRESSION ETC) he felt he may be in danger if hubby had a breakdown. (hubby has had depression etc for 15 years,boss WELL AWARE)

So,to be honest hubby was probaly going to walk out on the mon morn as he hadnt been happy for a long time,mainly due to the fact the out of the last 5 months......on 4 of them he was having a struggle to get his pay...it was 3 days late,4 days late and even 9 days late in Dec,coupled with the fact he was being accused of such an issue ...he didnt want to stay there!!

So, sacked on spot,a solicitors letter was then sent...which is full of mistakes and lies....it even states hubby had a text which stated he knew about the burgalary.....He has the text and so do the police...it never said that.

So does he have any type of claim......Discrimanation due to mental health??? Slander??? Unfair dismissal??? Constructive dismissal??? We know its hard due to only working there for 9 months,but we are also aware that this is not the case if basic rights are neglected or if discrimination due to illness!

He has also heard since from other people (small town)....including during an interview for a new job that he was involved in the burglary....is that slander??

Pleas any advice would be appreciated before we start coughing up for legal fees!

Thanks Mrs A xx

robin3

Hi Mrs A-
Saw your post on the business forum- not much help there eh?!

From my limited knowledge, I do believe you have a case as they did not follow a dismissal process that involved proper investigation into their allegations.

You can find more info on the ACAS website I believe but in short they are legally obliged to give you written notification of the allegations, an investigatory meeting where you are able to present your case and any mitigation and then the right to appeal whatever decision they come to.

If I were you I would call ACAS tomorrow to discuss your options. See if you can get free/no win no fee legal representation.

Best of luck

MrRedundant

Possibly slander but very hard and costly to enforce. As it was within the first 12 months I suspect the employer will pay him off with the minimum notice required and leave it at that.

I dont see any discrimination tbh.

maryotuam

I'm really sorry to hear that you are going through such a traumatic time. I can't help you but I think the most important thing to concentrate on now is getting legal help. Check if you are entitled to legal Aid. If you ring solicitors up they should be able tell you this without charging you. You might also have legal cover on your house and contents insurance so check that too.

Try to get an asppointment with Citizen's Advice as they can help you in a variety of ways including entitlements to benefits, access to support groups and mental health organisations etc.

You and your husband need support so don't go through this on your own. Is it worth your OH visiting his doctor as this incident will have put him under extreme strain?

Good Luck MrsA and Mr A.

lynzpower

Are the police involving your husband as a witness? Or as a potential thief? Are they arresting the guy who sent the text?

What about the fella that the text was supposed to be sent to? Is that fella also implicated? What are the police doing with him?

I would imagine that your husbands data being shared in a interview situation is at the very least a breach of the data protection act, and I would call the information commissioners office in the morning, they have a helpline and in my experience they are very good. You can ring anonymously ( ie you dont need to say your name. which company etc)
Good luck xx

SarEl

I am afraid that there isn't too strong a case here. The basic position is that you cannot claim unfair dismissal unless you have 52 weeks employment, so at nine months your husband has no general claim. There are exceptions to this for discrimination, but unless the employer made the statement about his mental health in writing, then there is no evidence when (as they will) they deny it. Unfortunately, that only leaves the allegations surrounding the burglary - and even if the employer is wrong about this matter, the fact is that in law the employer can still sack him because he believes this and there is nothing you can do about it. I am afraid that aside from the fact that if discrimination can be proven (and it will be up to you to prove it - the burden of evidence lies with the claimant to prove that discrimination may have taken place) you are incorrect about the "basic rights" - in reality there are no basic rights until the 52 week mark because you cannot claim unfair dismissal.

Slander - or defamation in general - is not something that is a serious proposition for most people. It is a very costly action (the depost for the court is £10,000 to start off with) and there is no legal aid. And there are defences which can be compelling. What is more possible would be an action of negligent mis-statement (although there is still no legal aid) - this involves suing someone for making statements which they know, or could reasonably know, to be false. The difficulty here would be that you would have to prove that the employer said this (rather than it being gossip - you did say it is a small town and so it may be hard to pin down evidence that the boss has actually said this, as opposed to it being general gossip). It does seem that the text message complicates matters - not that I believe he was involved for one minute - simply by existing. If, for example, the boss says, well yes, I did mention the text message he recieved but I never suggested that he was involved in the burglary or knew about it in advance, just that he had had this text message so we had some evidence as to who did the burglary - well, you can see how easy it is to be slippery. That said, in 99.9% of such cases, a strongly worded letter from a solicitor is sufficient to bring the gossip to a halt, at least as far as the employer is concerned, and it may be worthwhile asking someone to write such a letter for you - if you can't afford it, then writing one yourself threatening legal action on this basis may do the trick, but it obviously isn't quite as intimidating as one from a solicitor.

jacob0902

Basic rights come into force even before 52 weeks service.....and the Pay issues are a breach of this. He can prove that over the last 6 months he has not been paid on time. Also the boss has put in writing the fact hubby had the text that stated he was going to be robbed and monies will be taken. Hubby and the police have a copy of the text.....it never said any of the like.

bluetownbarry

jacob0902 wrote: »

Basic rights come into force even before 52 weeks service.....and the Pay issues are a breach of this. He can prove that over the last 6 months he has not been paid on time. Also the boss has put in writing the fact hubby had the text that stated he was going to be robbed and monies will be taken. Hubby and the police have a copy of the text.....it never said any of the like.

Not correct. According to your first post, he got dismissed for the way he talked to his employer after the burglary. The fact that he wasn't always paid on time doesn't really come into it.

Re-read SarEl's post again. It contains very sound advice you need to take notice of - I happen to know that SarEl is a barrister specialising in employement law. If you think you know better, then good luck, but you could save yourself a whole world of hassle by listening to the advice given by SarEl.

SarEl

jacob0902 wrote: »

Basic rights come into force even before 52 weeks service.....and the Pay issues are a breach of this. He can prove that over the last 6 months he has not been paid on time. Also the boss has put in writing the fact hubby had the text that stated he was going to be robbed and monies will be taken. Hubby and the police have a copy of the text.....it never said any of the like.

The pay issues are irrelevant. He was paid. If he intended to do anything about not being paid on time in the past, then he should have done it then and immediately. What is he going to claim? That they didn't pay him on time but did pay him? There is no law for that. And if he had resigned (which was his only choice) - he still wouldn't have had a case for unfair dismissal (or construictive unfair dismissal) because he had less than 52 weeks employment. All he could have claimed was for the non-payment of wages, and since they were late and not "unpaid" - no claim there either.

It really does not matter that the boss has put in writing that the text said something it doesn't - not from the point of view of unfair dismissal, because he cannot claim it. Not for this reason. And that's just a fact. But I cannot see where the boss has said in writing that your hubby was involved in the burglary - not that that would make a difference in terms of the unfair dismissal because he still wouldn't have a case in law. It doesn't matter whether the reason for dismissal is true or not - up to 52 weeks there is no general right of claim.

If you can prove beyond doubt that the employer has said that your husband was involved in the burglary (which is more than him saying that the text stated something which is an inference that the place might to robbed) and you have £10,000 lying around to place as a deposit in the High Court, and the money to spend on a barrister to represent you, then yes, you can sue for slander (although it would be libel if it is said in writing) - but based on what you have said I do not see that you would necessarily win because I cannot see anything that evidences that the boss has said that your hsband was involved. He may think that - and I am sure he would be wrong to think it. But you cannot sue someone for what they think.

I am afraid that the employer in this case sounds like a lunatic (amongst other things), but that does not change the fact that the cheapest and only real solution to your query is what I have advised you. Based on what you say, you have no claim in employment law - unless you can prove the comments about your husbands mental health and can show these to be the reason for dismissal.

steve1980

If that was the text message that your husband received then he really is stupid. Sorry to be so blunt.

"tell me when MR A has gone and Ill come down and do it,if anyone asks you were in the other building"

This should have been reported to the management and the police straight away who would have set up a sting to catch the ex employee in the act.

Sambucus_Nigra

I'm sorry but that text message was outrageous and should have been forwarded immediately to the boss; who gets a message like that and thinks it's about picking up belongings?