Advice Please- Employment Law.

KayJ066

I'm after some advice if i may.

My sister has had quite a few absences from work, (general cold/flu/bug type things) which has ended up with her being on her final written warning. Last winter when it was icy, she fell on the ice and badly sprained her ribs, she wasn't sure of what she had done so she went to the doctors, he examined her and signed her off for a week.
She rang her manager and told him what had happened, he said he could put her on light duties and she could come in if she wanted, she explained again that the doctor had signed her off so she wasn't fit for work (she works in a warehouse so lots of heavy lifting in her current role). So she was absent from work for 5 days in total, and went back to work the week after.

When she got back to work, she attended an investigatory meeting and was told the sanction could possibly be summary dismissal with notice, standard procedure and that she would be invited to a disciplinary meeting in due course, again standard proc.

In between her having the investigatory meeting, the manager that was conducting her disciplinary meeting spoke to my sisters friend at work and said "Does L realise that she could lose her job over this" my sisters friend told him she did not think that was something he should be discussing with her and left the conversation and informed my sister.

My sister has the union involved already and she told the rep this who said that her friend needed to put this in writing which she did. She then had the disciplinary meeting and her rep asked the manager why he had said this to L's friend, he denied it and stopped the meeting, he then told my sister that he could suspend her on the spot so the union rep asked him if he had the letter to issue for that, he said no, so u/rep said that it couldnt be done at that moment.

My sister has now raised a grievance against the manager for breach of confidentiality and the letter her friend wrote has been passed onto the branch manager who has done nothing.

So, my sister is still at work, going in everyday like usual and has no idea what is going on, none of the managers are telling the union rep so he can't keep her updated, although he has the union guy from USDAW coming to see him tomorrow to go over the case to see if there would be a case of unfair dismissal.

The union rep has been excellent, he has evidence of other staff being on FWW and having another absence and being given a "grace" whereas my sister hasn't and she had been signed off as not fit for work. He is working hard to try and keep my sister her job, but she thinks the company are trying to set a precedent for everyone else IYSWIM.

She also had her appraisal a couple of days after the disc.meeting and her line manager told her that if she was kept on at the company after this, he would fire her anyway and find any way to do it.

So, where does she stand? Is there a case for Unfair dismissial? Is the fact that they stopped the meeting and she hasn't heard anything from them a good thing? Should they have got back to her by now, regarding the grievance and the whole absence/dimissal thing?

Sorry for the long post, just needed to get all the background info in.

Any advice greatfully recieved.

Thanks

maninthestreet

She hasn't been dismissed yet, has she?

KayJ066

Not yet, she recieved a letter this morning, inviting her to a disclipinary meeting tomorrow, (i presume it's carrying on from the one that got stopped). The sanction is still possibly dismissal.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

KayJ066 wrote: »

Not yet, she recieved a letter this morning, inviting her to a disclipinary meeting tomorrow, (i presume it's carrying on from the one that got stopped). The sanction is still possibly dismissal.

Right, so so far she has no claim for unfair dismissal..

Now yes the manager should not have told her friend this but I dont think that this would come into play much at first given that she appears to have had many instances of being off sick - how many times and how many days for each time?

Now what the manager has said to the friend comes down a little to 'he said/she said' and without any corroborating witnesses then it may be difficult to prove.And i dont think this will have any bearing on the fact that your friend has had large amounts of sickness - she must have to be on a final written.And you also mention that you think the manager is trying to help her keep her job - If this is the case then why on earth would she want to take out a grievance against him if he is trying to help her?

KayJ066

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

Right, so so far she has no claim for unfair dismissal..

Now yes the manager should not have told her friend this but I dont think that this would come into play much at first given that she appears to have had many instances of being off sick - how many times and how many days for each time?

Now what the manager has said to the friend comes down a little to 'he said/she said' and without any corroborating witnesses then it may be difficult to prove.And i dont think this will have any bearing on the fact that your friend has had large amounts of sickness - she must have to be on a final written.And you also mention that you think the manager is trying to help her keep her job - If this is the case then why on earth would she want to take out a grievance against him if he is trying to help her?

She is a good worker, she's just really prone to picking up infections/bugs and they just seem to wipe her out, she then feels better so goes back to work and within weeks she can pick it up again so it's another absence etc etc. She is on her Final Written warning, but other members of staff have recieved a grace if they have been off after getting a FWW and she hasn't. She was signed off as unfit by her doctor, she couldn't move hardly.

The union rep is trying to keep her job, not the manager.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

KayJ066 wrote: »

She is a good worker, she's just really prone to picking up infections/bugs and they just seem to wipe her out, she then feels better so goes back to work and within weeks she can pick it up again so it's another absence etc etc. She is on her Final Written warning, but other members of staff have recieved a grace if they have been off after getting a FWW and she hasn't. She was signed off as unfit by her doctor, she couldn't move hardly.

The union rep is trying to keep her job, not the manager.

Ahh right thats the reps job though...

Can you prove others have been given grace? its a mighty claim if you cannot back it up..

It seems like your friend is going off monthly from what i can read into and maybe they have just had enough of it all and unfortunately she will be the first to be made an example of.. Sickness costs money in so many ways that if she has been going on like this for a while then they must be at the end of their tether..

Hope your rep can help solve it for your friend but she must learn to find out what is making her so ill so often and deal with it because if she is so quick to get ill then there must be an underlying reason for it all and it will plague her for the next job too.

williacg

KayJ066 wrote: »

She is a good worker, she's just really prone to picking up infections/bugs and they just seem to wipe her out, she then feels better so goes back to work and within weeks she can pick it up again so it's another absence etc etc. She is on her Final Written warning, but other members of staff have recieved a grace if they have been off after getting a FWW and she hasn't. She was signed off as unfit by her doctor, she couldn't move hardly.

The union rep is trying to keep her job, not the manager.

Sorry to labour the point, but how many times during say the last year has she been off with infections or bugs? it will have some bearing on her FWW status.

KayJ066

Thanks both.
Jeff- Yes, the Union rep has evidence of there being others who have recieved a grace, they have consented to him using their sickness records to take with him.

She has been off 5 times in the last year, say 2-3 days for each illness, then she slipped on the ice and sprained her ribs so couldn't work and was signed off (at the doctors request) for 5 days.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

KayJ066 wrote: »

Thanks both.
Jeff- Yes, the Union rep has evidence of there being others who have recieved a grace, they have consented to him using their sickness records to take with him.

She has been off 5 times in the last year, say 2-3 days for each illness, then she slipped on the ice and sprained her ribs so couldn't work and was signed off (at the doctors request) for 5 days.

So thats around 20 days including her slip.. which days wise to me, wouldn't be a problem.. Its the 5 instances that are the problem as thats higher then most employees I would say. I know it would trigger some Monitoring with the company i work for and would probably have them on FWW by the time they had fallen..

Hopefully Sarel will pop along and give some more proper legal advice but as said before it could be they have had enough and want to make an example of someone to get the sickness down.

williacg

Were her previous written warnings related to her absences?

KayJ066

Yes, all warnings that she has been given are for the absence.