Son told to 'start looking for another job'

gilligansyle

Hi

long story short -
DS works in a small site office, only 10 people, but part of a bit organisation. About six months ago a colleague left because of the way he was being treated, had decent grounds for constructive dismissal, but handled it badly and was sacked. he has since been having a battle to get his personal belongings back. Supervisor banned him from site, and refused to send his belongings to him. He (ex colleague )rang DS on Monday from the front gate, and DS gave him his stuff.
Nothing was said the next 2 nights. DS has gone in to work tonight, supervisor furious, investigation pending and told him 'you may as well start looking for another job'

Apart from the fact that he hates it there and is looking for another job anyway-

the supervisor is pre judging the results of an enquiry
can he be dismissed for something like this when he has a clean disciplinary record - unusual in that line of work
was the supervisor right to in fact 'steal' the belongings of ex employee.

Any advice greatly appreciated - mine at the moment is 'tell them were to stuff their job' - but probably not ideal.

Naturlee

If it was the other persons property, he has every right to go and give it back to the person it belongs too.

gilligansyle

Supervisor actually forced the lock on the locker to take the stuff out and put it in a bin bag where it could easily have been thrown away.

DVardysShadow

Although this sort of thing does not put food on the table, your son should be proud to hand his colleague's property back to him when the supervisor was withholding it. A lot depends on your son's personality, but I think he should robustly defend his actions - and state that to do anything else would be to have complicity in the supervisor's petty and illegal actions. Plainly he has not much future there, but I don't think being hauled up for this makes much difference in the long run.

soupdragon10

Could he get something in writing from ex colleague to say that he was only handing back personal property which had been withheld. If nothing else it does give more weight to his actions, and might be useful if he had to go to a tribunal or similar.

Hope things work out for him

gilligansyle

Thanks for your input.

He has a very strong sense that he was in the right, but his card is probably well and truly marked and his days there are numbered. He will stand his corner, and has a copy of the letters the ex colleague wrote asking for his belongings.

I've just spoken to him, and his main concern seems to be whether he could get a reference.

zzzLazyDaisy

OP, before we go any further, can I just check - how long has DS worked for this company?

gilligansyle

He will have been with them 3 years in April, so I'm guessing has some sort of employment protection.

zzzLazyDaisy

gilligansyle wrote: »

He will have been with them 3 years in April, so I'm guessing has some sort of employment protection.

Yes, as he has more than 12 months service, he has protection from unfair dismissal (if he had less than a year's service they can dismiss for any reason as long as it doesn't contravene the discrimination laws) What this means is that the supervisor can't just sack him for spite The company would have to go through proper procedures. If they wanted to get rid of him because of this incident they'd have to dismiss him for gross misconduct. It is true that a refusal to comply with a reasonable management instruction may well be viewed as GM, but it is questionable whether the supervisor's instructions were 'reasonable' in this context (although it could be argued that rather than deliberately disobeying her, he should have raised his concerns with a more senior member of staff). Either way, he isn't going to be dismissed overnight (at least not in a fair manner) as they have to have a meeting with him before any decision is made.

gilligansyle wrote: »

T
I've just spoken to him, and his main concern seems to be whether he could get a reference.

An employer is under no obligation to give a reference, so yes, they can refuse to give him a reference. Any reference they do give him must be factual.

Given that he has already been 'told to start looking for another job' he should keep a diary of anything that is said to him and any other issues that he has with the supervisor, in case he later finds himself making a claim for unfair dismissal (lets hope it doesn't come to that).

Given the circumstances, though, he probably should be looking for another job, for his own peace of mind.

gilligansyle

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

but it is questionable whether the supervisor's instructions were 'reasonable' in this context (although it could be argued that rather than deliberately disobeying her, he should have raised his concerns with a more senior member of staff). Either way, he isn't going to be dismissed overnight (at least not in a fair manner) as they have to have a meeting with him before any decision is made.

The supervisor is as high as it gets, any more senior managers are based in Head Office. Questions about the supervisors behaviour over other things have been raised with HR, but nothing done.

Suppose he'll just have to wait and see, new CV being drafted.

I don't suppose it would be a surprise to know that he works 60 hours+ a week, for not much more than minimum wage, in the security industry.

Incyder

In my days of being employed i always took home everything of mine every night.

I always assume I may not want to go back ever again or I may not be allowed back again.

Either way, it matters not.

I take my stuff to work, I bring it all away again. Always.