Disciplinary hearing help needed

fed-up_8

Hi everyone, hope someone can offer some advice here. I have been suspended from work and asked to attend a disciplinary hearing on Monday for an alleged gross misconduct.

I work in a small guest house run by owner and his wife, I am part time secretary, only other staff are live-in manager and various "casual" cleaners. Since the manager was taken on 8 months ago the owner has been going on about his wage bill being too high and I have felt my job under threat for a few months now. I have worked there for nearly 3 years.

A while ago the owner asked me to make up a spreadsheet showing our income from various sources including room rental, room service, telephone charges, commission for tours etc. All the information was in our reservation book which is openly available to everybody who works there. While I was working on the figures the manager asked what I was doing and when I told her she asked me how much income we had from room service and commission as she wanted to know how well she was doing. I told her the figures and thought nothing more about it.

Several weeks later the owner approached me and said i had given out confidential financial information and this could be intrepreted as gross misconduct. I disagreed as the information I used was freely available to the manager to add up herself if she wanted.

Now 2 weeks later I have received a letter warning me my conduct could lead to instant dismissal. Where do I stand? Can anyone help here?

Dumyat

Surely thats the kind of information a manager should have access to anyway. How can you manage a business with out knowing the details of the cash flow? what is she managing if she is not managing the business?

did the owner tell you it was to be kept confidential?

fed-up_8

Thanks dogrose, thats what I thought too. I was not told it was to be kept confidential, apparently it was obvious and I should have known. And as I said the information is all there for her to see, the only thing I did was add it all up and told her the total. The manager can use a calculator and could have added it up herself.

Dumyat

it wasnt as if you told a member of the public. you informed the manager. still a bit puzzled why this was not being done by her anyway. if she is managing a business, and the business is letting rooms etc, then she should be aware of how many are being let etc.

profits etc might be something to be kept confidential but not income.

fed-up_8

The situation as I understand it is that the owner who has accused me of gross misconduct is the person who decides whether the allegation is true or not, and what the consequences will be if true.

I believe he has already decided what the outcome is going to be so what can I do next?

jobbingmusician

Ask for a copy of the company's disciplinary policy. Look to see what is designated as gross misconduct. Your arguement is in my opinion sound - information which is freely available cannot be held to be confidential.

ACAS publish guidelines about handling disciplinaries, for employers, and deciding the outcome of a case in advance of a hearing is a real no-no.

TBH the owner sounds to be unreasonable, if they are determined to sack you, s/he will. It sounds as if you will have to threaten them with an employment tribunal. Look here. You might want to work things through in advance so that you feel well informed.

Now you have a choice, which you may have already made in your mind. Would you rather be sacked and take them to tribunal, or try to avoid being sacked?

Your argument is the same in both cases - this was not confidential information, and (I assume) you had not in any case been notified of a confidentiality policy. It is reasonable to think that anyone at managerial level has access to management reports!

The former choice is an easy one, although draining emotionally. Accept the sacking, go to tribunal and make your arguement plus the following points: no investigation into the alleged offence was held (ideally an investigation into the owner's allegation should be made by another person in the company, although this is not always possible for very small companies/businesses); and you believe that the outcome of the hearing was decided in advance of the hearing (especially good if you have any evidence that they were trying to make you redundant in advance of this case).

In the latter case you may have to tell them that you have taken legal advice and been told that you have a great case for ET, if they dismiss you on these grounds. This is not guaranteed to work, but may scare them off for the time being. THe sad news is however that if they are determined to get rid of you, they will make your job miserable. Start looking for another!

Keep us informed....

ohreally

This is an unusual situation as the concept of natural justice is not being applied in terms of the person investigating is the same person hearing the disciplinary and also being the judge, jury and ultimately the executioner as well.Build up your statement of case in readiness for the hearing, present it as concisely as you can and await the outcome.If the outcome is not favourable then go to appeal (back to judge and jury by the sound of things) and then look at prosecuting a grievence on the grounds of your employers failure to provide adequate systems which comply with statutory disciplinary and grievence procedures.
If yor employer does not take this well and starts to bully and harrass you ensure you keep a diary and gather evidence which you can then present to an ET at some point in the future as well as taking legal advice from a lawyer in terms of obtaining compensation from your (ex)employer.

fed-up_8

Thanks for all your input. The company doesn't have a written disciplinary policy or any guidance on what is confidential and what isn't. I don't even have a written contract or job description.

I have already decided that I can't continue to work there. All that I really want is the chance to leave with a fair reference so that I can move on to a new job. I also believe I am entitled to a reasonable amount of notice to give me time to find a new job. Realistically I can't start looking for anything now until into the new year.

As a single parent with young kids and a mortgage to pay even a short period of unemployment would be crippling.

jobbingmusician

fed-up wrote:

Thanks for all your input. The company doesn't have a written disciplinary policy or any guidance on what is confidential and what isn't. I don't even have a written contract or job description.

I have already decided that I can't continue to work there. All that I really want is the chance to leave with a fair reference so that I can move on to a new job. I also believe I am entitled to a reasonable amount of notice to give me time to find a new job. Realistically I can't start looking for anything now until into the new year.

As a single parent with young kids and a mortgage to pay even a short period of unemployment would be crippling.

OK, good. It's illegal for them not to have given you a written contract. Print this out and take it to your disciplinary. They have no basis for sacking you if they don't have a written confidentiality policy, in my opinion. This link gives you some useful information about disciplinaries. In particular, have they told you of your right to be accompanied to your disciplinary? If not, you could let them sack you and then REALLY take them to the cleaners at tribunal. The link above says, among many other things 'From 1 October 2004, new statutory discipline and dismissal and grievance procedures were introduced...In step one you must give a written statement to the employee setting out why you have decided to take disciplinary action.

In step two you must meet the employee, who has the right to be accompanied by his or her colleague or union representative. You should state your case, let the employee respond and then, after the meeting, give the employee your decision. You should explain that the employee may appeal against your decision. '

If they fail to do any of these things, and sack you, your sacking will automatically be unfair.

Your choice is still the same, but your situation looks stronger and stronger the more you tell us! You can either point out to your employers that they are being total t*ssers, and negotiate with them a good leaving package (or scare them so that you leave in YOUR good time) or let them sack you and take them to tribunal (which honestly is a fairly simple process for an employee to do). I would imagine that if you did this they would try to settle out of court - this is what most employers do - so you could then negotiate some money, some more money to pay you for a notice period and a great reference.

YOu don't actually need legal advice from a solicitor for this if you have lots of confidence, or have any friends with experience of tribunals (perhaps a friend who is a manager and has been through one?) Honestly you can find out all you need online, or by asking in this forum - but it is stressful and nerve racking, sadly.

Keep us informed.......:D

fed-up_8

Hi again everyone. Unfortunately things have taken a turn for the worse. I have received a text from the manager to tell me she has told the owner that we both broke into a locked filing cabinet to look at our personal files. I later received an email from the owner to say that he has added to the agenda "Accessing confidential files of staff".

What actually happened was about 2 months ago the manager and owner had fallen out, the manager looked into her personal file and found several pages of handwritten notes about her performance and complaints against her from other members of staff. She showed them to me and I decided (unwisely!!) to look in my file at the same time to see if anything had been written about me.

At the meeting today do I confess or deny everything. What would be the consequences either way? I'm inclined to just be honest and take the fallout.

What really upsets me is that the manager has been guilty of far worse misdemeanours than I have yet she is not facing any disciplinary action as far as I am aware.

hollydays

You should take a witness with you to the meeting.The witness could take notes.The witness need not speak.If this is too short notice ,tell your employer you wish to delay the meeting as you were not told you had the right to have a witness present.Be strong-people like this dont keep decent staff,you are too good for them.