Can anyone advise on Grievance/Termination procedure?

charlie.._6

Hello.......

I have been off work for 11 months (with a new Fit Note taking me well over 12 months) through a work accident that has left me with a bulging disc in my low back. (I have a PI claim in)

I have been to 4 occupational health sessions with the doctor and in the latest report he said it is highly probable my condition will be covered by the Equality Act 2010.

To cut a long story short, they now was to terminate my employment (I guess through capability as my job is 90% manual handling).

The advice I need is to do with this, I have been advised to submit a formal grievance for them failing to provide reasonable adjustments BUT I have been informed in the cross over where I posted my grievance that they want me to attend a meeting to set a date to terminate my employment under the company Ill Health Programme (akin to redundancy, but all taxable).

My question is, does my grievance letter PAUSE the termination meeting, or can they go ahead and sack me before dealing with the grievance I have raised?

I feel the company is trying to push the termination as quickly as possible, as in 8 weeks time my service will be over 4 years which means they will pay an extra 5 weeks pay in notice/ex gratia as set out in the union agreement (for under 4 years ex gratia is 1 weeks pay, over 4 years its 4 weeks) - I feel this is very underhand from a very large company (we are talking employees all over the world).

I hope this is worded in a way you can understand, but please excuse me as my head is at bursting point with worry etc.

Many thanks in advance

Charlie..

charlie.._6

Hi,

One reasonable adjustment could have been to have me trained to cover an office role that arose after 2 managers left (it WASN'T a managerial role btw - more inputing bonus/agency hours etc) - they did not consider me and let another employee cover this role and have another employee cover his role - their reason when asked was "we would need someone to show you what to do and we can't really do this"

The occupational health doctor advised an office based position be considered as long as the seating was appropriate.

charlie.._6

Yes, we are talking weeks not months.

SarEl

A grievance letter doesn't pause anything - the employer may choose to pause it but does not have to. Did the employee covering the role in the office require the same amount of training as you would have done? Because if the retraining is not feasible from the employers point of view, then this wouldn't be a reasonable adjustment. Say if they required the work done immediately and correctly, they could argue that the time to train you would have meant that nobody was doing the work to the required standard and this was a business need.

ohreally

charlie.. wrote: »

I feel the company is trying to push the termination as quickly as possible, as in 8 weeks time my service will be over 4 years which means they will pay an extra 5 weeks pay in notice/ex gratia as set out in the union agreement (for under 4 years ex gratia is 1 weeks pay, over 4 years its 4 weeks) - I feel this is very underhand from a very large company (we are talking employees all over the world)

Given the seriousness of the situation have you requested assistance from the TU to find a potential solution to keep you in employment?

charlie.._6

ohreally wrote: »

Given the seriousness of the situation have you requested assistance from the TU to find a potential solution to keep you in employment?

Unfortunatly, stupid me never felt the need for joining a union - and yes I am regretting it now!

So I am on my own.

I have contacted the Legal line on my home insurance policy and they suggested the grievance - they also said they couldn't do much more until they do actually sack me, then they will look at all my letters etc and take it from there as it looks like discrimination and a few other things.

anamenottaken

charlie.. wrote: »

I feel the company is trying to push the termination as quickly as possible, as in 8 weeks time my service will be over 4 years which means they will pay an extra 5 weeks pay in notice/ex gratia as set out in the union agreement (for under 4 years ex gratia is 1 weeks pay, over 4 years its 4 weeks) - I feel this is very underhand from a very large company (we are talking employees all over the world)..

I wonder what they mean by "ex gratia". If it is part of an agreement which has to be followed it seems an odd use.

charlie.._6

Yes it is part of what they call a "Collective Agreement" - I just got a copy within the last fortnight - as said they are saying the termination will be akin to redundancy apart from everything is taxable.

That was one of the things that bugged, if I'm getting sacked well not much I can do now BUT it's the fact they are rushing it through before the 4 years service kicks in (I was actually told this when they called my mobile) - after getting injured doing your job, this is really a low call in my eyes! The company is multi national, hardly a small business.

I know it's very underhand, but I wouldn't mind finding a way to delay everything for as long as possible, but it doesn't seem there is:(

Maybe I'm just getting bitter, but it's not easy all this, hardly sleeping, silly thoughts, mood/temper swings - very very hard.

Thanks for all the replys - very much appreciated.

ILW

What is the discrimination angle to this?

Jarndyce

charlie.. wrote: »

Yes it is part of what they call a "Collective Agreement" - I just got a copy within the last fortnight - as said they are saying the termination will be akin to redundancy apart from everything is taxable.

That was one of the things that bugged, if I'm getting sacked well not much I can do now BUT it's the fact they are rushing it through before the 4 years service kicks in (I was actually told this when they called my mobile) - after getting injured doing your job, this is really a low call in my eyes! The company is multi national, hardly a small business.

I know it's very underhand, but I wouldn't mind finding a way to delay everything for as long as possible, but it doesn't seem there is:(

Maybe I'm just getting bitter, but it's not easy all this, hardly sleeping, silly thoughts, mood/temper swings - very very hard.

Thanks for all the replys - very much appreciated.

Sounds like you mean a Compromise Agreement. This is not a sacking, it is a mutual agreement to terminate the contract - legally a resignation. The reason the employer wants to do this is to save it the hassle of taking you through the capability procedure. You will presumably also have had to sign away your rights to take any claim arising from your employment (save hopefully for a PI claim arising from something not currently known about - you need to check what happens to your current PI claim too).
You need to look at the minimum time that procedure would take for them to get rid of you fairly, and how much they would have to pay you in that situation.
It may well be that you could negotiate a few more weeks pay as a result.
Whatever happens though, get legal advice from a proper independent employment lawyer - you have to do this anyway for the agreement to be valid - and the employer often pays for this. They will tell you whether in all the circumstances the proposed agreement and amount of money on offer is fair.:)

Jarndyce

ILW wrote: »

What is the discrimination angle to this?

Disability discrimination - failure to make reasonable adjustments. Assuming there are such adjustments which they have failed to make. With a back injury lasting for over 12 months the OP said in post one that Occ Health say they are covered by the EqA.