Can i claim unfair dismissal?

3LITTLEPIGS_2

Hi,
received a letter in the post today-not acknowledging my letter but saying the way they saw Fridays events and basically not mentioning the accusation of theft but just that he confronted my husband about the tel call saying he knew it was his brother on the phone and was suspicious and then ny hubby went downstairs the the manager (who,conveiniently is the brother in law) and said "i've been rumbled,i'm leaving" which is absolutely not true!!
The letter ends in saying when he gave his keys in they accepted it as his resignation.
Makes me wonder as this letter is from from the director who accused him-the letter he handed in was for his brother (the nicer one)......can't work out if he wrote this anyway to send or is just ignoring our letter.
Anyway sent a recorded delivery copy of it today.
What does anyone think the next step should be as according the this letter they don't mention the accusation of theft, only that the director was suspicious of the phone call,although he does confirm in it that my husband asked about the lock discussed in the phonecall-showing that he had no intention of stealing it...........
Surely any tribunal would realise he would not leave cos of a lie over who was on the phone??!!
Also (sorry:D ) what are the steps in a tribunal ie what happens?
Thanks!

prudryden

If he told them he was resigning and gave that to them in writing (I hope not), then all he can do is challenge them for constructive dismissal. Hope I'm wrong. Hopefully, someone on here more knowledgable of employment law can help out here.

3LITTLEPIGS_2

The letter he wrote said he was forced to leave,not that he resigned.
They said they took him giving the keys and saying hes leaving as a resignation-there is no letter saying hes resigning.

3LITTLEPIGS_2

anyone????!!!!!!!!

Missy79

They do have 28 days to reply. You could write another letter asking if the letter you received from them was in response to the one you sent or not.
Even if he does get the 12 weeks notice money he could probably still claim that he was being bullied. The company have a legal obligation to address his grievances. I will speak to my friend who acts as a judge for industrial tribunal claims to see if i can give you more specific advice.

Mrs_Supersaver_1

Hi,

I am still baffled as to why your hubby or the manager making the accusation of theft, did not insist on calling the police there and then? If it was an accusation - manager would be reluctant to have them. Your hubby being innocent would not have a problem to them being called?

When I worked at a FE college a few years ago, police were automatically called for internal and external theft.

Last year in my own employment a member of staff reported something to managment about me totally untrue, I was summoned to a meeting (I thought was a friendly chat, going on a course!) had the book thrown at me and accusations made. I 'told' managment to fetch the person and sort it there and then, if they didn't I would. I was asked not to speak or approach 'her'. She was brought to me and I asked her to make the accusations again and discrimnating remarks she couldn't and wouldn't, guess who had their contract TERMINATED not me :rotfl:

Do check your house/home insurance to see if you can get some legal help should you envisage hefty bills for legal advice.

ACAS are excellent, try to deal with just the one adviser.

Wishing you/hubby very best of luck and a happy outcome

reehsetin

prudryden wrote:

Hi Welsh,
Evidently, according to the OP, OH doesn't have a written contract. And the fact they have intimidated him with accusation of theft, makes me believe that he can force a much better settlement. I personally know about 20 people myself included to got 24 months plus extra gratuity payments. It took about a 1 1/2 yrs fighting though.

[FONT=&quot]S1 Employment Rights Act 1996 required an employer to provide employees with a written statement of certain particulars of their employment within two months of the commencement of employment.[/FONT]

i realise your husband was employed before this but surely there should be something in law apart from this saying he should have a contract or he should have had one after this law came into force

3LITTLEPIGS_2

Hi......
have spoke with cab and acas and they advise sending another letter in to the same effect as prev one but including the lines that this is a grievance under the employment act etc........
He has received 2 more letters from them...one a parking ticket no letter and his p45 this morning-no letter only a comp slip from the personnel lady wishing him the best of luck!!
To me and everyone who is aware of the whole situation, it seems that because his brother was on the other end of the phone asking my husband to buy a lock off them, he(the director) went completely off the handle and ASSUMED it must of been my husband taking stock for him. This is the bit where it will be hard to prove-its his word against my husbands. He has already lied in his letter to us saying my husband walked downstairs saying "he'd been rumbled"- this is a joke-the person he supposedly said this to is married to the directors sister and she is a silent partner who owns half the company!!
Basically he just wants some money while he can sort himself (and his family-we have 3 children(2 toddlers) and a mortgage)

Missy79

OK spoke to my friend about this, honestly we weren't entirely clear about the situation from your posts as the conditions under which you are legally considered to have resigned, unfair dismissal, correct following of procedures are all VERY specific, however based on the following we came up with:
1)Did the company call your brother to sack your OH? If so was when was this in relation to the initial incident?

2)How did the company accuse him? What about the situation was so unreasonable that he left then and there? (They have a right to make allegations however there are ways to do it properly) Were there any 'unbiased' witnesses to the accusation?

3)When talking to ACAS did your OH insist on the resignation path? If not poor advice by ACAS - had he not written this letter he would not have resigned officially - this would have forced them to do something (for others in this situation if you feel you absolutely cannot go back talk to your doctor or self certify sick leave while you try and sort it out)

4)Possible out: You mentioned that the company had claimed they had not accused him of theft in the letter they sent you - this gives you the opportunity to make them look bad/suspicious by doing the following: Write another letter to the company saying that in light of their letter dated Bla Bla Blaa...there has clearly been a misunderstanding as your OH felt that he was being accused of theft which he felt left him in the position of being unable to work for the company, as this appears not to be the case and after 17 years long service he feels it would be appropriate to RETRACT his resignation and return to work immediately. He could then still raise a greivance on grounds of their behaviour. If they don't accept (which seems more likely) any tribunal would question why as according to the company he was never accused of theft and had a good record before.

5)Small point if your OH did get to tribunal he would likely be entitled to 2 to 4 weeks pay for not having a written contract.

The following would be helpful: a timeline describing as accurately as possible the events to date (also useful at tribunal), copies of all letters sent, although I understand you may feel that these are private.

Hope that was at leat a bit helpful anyway, good luck however you proceed.
(sorry about the length :rolleyes: