Help worried sick here. Gross Misconduct

k66yla

I was asked to become a rep last xmas. Though you can put yourself forward to do the job, if there is someone already doing that job you could be sub rep. My union branch office sent me off to their union school for a weeks residential course, though there are courses available online. I'm guessing different unions have their own education department. Check out http://www.solihull.ac.uk/trade_union_studies-49625.html to get an idea of whats involved.

November5th

If the manager did not know who said it why would they report it? Freaks me out that! Not only that, they were not standing in the group so could easily have misheard or misconstrued something entirely innocent.
It shocks me that this has gone this far, and all my best wishes to the OP that this action gets nipped in the bud asap without any undue stress.

phathanded

I know I could not believe it when they suspended me. I am quite a vocal member of the workforce and am willing to let the management know when i feel something is not dealt with correctly. ie, health and safety issues etc but I have never ever said anything to upset any manager personally. It is just worrying me that they have done this investigation and they are saying I have allegations to answer to when there is little or no evidence to say that i have done anything wrong. Just to add in the ivestigation meeting I was told that the comment was shouted and the manager heard it from 10-15 metres away yet in his interview he says that we were discussing something and he wasnt meant to hear the comment so their story has changed from their original statemen

JoJox

The person accusing u could be lieing or said it their self! I would as another person said on here is tell the truth the WHOLE way though. If ur true to ur word then u can't stuff up on anything u say!

Hope u don't lose ur job over something u haven't done hun

Good luck x

phathanded

Thanks JoJo I have told the truth the whole way through this issue and thats all I can do. my disciplinary is on Tuesday so I will let you know the outcome when I can.

zzzLazyDaisy

Can I just say that most employers today take a very strong stance against comments that are potentially unlawful discriminatory - and this stance will be supported by the union, in principle.

What this means is that any complaint of homophobic behaviour is likely to result in a disciplinary. Why? Because the lower managers or HR won't want to make a decision on such a 'hot potato'.

So just because you are up on a disciplinary, it does not follow that you will in fact be disciplined - far from it. It means that something has happened which is serious enough to warrant further investigation, and invoking the disciplinary procedure is the correct way to do this - simply to ensure a fair procedure by someone who is impartial.

The purpose of a disciplinary hearing is to give you the opportunity to put your case, and to say anything that you believe to be relevant. The disciplinary hearing will (should) be chaired by someone who was not involved in the complaint or investigation. S/he will make a decision based on the facts that the investigation has revealed, which includes anything that you have raised at the disciplinary.

If you are found to have done nothing wrong, there will be no record on your file of the incident or the disciplinary.

But the employer will still have sent out a clear message that such behavior will not be tolerated.

I know this probably doesn't make you feel any better about all this as a disciplinary is a stressful experience. But as others have said, all you can do is attend and tell the truth.

phathanded

Thanks zzzLazyDaisy. I completely understand that an investigation has to be done due to the serious nature of the comments. I am just stressed because I know I have done nothing but tell the truth during this time. I have not always seen eye to eye with the manager taking the disciplinary however I am sure my Union delegate will help me in my disciplinary meeting. I am just very annoyed that a proper investigation hs not been conducted to establish the full facts of the case.

JoJox

Wot annoys me is that this happened to my mate (she got blamed for a racist remark) and it was never proven but went on her notes. Basically people can lie about other people and then when it's said to someone it sticks like mud

phathanded

A quick update for anyone whos interested, spoke to my union this morning to make sure they had recieved notification of my disciplinary hearing which I was told would happen because my shop steward informed HR he was on holiday this week.
This hasnt happened and if I had not spoken to the union this morning I would have travelled to my disciplinary and arrived with no representation. The Union are now in the process of postponing the meeting. More time for me to worry about my job which is not great.

Savvy_Sue

Another possible 'defence' could be pursued, depending on what it is alleged someone said (although the whole thing sounds so flimsy!)

Could an innocent remark have been misheard?

I work for a small charity, and a colleague and I reduced the office to tears of laughter after the following exchange:

me: "that pastor from the local church has phoned, they are going to give us ..."

they, in shocked tones: "did you say that b*stard from the local church?"

me: "yes, that's right, the pastor says they want to give us ... and he was checking that was OK, I said it was."

they: "why are you calling him a b*stard?"

me: "because he is a pastor, you know, like a vicar."

The penny dropped.

Everyone standing between us could hear what each of us was saying, but we couldn't hear what the other one was saying.