Been fired for being sick

skint-student-nurse

Hi all,

As it says on the title,ive been fired for being off sick from work,which has included several stays in hospital.

I am just shy of being there for 12 months and I was not given any warnings at all about my absence. I rang up today to check my hours for next week as I worked shifts and got the 'dont bother coming back' story. Apparently Ive let them down too many times - I explained that I have been in hospital again and got a 'yeah,well...' I do have a condition that I now know about and the big issue with it is pain management - I am limited to which pain killers I can have due to allergies.

I was originally on a 36 hour per week contract but I was pressured into going to a zero hour contract,which I didnt want to do. Someone told me that if my employer wanted to change my contract, they have to give 90 days early - is this true?

I still have 20+ hours holiday to use up,am I entitled to this as well?

Thanks,
Skint

jayII

I probably don't know any more than you but I didn't want to read and run. What a horrible situation for you!

I think your best route is to look at employment law. As far as I know you should be paid for your accrued holiday, but you probably don't have any other employment rights as you were there less than a year. Good luck sorting it out.

KiKi

You are entitled to be paid for any outstanding annual leave, yes.

With less than a year's service you would have no unfair dismissal redress. The only possible exception is if your illness is a disability covered by the Equality Act, and even then your employer would need to be informed of that to have acted unlawfully. From what you say it doesn't sound like that's the case.

Re the zero hours contract, I suspect this depends how it was done. If they *asked* you (or pressured you) to change contracts and you agreed then I don't believe you can do anything about that, as it was a choice. If they unilaterally changed your contract with no notice, then you possibly have redress for breach of contract. But from what you say it sounds like it was the former, in which case I don't see you'd have a case for anything.

The fact that you're genuinely ill or in hospital doesn't have any impact, I'm afraid; if you are absent too often they can dismiss you - as long as they've followed correct procedures according to your T&Cs.

Sorry to hear this, I hope you find something else soon.
KiKi

skint-student-nurse

thanks, can I be fired verbally over the phone though? I thought it had to be written.

teajug

And to think this government are on a mission to get disabled people back to work, what a laugh that is....do you think employers are going to take on disabled people where there is so much unemployment at present???..

DonnySaver

I suggest that you contact ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) on 08457 47 47 47.

They may be able to assist you.

Googlewhacker

teajug wrote: »

And to think this government are on a mission to get disabled people back to work, what a laugh that is....do you think employers are going to take on disabled people where there is so much unemployment at present???..

Where did the OP say she was disabled?

OP, if you are on a zero hour contract then I would say there is little you can do because you may still be employed by them but they have no need to give you any hours as your contract states 0.

Acas may help but remember they are just reading from a script, the only place you will get good proper advice is a face to face meeting with an employment solicitor.

skint-student-nurse

thanks for the replies. No,i am not disabled, I have a problem which requires surgery to fix it,but the waiting list is never-ending. I am looking for new jobs already, so hopefully something good will come out of something bad.

KiKi

skint-student-nurse wrote: »

thanks, can I be fired verbally over the phone though? I thought it had to be written.

After a year's service you are entitled to a written reason for dismissal. It would be good practice for them to write to you, but I don't believe they are required to do so under a year - perhaps someone can confirm.

Can you just clarify something for me: you said you have been there 'shy' of 12 months. What is your notice period? Does this take you over the 12 months?

KiKi

skint-student-nurse

my contract states it is 4 weeks notice on their part and a week on mine,the four weeks will take me into the 12 month period by three days...!

cannyscot_2

skint-student-nurse wrote: »

my contract states it is 4 weeks notice on their part and a week on mine,the four weeks will take me into the 12 month period by three days...!

If you are saying that having the contractual 4 week notice period would then take your period of employment over 12 months then you could have a case. I would contact ACAS and highlight this.

Notice periods

The 'effective date of termination' - for the purpose of calculating length of service - is the date on which employment ends following the notice period. If you do not give an employee any notice, the effective date of termination will be the date on which that statutory notice would have expired if you had given them notice.