Is this Constructive Unfair Dismissal?

PoorPennilessMe

Hi everyone.

Thanks for your help in advance...

I am facing a difficult time with my current employer, in that due to external influences outside of my control, I have been effectively underperforming recently in my role. As a result of this, I have been made to feel very uncomfortable at work, to the point that it is starting to affect my health.

I was called in for a meeting to discuss the matter, but as of yet, have had no formal disciplinary action.

The latest thing is that my expenses (I get paid a mileage allowance as my job is on the road) have been witheld. I have emailed my employers to find out why, and simply got the response that following the meeting mentioned above, they have not yet been authorised.

My difficulty is that without my expenses, I will be unable to go out and do my job (can't afford to put fuel in my vehicle), which will lead to even greater underperformance at a very difficult and busy time of year for the industry.

My employer is a smallish firm, with a very small firm atitude.

I am hesitant to put more specific information in as you never know who may be watching...

Does effectively removing my ability to work (by not supplying my travel expenses) constitute constructive unfair dismissal?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated as I am starting to feel quite ill at the stress of all this...

Many thanks!

jobbingmusician

To be honest, it sounds very immature for a working person to say they cannot afford to put fuel in their vehicle. However, I do understand that some people live very near the breadline.

If this was me, my first recourse would be to go to my employer and explain that I need a loan for fuel to continue working, since their failure to reimburse your expenses has left you short of money. If you do this in an unemotional and factual way, you should be able to continue to work (or get additional material to use at an ET, if you MUST go down that route eventually.) The statistics of success for those claiming constructive dismissal are not great.....

The_Black_Sheep

jobbingmusician wrote: »

To be honest, it sounds very immature for a working person to say they cannot afford to put fuel in their vehicle.

You find it 'immature' that a person is struggling with money in these difficult times and is therefore struggling to afford fuel?

What an odd comment to make.

jobbingmusician

Sorry, badly expressed. What I find immature is someone who is refusing to go to work on the basis that they don't have money for fuel, without exploring all options. (And implying that their performance will fall further, leading to a case for constructive dismissal). Hence my suggestion that they start investigating other options, pronto!

sammyjammy

To be fair I've not, from anything you've written so far seen any reason why you might even remotely think you could claim unfair dismissal if you left.

You say your firm is small with a small firm attitude but then you say you are under performing due to personal issues, a firm like this can't carry you indefinitely and are not obliged to in anyway although obviously if they were to sack you they would be sensible to follow procedures. It appears they are doing so.

With regards your expenses, you say you've asked and they say they've not yet been authorised, have they offered a valid reason for this? Might they have reason to suspect your claim needs scrutiny? How long does it usually take for them to be processed and when did you submit the claim?

If its putting petrol in your car that is going to keep you in employment then you really need to consider all possibilities to cover this until your expenses are paid.

Apologies if any of this sounds a bit harsh but it seems you want your employer to go out of their way to accommodate you but are not even meeting them halfway.

KiKi

No, this would not constitute constructive dismissal. (For starters, you haven't resigned - and don't!) It would constitute a process which is taking some time to authorise a payment, not a deliberate witholding of expenses.

Chase the authorisation and get it sorted, don't take an emotional perspective and link it with your performance.

How long have you worked there?

KiKi

marybelle01

KiKi wrote: »

No, this would not constitute constructive dismissal. (For starters, you haven't resigned - and don't!) It would constitute a process which is taking some time to authorise a payment, not a deliberate witholding of expenses.

Chase the authorisation and get it sorted, don't take an emotional perspective and link it with your performance.

How long have you worked there?

KiKi

Agreed. Not authorised and not being paid are two different things. They haven't refused to pay - they simply haven't been authorised. If you are living so close to the edge that late payment of expenses means you cannot put fuel in the car and thus do your job, you have more than just performance issues and need to sort out your finances. Because if you do lose your job over performance, how are you going to manage your finances then?

Welshwoofs

I was going to say that if you're under-performing, you're under-performing and your company has the perfect right to undertake disciplinary procedures against you. Everyone has rough times with lots of personal problems and I'm afraid the harsh truth is that you have to leave them on the doorstep; it's not a hall pass to slack off. If personal problems are so bad that you can't concentrate on work at all then it's probably better to use some holiday time, ask about unpaid time or if the problems are causing mental health issues, get signed off sick. What you can't do is half a job at work.

As others have said, 'not authorised yet' isn't the same as withheld so you need to chase up and if necessary explain that you have financial issues and need the payment of expenses expedited to enable you to keep the care on the road. Do you have a credit card you can use for expenses that you pay off in full when you get reimbursed? That's what I do because my business expenses are usually around £1k a month and I obviously don't want to fund that from my current account.

ohreally

If you decline use of your private car for company business, where would that leave you?


Why won't the employer supply a vehicle for their business?

Mersey_2

I understand totally that you want to keep your identity private; but, we really do need to know more, in order to provide any accurate advice.

When you say out of your control, is the outside reason related to sickness of yourself or a close family member, for example?

Or, are they suspecting you're working for someone else too and so alleging fraudulent expense claims?

Or do they simply have cashflow problems and you're being overly paranoid?

There are several scenarios, before we could offer advice re constructive dismissal.

PoorPennilessMe

OK, thank you all for your posts.

First off, I never said anything about personal problems - the issues 'outside of my control' are actually to do with our customer not doing what they are supposed to. Something that the owner of the company does not seem to want to address or even acknowledge (when I started to mention those issues at my meeting he became quite irate and stated that he 'did not want to hear it!')

Secondly, I do what is to me quite high mileage - it is not uncommon for my fuel costs to exceed my wages. Therefore to suggest that I may be 'immature' about this, is I feel somewhat harsh.

Thirdly, I am indeed aware that my finances are not where they should be. Unfortunately, like many others due to the current climate, I am working at approx. half the pay that I am accustomed to. Sadly the mortgage company won't cut that in half, nor will my other financial commitments. I ahve already had many people tell me in various forums what I should have done when times were good, but I didn't and here we are. I am simply trying to do the best I can now...

Fourthly, I have indeed explored the route with my employers of them loaning me until sorted, but they have refused. Whilst not saying it, they have left me with the impression that I am being investigated for some reason. I get the feeling that sacking me would be cheaper than redundancy for them (in their opinion) so are seeking any method to do so.

I have been employed by them for nearly four years - although I have yet to see a contract (I know that I am the only employee without one).

Hope that clarifies a few things for you all, although from what has been said so far I think my question has been pretty much answered!

Thanks