Unfair Dismissal?

jcrisp

I need help working out if i have a case or not with unfair dismissal, i started working for a start up construction company back in Dec 2010
as a multi trader/improver and was told that i would go on a NVQ L2 in plastering/brickwork/tiling course, all payed for by the company and if i got a driving license, within the first 6 months i would become a team leader, i ended up going on all 3 course 8 months latter as the company didnt have enough money to pay for the courses.

Each course was made up of 2 parts, training cost, and certificate on site. the company payed for the training cost's of all 3 trades, but the government would pay the certificate cost when registered to a college to train in a NVQ. so plastering was payed up, but i never got round to finishing the course as the 2nd part needed to be done on site, and my boss kept telling me to hold on to book a date for the assessment. the company also had 2 other trades man that need to do this, so as the company had little money he wanted us to each train in a diffident trade so between us we could complete the work.

In January 2012, we was all told we mite lose are jobs as the company has little money to pay us, and was told to wait to sort out training at a later date, we was then reminded each month for 4-5months that the company is struggling and we could all lose are jobs, so i didnt ask about training.

from January 11 to July 12 i was expected to work as team leader but at same pay, and even run some jobs.

On june 9th 12 i was given a warning that if my work dosent improve my contract would be terminated, on 9th July i was handed a termination of contract as he deemed my work as unacceptable 4 months before the contract was meant to end.

I feel that this is a unfair dismissal as i was expected to carry out work that no other traders working for the company could complete or felt competent in, also that finding a reason to terminate the contact before the end would mean the company dont have to pay for the rest of my training.

If anyone has information or can help in the slightish or point me in the right direction, it would be a great help.

Thanks, John.

marybelle01

Are these dates right? You were sacked in July 2011? If so it doesn't matter whether it was fair or not. You (a) had less than 12 months employment and (b) this is a year ago!

jcrisp

marybelle01 wrote: »

Are these dates right? You were sacked in July 2011? If so it doesn't matter whether it was fair or not. You (a) had less than 12 months employment and (b) this is a year ago!

sorry i meant 2012, not 2011. so i have been with them for around 21months.

marybelle01

In that case I have edited out all the bits that aren't relevant - what you were promised in terms of training etc isn't really relevant to unfair dismissal. And you worked as team leader for so long that you had accepted this role (and they didn't need to give you more pay)...

jcrisp wrote: »

On june 9th 12 i was given a warning that if my work dosent improve my contract would be terminated, on 9th July i was handed a termination of contract as he deemed my work as unacceptable 4 months before the contract was meant to end.
.

So what only matters is the small bit left! Sorry! The employer is entitled to dismiss fairly if your performance is not acceptable, but they have to be able to show that they have warned you about what is lacking in your performance, and provided support to achieve the required performance. They certainly couldn't go from warning to dismissal just like that. It's worth having a look on the ACAS website as they have some information on performance management (also sometimes called capability).