Is this a case of unfair dismissal?

miduck

wehalf wrote: »

There was an IT problem two years ago over which they tried to fire me because they thought I was causing the problem.
There was no disciplinary action since then.
The mistakes in question are things like misplaced commas but not repeated errors.

Misplaced commas - in writing (and if so, writing what), or numbers? What impact do your mistakes have on the business?

SarEl

wehalf wrote: »

There was an IT problem two years ago over which they tried to fire me because they thought I was causing the problem.
There was no disciplinary action since then.
The mistakes in question are things like misplaced commas but not repeated errors.

In text or numbers?!!

One being not much, the other being pretty crucial!

Do we have to drag this out of you? You have had one/ two/ a dozen disciplinaries over COMMAS??? What happened? Why do you think there will be more disciplinaries? Over what?

wehalf

It makes the company look bad. There is an aim of 100% accuracy in text and, despite the public lists of such mistakes, I am the only one being disciplined.

Looks like I'll have to step up the job hunt.

miduck

wehalf wrote: »

It makes the company look bad. There is an aim of 100% accuracy in text and, despite the public lists of such mistakes, I am the only one being disciplined.

Looks like I'll have to step up the job hunt.

You are still not giving us any context. Why not give us an example?

SarEl

OK, I'll check back later and see if you have decided to stop dangling carrots and tell the story. Nobody can help you if you don't.

Miss_Havisham

wehalf wrote: »

Thanks for that. I've done quite a lot of research and a relative is an experienced HR professional who says I have a good case. You can never have too much advice.

(The knee-jerk "Nah, you haven't got a chance" responders aren't very helpful though)

I'll tell you this for nothing. Having been one of five managers in an office of 200 staff, I would not have tolerated your attitude to making mistakes, and if after 2 years of following the disciplinary process I saw no improvement I would use whatever legal means at my disposal to get rid.

This is not kneejerk, it's hard reality for employers in these hard times, plus the existence of a long queue of people lining up for your job.

If you can't do the job properly ask for some training. If you can't be bothered to do the job properly, find another job. Simples.

Miss H

wehalf

Sorry, it's difficult to give examples because most of the time, people don't make the same mistakes over and over. One of the mistakes that I made was leaving a file in a local folder instead of a shared one. This is something I did once and never again. It became a problem for the company as so many people were doing it regularly. Most of our processes are unnecessarily complicated and the whole department has a problem with stuff like this. As has been pointed out by a few people, it looks like it is possible to get rid of a staff member without comparing their performance to other staff.

miduck

wehalf wrote: »

Sorry, it's difficult to give examples because most of the time, people don't make the same mistakes over and over. One of the mistakes that I made was leaving a file in a local folder instead of a shared one. This is something I did once and never again. It became a problem for the company as so many people were doing it regularly. Most of our processes are unnecessarily complicated and the whole department has a problem with stuff like this. As has been pointed out by a few people, it looks like it is possible to get rid of a staff member without comparing their performance to other staff.

"One of the mistakes", how many are there?

I'm not going to comment further, because you are clearly unwilling to give us anything to go on, but I would suggest that you be proactive and search for another job. Irrespective of whether you are dismissed or not, it is clear this is not the job for you.

wehalf

It wasn't two years of disciplinary action. I mentioned that the first action was an IT problem, not my fault. The recent action has only been going for a few weeks but the fact that they are looking at my petty mistakes and not my colleagues', makes me think that they'd rather I wasn't there. If my performance was to be considered not doing the job properly, the whole department would be out a job as my performance is typical according to the lists of mistakes we are sent.

Miss_Havisham wrote: »

I'll tell you this for nothing. Having been one of five managers in an office of 200 staff, I would not have tolerated your attitude to making mistakes, and if after 2 years of following the disciplinary process I saw no improvement I would use whatever legal means at my disposal to get rid.

This is not kneejerk, it's hard reality for employers in these hard times, plus the existence of a long queue of people lining up for your job.

If you can't do the job properly ask for some training. If you can't be bothered to do the job properly, find another job. Simples.

Miss H

Jomo

wehalf wrote: »

There was an IT problem two years ago over which they tried to fire me because they thought I was causing the problem.
There was no disciplinary action since then.
The mistakes in question are things like misplaced commas but not repeated errors.

If your job requires 'attention to detail' then misplacing a comma will into that catagory. You may not misplace any more commas but instead fail to spot other things that fall into that same catagory. If these errors have been pointed out by your manager and you keep failing to improve then the disciplinaries will keep coming.

And what you regard as a petty mistake isn't necessarily to others.