unfair dismissal - how to proceed

melancholly

a girl at OH's work has had an affair with the MD and when his wife found out he sacked, effective immediately, with no notice to OH who is her direct line manager. regardless of the rights or wrongs of the situation, she is in a really bad position - no job, no house (left husband for MD), no marriage. she's off to see the CAB this afternoon - any other advice on how to proceed - surely he can't just do this? but as the MD how can you 'go over his head'?

any advice welcome!

Emmzi

She's obviously been a bit naive and foolish

OH can give her a good personal reference, if merited. That really is the limit of the support he can give, I think - the rest is down to union/lawyer. He could point out if compnay procedures have not been followed, but zealous pursuit of justice may in reality damage his own position. I would strongly advise him to limit his involvement. After all, the girl is not blameless and wronged here. He has no obligation to act as her champion.

She should still be entitled to payment for her notice period. They'd have a hard time making 'gross misconduct' stick.

I suspect MDs wife doesn't want her to have a pay-off, but the legal position is otherwise. CAB should be able to help.

What a mess, eh?

melancholly

bit of a nightmare - i think OH is really mad that she has been sacked without any regard for his position as her manager - he feels that his authority has been undermined and is quite close to handing in his resignation. the fact that he will have to work extra (unpaid) hours to cover her work to make sure deadlines will be made isn't helping.

i don't want him to jump to do anything (cutting off nose to spite face and all that), but he doesn't really want to work for an MD who is prepared to act like this!

thanks though - i think she would have moved on to a new job anyway, and to push her out and force her to do it now is so nasty!

Emmzi

Well, he can probably push for a temp followed by f/t recruitment asap - bet MD is in a panic and not thinking clearly AT ALL- so not the best time for anyone to be making rash decisions! I'd get the authorisation forms for replacement off HR and get them signed asap.

Never hurts to have a discreet agency or two looking out for new jobs for you though.. how's his CV looking??

PS I think the girl probably had to go - and I'd have preferred MD do it as what the hell would I tell her??? Not his ***up, not his dismissal to handle... just really unfortunate.

melancholly

he's gone off to the CAB with her now........... i think he should keep some distance from it anyway. he took today off sick after hearing about this from the girl last night - still hasn't been contacted by the MD about the situation, even though he has access to email from home.

i'm worried he's going to make a stand and quit, then end up out of work..... i want him to actively start looking for a new job and quit when he has something lined up......... but he's not really taking advice like that well atm.

melancholly

Emmzi wrote: »

PS I think the girl probably had to go - and I'd have preferred MD do it as what the hell would I tell her??? Not his ***up, not his dismissal to handle... just really unfortunate.

i agree on that front - but to find out that the longest serving employee on your team has gone without your knowledge isn't good either......

i'm amazed the MD's wife took him back - and even more amazed that the idiot thought the girl would just run away and hide having already given up everything for him.

and there's not one thing i can do to make the situation better and that is really frustrating

Emmzi

melancholly wrote: »

he's gone off to the CAB with her now........... i think he should keep some distance from it anyway. he took today off sick after hearing about this from the girl last night - still hasn't been contacted by the MD about the situation, even though he has access to email from home.

i'm worried he's going to make a stand and quit, then end up out of work..... i want him to actively start looking for a new job and quit when he has something lined up......... but he's not really taking advice like that well atm.

Male pride... *sad sigh*. He really shouldn't be involving himself to this level. Does the girl not have *any* friends, or a union rep?

get the bank and mortgage statements out and be wondering about how you'd handle them if he quit when he gets home??

He *does* need to get back to work - how about have him be proactive, and mail boss to ask for some discussion time about how MD is going to help his department cope?

And the girl may be more sinned against than sinning -but she's still sinned... there's no angels and devils here. I could understand hubby defending an innocent party,*BUT*...

Poor you! Bet it's a lot to cope with.

melancholly

he hasn't been told she's sacked - got an email from MD saying she's off sick...... i think he's waiting to see the explanation he gets in work tomorrow.

she's not a union member and so far, doesn't have the terms of her dismissal in writing yet - i told her to get them asap. but right now, in her position, i'd be up for a fight anyway. what else has she got to lose?

i'm going to try and speak to OH tonight and try to get him to keep a bit of distance..... and to get him to look online for other jobs to see what options there are if he goes in tomorrow and decides he's leaving.........

dmg24

I've been in this position, and in hindsight, it was very naive and foolish. But I was young, and we all know how blinded we can become by 'love'.

I ended up reaching a compromise agreement with my employer, who more than anything didn't want the bad press.

Could I ask how long the woman has been employed by the company, and what official reason was given for her dismissal?

ckerrd

She could be dismissed for "gross misconduct" but there has to be an investigation beforehand. If this has not happened she may well have a case for unfair dismissal

The ACAS site should give her some tips as well.

Your OH should stay well out of this as he may well undermine his own position

Emmzi

melancholly wrote: »

he hasn't been told she's sacked - got an email from MD saying she's off sick...... i think he's waiting to see the explanation he gets in work tomorrow.

she's not a union member and so far, doesn't have the terms of her dismissal in writing yet - i told her to get them asap. but right now, in her position, i'd be up for a fight anyway. what else has she got to lose?

i'm going to try and speak to OH tonight and try to get him to keep a bit of distance..... and to get him to look online for other jobs to see what options there are if he goes in tomorrow and decides he's leaving.........

Could you get him to mitigate that to 'taking a week off to consider his position' if the MD would go for it? He may have a long time to regret it... decisions made in anger can be very poor.