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sacked after 3 months in new job
Nellyc_3
Posts: 4 Newbie
I have been working as a team leader in a car park for 3 months. The job is full time and my contract stated I would be on probation for 6 months.
I took to the job straight away and got on great with the car park attendants I supervised and the car park was running smoothly. The 1st item on my job description was ... To ensure the smooth operation of the car park..
2 weeks ago my manager told me to go to another car park they managed and clean it up as it had become scruffy. The car park was at the rear of a shopping complex and had a pay and display machine on it. All around the carpark were the cut down stubs of Japenese knotweed and the stems of the plant were all around the perimeter including under were cars were parked.
At this point I should add I have in the past been a gardener with the council and have my herbicide spraying qualifications and experience of the legalities of Japenese knotweed.
I picked up all the litter and took some photos with my mobile phone of the knotweed and then went back to my office and told the manager what I had done and explained that it was a criminal offence to remove the knotweed from site and transport it and a proper waste carrier was required.
He told me I was talking rubbish and that they just put the stems etc in bin bags and dump it in the shopkeepers bins at the rear of the shops or a skip that is near the car park in a house that is havinfpg renovation work carried out on it.
I told him again the law was that it was an offence to cause the spread of Japenese knotweed and putting it in someone else's bin in bin bags would be illegal as it would cause the spread of it.
He said to me ". Your a bit of a barrack room lawyer are you? Let me reminds you your on probation Matey"
He then told me to scrape the knotweed debris up with a shovel and throw it off the Tarmac onto the edge of the car park but I explained that just having the knotweed on the ground meant it could be picked up by the cars tyres and spread that way. He told me to do it if I wanted to see out my probationary period.
I explained I wasn't being awkward but just stating how seriously councils take the issue of knotweed and that his company and me could be fined £5000, the vehicle seized and ultimately you can get a jail sentence.
The whole atmosphere changed at work and 4 days later I received a letter informing me that as I'd been there 3 months they would be ho.ding a performance review which could result in my dismissal the following week. The letter said no decision had been made as yet and I would be given the opportunity to offer mitigating circumstances as to me poor performance in the meeting. It also stated k could bring a collegue into. The meeting.
The meeting was held on Friday gone.
The manager said my performance was poor and cited an incident when the computer system on the car park failed 2 months ago (I had been there 4 weeks then) and I was una Leto restart it for several hours. I explained that I had not been trained in the re-starting of the computer system at that time which he knew full well as he (the manager) who was also there at the time the system failed didnt know how to do it either and we had to get a director of the company to do it.
I also stated that was 9 weeks ago and nothing was said to me then, so why was this being brought up now. The collegue who had come into the meeting with me tried to explain that he had worked there for 2 years and even he didn't k ow how to re - start the system but my manager told he he was not allowed to speak and was there as an observer only.
He then immedialty turned to me and said my employment was terminated for poor performance and asked the deputy manager to take my locker key, safe key, tie and escort me off the premises.
I tried to object but was just told the decision has been made, I'm not arguing with you. I was marched out of the office told to get in my car and leave the car park.
I parked outside and spoke to my colleguewho who said what they had witnessed was digusting.
When I got home I phoned my manager and said I wanted to appeal to the directors but was told there would be no appeal as I am on probation.
Is there anything I can do?
I took to the job straight away and got on great with the car park attendants I supervised and the car park was running smoothly. The 1st item on my job description was ... To ensure the smooth operation of the car park..
2 weeks ago my manager told me to go to another car park they managed and clean it up as it had become scruffy. The car park was at the rear of a shopping complex and had a pay and display machine on it. All around the carpark were the cut down stubs of Japenese knotweed and the stems of the plant were all around the perimeter including under were cars were parked.
At this point I should add I have in the past been a gardener with the council and have my herbicide spraying qualifications and experience of the legalities of Japenese knotweed.
I picked up all the litter and took some photos with my mobile phone of the knotweed and then went back to my office and told the manager what I had done and explained that it was a criminal offence to remove the knotweed from site and transport it and a proper waste carrier was required.
He told me I was talking rubbish and that they just put the stems etc in bin bags and dump it in the shopkeepers bins at the rear of the shops or a skip that is near the car park in a house that is havinfpg renovation work carried out on it.
I told him again the law was that it was an offence to cause the spread of Japenese knotweed and putting it in someone else's bin in bin bags would be illegal as it would cause the spread of it.
He said to me ". Your a bit of a barrack room lawyer are you? Let me reminds you your on probation Matey"
He then told me to scrape the knotweed debris up with a shovel and throw it off the Tarmac onto the edge of the car park but I explained that just having the knotweed on the ground meant it could be picked up by the cars tyres and spread that way. He told me to do it if I wanted to see out my probationary period.
I explained I wasn't being awkward but just stating how seriously councils take the issue of knotweed and that his company and me could be fined £5000, the vehicle seized and ultimately you can get a jail sentence.
The whole atmosphere changed at work and 4 days later I received a letter informing me that as I'd been there 3 months they would be ho.ding a performance review which could result in my dismissal the following week. The letter said no decision had been made as yet and I would be given the opportunity to offer mitigating circumstances as to me poor performance in the meeting. It also stated k could bring a collegue into. The meeting.
The meeting was held on Friday gone.
The manager said my performance was poor and cited an incident when the computer system on the car park failed 2 months ago (I had been there 4 weeks then) and I was una Leto restart it for several hours. I explained that I had not been trained in the re-starting of the computer system at that time which he knew full well as he (the manager) who was also there at the time the system failed didnt know how to do it either and we had to get a director of the company to do it.
I also stated that was 9 weeks ago and nothing was said to me then, so why was this being brought up now. The collegue who had come into the meeting with me tried to explain that he had worked there for 2 years and even he didn't k ow how to re - start the system but my manager told he he was not allowed to speak and was there as an observer only.
He then immedialty turned to me and said my employment was terminated for poor performance and asked the deputy manager to take my locker key, safe key, tie and escort me off the premises.
I tried to object but was just told the decision has been made, I'm not arguing with you. I was marched out of the office told to get in my car and leave the car park.
I parked outside and spoke to my colleguewho who said what they had witnessed was digusting.
When I got home I phoned my manager and said I wanted to appeal to the directors but was told there would be no appeal as I am on probation.
Is there anything I can do?
0
Comments
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With 3 months service? No. Sorry.Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman0
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All you can do now is report them for the knotweed.....0
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Nothing you can do. It's admirable that you tried to do the right thing about the knotweed but that kind of morality is for people who are not on probation. Ever heard the saying "don't rock the boat"?0
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I was told by a friend that if your sacked for a health and safety issue, you don't need the 12 month qualifying period required to bring an unfair dismissal claim in a tribunal0
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Be sure to report them about the knotweed issue.:A:dance:1+1+1=1:dance::A
"Marleyboy you are a legend!"
MarleyBoy "You are the Greatest"
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marleyboy (total legend)
Marleyboy - You are, indeed, a legend.0 -
There is something called automatically unfair dismissal which protects workers irrespective of length of service - eg dismissal for whistleblowing.
Disposing of the Japanese knotweed in the way you were asked to was illegal so I wonder if you could claim under whistleblowing. Might be an idea to ask at the CAB or ACAS or get a free initial consultation with an employment solicitor.0 -
Being told to throw Japenese knotweed in other people's bins. Not really environmentally friendly?
I've just been looking up protected disclosures and the 1996 employment protection Act and I made the boss aware what he was asking me to do was illegal and yet he still told me to do it. Therefore he shouldn't be sacking me for refusing to carry out a criminal act should he?0 -
Well done for standing up for what is right. Japanese knotweed is a major problem.
I hope the legal experts on here can find a way to help you.0 -
Therefore he shouldn't be sacking me for refusing to carry out a criminal act should he?
No - but he's stating a totally different reason for the dismissal, how are you going to make sure your version of events prevails?
I'd just report him for the knotweed issue to the council and move on.0
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