ET - Procedural unfairness

ubdai

Has anyone any experience of going to an ET and using the Procedural Unfairness protocol in their claim.
Ex employer did not follow the recognised ACAS procedures when they dismissed me in a meeting called at short notice on a Friday. In meeting and out of the company within an hour.

I am not disputing they had their reasons, but if they had followed procedures I would at least have had the chance to resign and not be stigmatised when applying for new jobs and saying I was dismissed.

Would this be a viable reason to proceed with the tribunal.

ubdai

Savvy_Sue

Might depend: you say they had their reasons, did they amount to gross misconduct? For that, I believe they could reasonably march you out of the door within an hour.

harrys_dad

You need a copy of the disciplinary policy of the company as it was applied to you. You are entitled to see this. Any dismissal that does not follow agreed procedures is "automatically unfair". This only applies however if you have worked for the company for two years (recently changed from 12 months), unless the dismissal meets certain clear categories of discrimination. If this does not apply you have no rights at all.

hawk30

Your employer does not have to follow the ACAS code, as long as it follows a 'fair' procedure. When did you start work for the company and why were you dismissed?

zzzLazyDaisy

ubdai wrote: »

I am not disputing they had their reasons, but if they had followed procedures I would at least have had the chance to resign and not be stigmatised when applying for new jobs and saying I was dismissed.

Would this be a viable reason to proceed with the tribunal.

ubdai

No.

Reasons for proceeding with tribunal would be...

• If they had followed fair procedures and given me the opportunity to prepare my case and properly explain what had happened from my point of view, it is likely that they would have given me a warning and I would still have had my job; or
  
• if they had followed fair procedures it would have taken then two more weeks to come to a decision, so I am owed two more weeks pay; or
  
• while I accept that I had made a mistake, I do not believe that this amounted ti gross misconduct, therefore the decision to dismiss me was unfair

Simply arguing that they had a fair reason to dismiss you and that you accept it was gross misconduct, but if they'd followed a fair procedure you would have resigned rather than be dismissed is not an argument, because the ultimate result would be the same - you would still have lost your job on the day you were dismissed. In effect, in using that argument, you are admitting the company was right to dismiss you.