Unfair dismmisal case??

alana171

ok can someone advise if i have a case please

I worked at compnay (1 boss, 4 employees) for 1 year and 1 month.

I had a holiday booked for march (had been there a year), 2 days before I was to go I had a call at work in the afternoon 3.20pm to say an immediate family member had been rushed to hospital. I was the only one at the practice at the time, we closed at 4.30pm, so in the light of my worry about the family I locked up and went to the hospital.

The boss was on holiday, so i told one of the girls that i would text his wife, of which i forgot to do.

On returning 1.5 weeks later from holiday, i find a letter saying i have been suspended on full pay for a serious breach of contract for 3 reasons

1 - unauthorised closure of the practice on that afternoon

2 - personal use of the phone and internet which i had not done and was never shown any proof of

3 - seling of our beuaty products on ebay for personal gain - I had bougth products for myself, used them once and found them to be unsuitable - obviously you cant get a refund on opened beauty products, so i sold them for much less almost 3/4 of their original selling price as used on ebay.

I was given a meeting in which i explained all of the above - still no actual proof on phone, internet or ebay activities, and told i would be contacted.
2 days later i got a leter saying i had been sacked.

Is this fair??

Just want some help as it has been playing in my mind - it was in april

thanks people!

alana171

Just to state my contract was from one address and then the practice moved, but also it didnt state anything about phone, internet use or selling of products of which the boss based his original suspension letter on, saying a serious breach of contract when these things werent in the contrat.

Cheers

Lady_E

I would seek advice from ACAS on 08457 474747, they are a government funded body who will be able to give you good advice as to what constitutes unfair dismissal and point you in the right direction for further assistance . Website www.acas.co.uk

My thoughts ...............................
I would have thought that if you bought the beauty products full price and decided to sell them on , what on earth has it got to do with them? I can only think that if you used staff discount they might quibble, you need to check your contract about that and about internet usage. As for the early closure, surely that was a compassionate reason and not because you were going to have your hair done?? Speak to ACAS and see what to do next , good luck .

alana171

thanks for that
As i said the beauty stuff was used and we did get a little discount but it was originally bought for myself - there was nothing in the contract regarding this as my contract was fromt he previous address, and we didnt sell products there.

As for net and phone i never used it so he hasnt got any proof and i know it

mennie

He has no proof for the phone and internet so cant get you for that. he would need proof and it would need to be in your contract or you would have had to have signed an IT policy. Also if this is common practice in the office - as lets face it, it is in most - he couldnt sack you without sacking everyone.

Selling the products on Ebay - Do you have proof of purchase and proof of the sales. Do they tally up. ie you bought 3 items and sold 3 items. If so you cannot be sacked for that.

As for the closure of the practice. They may be able to get you on this. Depends. A good solicitor (free from CAB) should be able to get you off with this one.

Make sure you keep all documentation they give you. Were you given the opportunity to bring an employee to your disciplinary hearing?

alana171

i was given the opportunity to bring an employee, but as there are only 3 of us, neither wanted to get involved (nice friends) as they would ahve to wkr with him after.

I dont have the receipts only through my bank bill, as it is a dental oractice, and we only give streamline (credit card machine) slips.

I had an interview for a job the other day, they phoned him and he would only say that i worked for him from x day to whenver he got rid of me, and wouldnt give a reference, so i text him and then he said he had sent one - i didnt get the job due to an unsatisfactory reference.

mennie

With regards to the reference it unfortunate but an employer is not allowed to give a bad reference. However, theycan give a factual reference such as he did.

Were you given the chance to appeal. If yes did you. If you didnt that will hamper your case

Keep everything he has given you. Go through it with a fine tooth comb. make sure dates and times tally up. Go to CAB and try to claim Unfair dismissal. If any dates and times are wrong it would be thrown out of court and you would win.

alana171

i wasnt given the chance to appeal
after my intiial meeting, i was told i would rceiev the outcome by letter by friday (this was the wednesday). On sat i still hadnt heard anything, so i text him and he replied saying a dismissal letter had been sent.

It stated that my reasons were unsatisfactory and that he was saking me for serious breach of contract.

I wasnt offered the chance to appeal

mennie

You should have been offered the chance to appeal. Its a standard letter that should come out to you giving you the opportunity to appeal the decision within 5 working days.

I would contact CAB on monday and explain all this to them

Good Luck

Milarky

So you've had your 'invitation to a disciplinary meeting' I take it? ["I was given a meeting in which i explained all of the above - still no actual proof on phone, internet or ebay activities, and told i would be contacted."] You attended this and were dismissed by letter.

Aren't all employers now required to offer an internal appeal against disciplinary action up to and including dismissal? I thought this was now universal - in which case have they offered you such an appeal? The onus is on you to use the appeal process (i.e exhaust internal procedures) before going to complain with or without advice from ACAS... But anyway they ought to confirm this.

Time limits to complain at the result are generally 3 months from dismissal (or is that now from date of appeal outcome?) We are now in June, so we could be up against that time limit.

And the delay makes it appear unlikely that you could have changed the employer's attitude -as they seem to have gone off the big end of 'trust' here. There is probably more to this than you are saying - employers don't generally react like this on a 'first offence'. (Have you been subject to earlier warnings?) And the coincidence of issues suggests the employer was already unhappy about these side issues - but they merely added these are reasons.

I think you need to speak to ACAS on Monday. But I've a feeling you've left this go because the employer may have had longstanding dissatisfactions over your employment which your post hints at. In law they simply have to have acted 'with reason' and taken the necessary steps to discipline you - even where that results in dismissal - and you must 'cooperate' with the process to explain yourself etc in order to refer to matter as a complaint.

Personally, I would not get my hopes up. Reinstatement is virtually unheard of - can't be enforced if the employer refuses to anyway - and even where you could show that the employer acted unreasonably they can have any monetary award (for lost of pay etc) significantly reduced where any aspect of the process leading to your dismissal is shown to caused by your actions (eg acting without authorisation - you say you forgot to seek this - that's not a terribly effective argument)

If you were in a union they would have helped to advise and represent you pre-dismissal and would now be able to take this up on your behalf - including negotiating for a severence payment with the employer

bertie2

If the dental practice is nhs then the principal dentist is actually in breach of his contract with the health authiority when you closed the dental practice early. If there was no dentist present and it was during normal office hours (when the practice has stated it will provide treatments to patient) he is in breach of his nhs contract. All this may help explain why he was really cross!!