About to be given written warning for false reasons-not had verbal .Please help

Cat72

Hope some one can give advice. My oh is a delivery driver & has worked for the same company for 7 years with no warnings etc. However several times his company operate illegally & unethically. Often he is verbally abused by customers & he has reported this to his employers, but nothing has ever been done.
Yesterday he was tring to make a delivery & was waiting for the customer- he is not meant to wait for customers but the company make up the rules as they go along & he was told to wait on this one. As he was waiting he had to move his van as it was causing an obstrucition.However when the customer ( there were 3 of them ) arrived 15 mins later they started shouting abuse at him- caliing him a bloody idiot for not parking where they wanted. They never gave him a chance to explain instead just keeping calling him names. My oH has been getting nasty comments from this customer for a while & wrongily lost his temper. He shouted at one of them " shut it or i will knock your head off ".He totally regrests this. However one of them replied " no i will knock your f***ing head off " and starting threating him. The man then dived over a fence and tried twice to punch my OH. Fortunately my oh managed to block his punches & the other customers grapped the guy attacking him. My oh phoned his employers & let them know. He also apologised to the man he had made the remark too and everyone- including the guy who tried to hit him.The matter was then sorted out between them & my Oh left to continue his days work .He was still quite shaken & upset by the whole thing.( when he came home was actually sick ). When he returned to his workplace after finishing the days deliverys he was taken into the office. His boss then told hiom that the customer had admitted to being abusive to my oh 9 and in his employers words the customer was probably an !!! ) however that my OH is to recieve a written warning over the whole thing.He has never recieved any warnings plus he was physically & verbally abused by the customer !
He has phoned citzens advice & acas but has got no help. Can anyone please advise us what to do or who to contact .I suggested he needs a good lawyer but we dont know of any as we would need someone specailist in this area. He is refusing to accept the warning but doesnt know what to do.Please help .

BritBrat

First thing is he in a Union if so ask them for advice.


If not get a copy of the Employers Disciplinary procedure and read it to make sure they are following it, if they don't have one or are not following the policy they have no case.


Look up what the Disciplinary procedure appeals are and maybe use it, You need to wait untill he gets it in writting.

Could he write to the customer explaining what the situation was that led to the incident in the hope that a responce would be usefull in his defence and maybe get statements from the others that were there.


The other thing I thought of was did he report the incident to the police I am not sure if that would be a good move but it may be useful in the future if he ends up at a tribunal.

emmie1234

I was going to suggest speaking to a union rep too. If he's not in the union, I thnk it would be a good idea for him to join as many unions offer legal advice and representation.

I agree with BritBrat that your husband should contact the police and provide a statement of what happened.

Hope you manage to get this sorted out.

Take Care

Em

Conor_3

He could turn this around.

Under employment law, his employers have a duty of care towards him. Not tolerating abusive customers is part of that. Clearly they are failing in that duty, especially as your OH has already informed them of this.

I think that if there's the threat of a written warning, I'd be pointing out that they have a duty of care that they're not complying with and that if they persued the warning, he would feel duly obliged to take action about the blatant refusal to comply with the duty of care.

He should also point out in writing that if the customer is abusive, that he will not deliver to them. They can't really argue against it as again, their obligation towards your OH is enshrined in law.

Personally, I'd change job if this is typical of the people he delivers to. If you've got the money, get him through his HGV. There's plenty of work, more money and less abuse from the customers.

Cat72

Thanks for your replies.His work dont have a union ( never has ) & he contacted the drivers union but they said they would be unable to help as the dispute has started before he would have joined. I had consider reporting it to the police - but again we werent sure this is the right thing to do.
His boss wont be holding a formal tribunal - they dont operate that way- it will probably just be his boss & someone else and a written warning being served. No one listens to any complaints in his workplace- thay are actually a very big company- but there is no one who deals with employee problems .His company settled out of court this year for dismissing his friend- with no warnings at all- so you would think they would know better but this is how they operate.
I thought they must have some duty to prevent him getting abused by customers - but am unclear how we should proceed with this without any chance of union representation.He has his HGV licence but where we stay there isnt a lot of local jobs ( he soesnt like to do long distance driving ) & he feels finacially unable to move incase everything falls through. I would rather he did as he has been suffering from stress because of his work for a while now - but then again his employer should not be getting away with this.

BritBrat

Sounds like they dont know the system.

Take a deep breath and wait for written notice.


Wait for the letter then reply and ask for a copy of the diciplinary procedure.

It his is right to have a copy and I believe against employment law if it's withheld.

sandy2_2

I just did a quick google search, there seems to be quite a bit of info on written warnings etc

ohreally

I'm at work at the moment and can only make a brief comment.First his employer should hold an investigation, the purpose being to establish the facts, this should be conducted in a fair and reasonable manner, he should ask to be copied in on the investigatory conclusions.If the employer decides there is sufficient evidence to proceed to a disciplinary hearing then your husband should be notified in writing (notice period in accordance with the company disciplinary procedure-which by law they must have), informing him of the circumstances leading to the hearing and explaining the reasons why they think he may be disciplined.The hearing should be fair and impartial and he should be given an opportunity to access any evidence management are considering using against him well before the hearing to enable him to prepare.
He should be given the opportunity to be accompanied by a companion,this role will likely be supportive rather than representative.
As previously mentioned I'd be questioning management on their failing to provide a safe system of work.
Under the health and safety at work act his employer has a duty to provide a safe place of work and in particular, must assess risks...has this been complied with.

I find it concerning that your husbands employer appears to have pre-judged the outcome of a disciplinary hearing, this alone would appear to oppose the principle of natural justice.

Savvy_Sue

I don't think that going straight to a written rather than doing a verbal warning is necessarily 'wrong' although it might seem rather harsh in this case, but it might be that the company is arguing that it's more serious than can be dealt with by a verbal warning.

But apart from that, if they haven't given your husband a copy of their disciplinary procedure (which as ohreally says is a legal requirement) then there's a bare minimum of what they should do, and that certainly is on the ACAS website. (just don't ask me where ...)

But it sounds as if the employer plans to meet your husband, hand over a warning, and think that's that. It doesn't sound as if that's the way it should be done.

I think I would report this to the police as well: if it had stopped at threats, maybe not, but ...

CFC

You do need to separate out the two aspects of the incident.

In part A, your husband threatened a customer. Not was rude, not was awkward, but threatened a customer with physical harm... & wrongily lost his temper. He shouted at one of them " shut it or i will knock your head off " as you posted.

In part B, the customer assaulted him.

Your husband is very likely to get a disciplinary hearing and an outcome of written warning for part A. (The fact that the customer assaulted him after your husband had initally said that is an entirely separate matter and should not be taken into account in the disciplinary hearing.). You will find advice about what procedures his employer must follow at www.acas.co.uk

He should consider pressing charges against the customer for part B, and his employer should provide for any support needs he has to help him recover from the trauma. For example, the shock of the assault may mean that he needs to take a few days off to recover. Your husband may also have other legal rights against his employer in relation to the assault. ACAS may be able to advise on this if you call them.

Notes on violence at work below:

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR)
Employers must notify their enforcing authority in the event of an accident at work to any employee resulting in death, major injury, on incapacity for normal work for three or more days. This includes any act of non-consensual physical violence done to a person at work.
12 Only physical injuries which result from acts of non-consensual violence to workers qualify as accidents for the purposes of RIDDOR 95. Accidents to non-workers and absence from work due to causes that are not physical, eg illness resulting from verbal abuse, or psychological conditions arising from physical assault, are not reportable.