Possible Unfair Dismissal Advice Needed Please

UnderPressure

OK thanks for the advice I really appreciate it

Time to move on and we will try and figure out what he is owed and make sure he at least gets that,

We live in a very small community hopefully karma will pay this person a visit one day, we reap what we sow, so to speak

Anyway thank again.

lincroft1710

UnderPressure wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies, again I really appreciate your time in trying to help with this. So essentially there is little he can do apart from making sure he is paid the relevant notice period and any holiday pay owed?

I am staggered an employer can get away with treating an employee like this, putting aside the emotional aspect he has essentially been sacked for missing a days work, I am amazed there is no recourse for him, can you really be sacked over the phone for missing 1 days work? So if you have worked somewhere less than 2 years and you ring in sick, for example, your employer can sack you on the spot and you have no legal recourse at all?

The days of your fellow workers coming out on strike in sympathy following you being sacked are long, long gone. The 1970s are in the past. Welcome to the world of work in the 21st century.

UnderPressure

I was not thinking along that line I am surprised that an employer can just sack someone for missing a days work with or without a good excuse, I always thought there were disciplinary procedures an employer must follow, as an employee and soon to be employer I can understand an employee missing a days work can cause immediate short term issue but never for one minute thought the employer, over the phone could sack someone on the spot for such an infringement especially when there was no history if missed days or any other disciplinary problem with the employee concerned.

Anyway I now have the correct information for which I am grateful. I also have a quite a bit of reading to do myself it would seem before I embark on the journey of being an employer.

Poppie68

UnderPressure wrote: »

OK thanks for the advice I really appreciate it

Time to move on and we will try and figure out what he is owed and make sure he at least gets that,

We live in a very small community hopefully karma will pay this person a visit one day, we reap what we sow, so to speak

Anyway thank again.

Wishing bad things on others is very unfair especially when its your friend in the wrong...employers have rules in place to allow fairness across their workforce, if they allowed it on this occasion it would be setting a precedent and all others would then expect it..employees would start expecting time off every time anything out of the ordinary happened to any and all family members.

Undervalued

UnderPressure wrote: »

I am amazed there is no recourse for him, can you really be sacked over the phone for missing 1 days work? So if you have worked somewhere less than 2 years and you ring in sick, for example, your employer can sack you on the spot and you have no legal recourse at all?

That is correct. Apart from the handful of types of discrimination that are prohibited by law he can be sacked for any reason or no reason at all.

Even after two year he would still have been absent without leave and could be subject to disciplinary action.

As I said, I think the employer is being harsh but that is not the same as unlawful.

Undervalued

UnderPressure wrote: »

I always thought there were disciplinary procedures an employer must follow.

There are GUIDELINES which they would be expected to have followed had he been able to take this to a tribunal.

However, he can't so it is therefore irrelevant whether they followed them or not as he has no redress.

The days of automatic awards for failing to follow statutory procedures are long gone.

lovinituk

UnderPressure wrote: »

OK thanks for the advice I really appreciate it

Time to move on and we will try and figure out what he is owed and make sure he at least gets that,

We live in a very small community hopefully karma will pay this person a visit one day, we reap what we sow, so to speak

Anyway thank again.

Karma for what? Following the law in the best interests of their business?

jobbingmusician

I am not an employment expert, so please don't give too much weight to my comment because I happen to be the board guide.


However, I believe that it is possible your friend may have a case. I would argue that his mother became his dependant at the time her appendix ruptured, and so his dismissal was automatically unfair (especially since he was given no hearing, so the employer clearly failed to consider whether or not the mother WAS a dependant.) For this reason, I believe the dismissal is likely automatically to be unfair.


My belief is that it is certainly worth a consultation with a lawyer.

UnderPressure

lovinituk wrote: »

Karma for what? Following the law in the best interests of their business?

You might see it that way I do not, neither does the young lad in question or his family and friends, just because something is lawful does not make it morally the right thing to do.

I wanted to know the legal aspect, I now know thank you we could discuss the morality all week and get no further, I think one thing you think another, who is right? Well are either of us right? We have an opinion that is all, my opinion is the employer is an a***hole and I hope karma gives him a good kick at some stage, you do not agree that is your opinion you think because what he has done is lawful it is right, not always the case.

cr1mson

A dependant is

“the partner, child, or parent of the employee, or someone who lives with the employee as part of their family. It does not include tenants or boarders living in the family home, or someone who lives in the home as an employee, e.g. a live in nanny. In cases of illness, injury or where care arrangements break down, a dependent may also be someone who can reasonably be said to rely on the employee for assistance“.

This to me suggests an ongoing reliance not one that is created by the burst appendix.