Advice after sacking for Gross Misconduct

daz103

Its a bit of a long complicated thing, but here goes.

I was working for a News and photo agency for 6 months.

Last Thursday I was called down to my head office for a meeting with my Directors.
They said that me working as a remote member of staff wasn't working and that they were giving me my 1 months notice. I could choose to work it or leave straight away without pay. I could go freelance and continue to do work for them, but that was up to me. They said go away and let them know on Monday what I was going to do.

I spent the next day panicking now that me and my partner were going to only have one steady income to pay for the new house we had only started renting 2 weeks previous. On Saturday panicking and stressed from the whole situation I decided to be proactive, shot a couple of snow pics (I am a photographer) and submitted them to a couple of newspapers not really thinking of any wider consequences. Anyway one of the images was used online.

This was spotted by my company and was immediately asked to explain myself. On Sunday I spoke to one of the directors and he said that it was unacceptable and a big two fingers up to the company. I explained that it wasn't intended as such and that I was just trying to be proactive and was not thinking clearly about the consequences due to the shock and stress of just losing my job.

He text me again sunday afternoon telling me to go back to the head office and have a chat with him and the other director to explain what happened.

I went down and had a meeting with the two directors and explained again what happened and that I was sorry that i jumped the gun. They then said that they didn't believe me and accused me of doing it to in an f-you to them. I said this wasn't the case and they then began accusing me of having done it all through my employment with them, which I truthfully denied. One of the directors then said he didn't believe me and for that he was sacking me for gross misconduct. At which point as calmly as possible I pointed out that I should have been notified before hand that I was having a disciplinary hearing and should have been entitled to have a companion present. To which they replied "take what action you want"

I have since had a few days to think about this and I am not sure what action I should take. I am not sure there is much to gain financially from this and its not as though I have losses my job because I would have been redundant anyway. I just feel that should make stand over the fact that my statutory rights were not adhered to.

I have also as yet not heard anything else from them. I haven't received a letter or any other notification of dismissal. I also want to wait until my pay day on the 7th December to make sure I get paid salary and expenses.

tomtontom

With only six months employment there is little you can do, you have no statutory rights. If the disciplinary procedure formed part of your contract (they don't usually) you could sue them for breach of contract but the stress would outweigh any award.

What I would do now is reiterate your apologies and try to negotiate a good/ neutral reference. In an industry like yours word will spread quickly if you leave on bad terms.

duff67

I would urge you to avoid being 'sacked gross misconduct' as having this on your record would not help future roles.

Sadly, I speak from experience, as I too made a stand ..

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5362751

There is little to be gained after 6months therefore, if you feel able, contact your managers - explain to them that whilst the disciplinary process was not followed correctly, you apologise for the mis understanding of taking/selling the image and feel it best to resign rather than take the matter any further.

Ask them to provide a good reference and move on.

The jobs market does not review the background to Dismissal and assumes the worst in everyone which makes it extremely difficult to gain another role sadly.

Funny enough, mine was about photography also.

Good luck

daz103

I wasn't given much option about resigning as I wasn't even aware that I was having a disciplinary. They sacked me on the spot and I didn't have any option for an appeal.

If I knew I was having a disciplinary I would have prepared a resignation letter.

gigi7

Hi I have been in a similar position to you which I have posted about on here. As it is mentioned above with only being there for 6 months there is not much that can be done. The only thing to focus on is to not let it affect future employment. If they have not carried out the correct disciplinary procedure, they may well omit 'dismissal' from your reference, to help that you could write to them asking for mutually agreed reference. Failing that, during future interviews, I would say the best way to explain it is to say it was a failed probation. When this happened to me I tried to tell the truth to prospective employers but that led me nowhere so I changed it to say I failed my probation and if they asked for a reason I would give them one that was unrelated to the role I was applying for such as could not meet sales targets, but I would always emphasise how much I still appreciated the opportunity. I know it is a stressful situation, try to remain positive and try to take your mind off it, use your time now to maybe build a portfolio. Good luck for the future.

xapprenticex

I dont get it, you took pictures of yourself swearing or something? Is that called snow pictures? And your employer thinks you was swearing at them?

daytona0

xapprenticex wrote: »

I dont get it, you took pictures of yourself swearing or something? Is that called snow pictures? And your employer thinks you was swearing at them?

Completely off topic but I love it when people say things like "you was". It reminds me of Alan Pardew in football! Never quite figured out if it was grammatically correct, or if it should be 'you were' instead I'm not insulting you, just making an irrelevant comment

takman

xapprenticex wrote: »

I dont get it, you took pictures of yourself swearing or something? Is that called snow pictures? And your employer thinks you was swearing at them?

Lol what a great interpretation of the OP's post!.

The OP worked for a company as a photographer and supplied them photos of what they required (I presume). While he was still employed by them he went out and took some photos of snow and sold them to another newspaper. This is basically supplying photos to the competition so that's why the director felt insulted by his actions.

chuckley

does your contract stipulate you work exclusively?

furthermore, did you give permission to the new company to use the images or were you just showing them a sample?

I'd go for the cash on that if they've used it without your permission...

redpete

daytona0 wrote: »

Completely off topic but I love it when people say things like "you was". It reminds me of Alan Pardew in football! Never quite figured out if it was grammatically correct, or if it should be 'you were' instead I'm not insulting you, just making an irrelevant comment

It should always be "you were", no need to be embarrassed about reading something an thinkig "that seems wrong".

However one should be embarrassed if one completely misinterprets some one else's post and makes a horrible grammatical error in pointing it out

bouicca21

"You was" is probably acceptable as dialect but it's not standard English wot us pedants speak :cool: