Unfair Dismissal during Probationary Period

inglorius

Was looking for some advice please, will try and keep the summary of my circumstances as concise as possible.

I have been working with my current employer for about 4 months, when I was recruited I accepted the role on the terms of the employment contract stating that the role was days based 8 until 5 Monday to Thursday and half a day Friday. On the first day I started I was told that another person had also been recruited and would be doing the same job as me, the company had not communicated during the interview process that they were recruiting for an additional role so this was somewhat a surprise to me.

After 3 weeks of starting I was called into a meeting with my manager and my new peer whereby my manager said that they would want myself and my peer to start working shifts from the following week i.e. one person dedicated to one shift, I asked to see my manager alone after the meeting and expressed my concern at my employment contract being changed after a few weeks in the business but said that short term I would work shifts as a stop gap.

After working shifts for a number of weeks with no sign of the situation changing I approached the HR Manager at the end of last week to raise this point with her and asked if she could discuss this with my line manager as I had been recruited on a contract which was no longer valid. The HR Manager said that she would discuss this with my line manager.

Today I was asked to attend a "review" meeting with my line manager which was the first formal meeting I had been asked to attend, I had not received any probationary review meetings at all in my 4 months being with the company up to this point.

In the meeting various "issues" with my performance were raised, I asked politely why suddenly these "issues" were being raised now at this point whereas there had been no issues with my performance before I raised the change of my contractual working hours.

The dispute with the change to my working conditions was raised and it was commented that the company wanted someone to work shifts going forward and that as I was unhappy about this change of arrangement, the company was giving me a weeks notice of dismissal which the company is obliged to give me during my probationary period.

I asked if my unhappiness about working shifts was the reason for my dismissal as I had worked shifts when requested and had not refused to do so, I was not given a direct answer and various side issues were given about the perception that I had not created effective working relationships with my colleagues, I asked for my manager to be more precise but was given generalizations which were unable to be substantiated.

Finally I asked if it was considered to be professional that no probation reviews be conducted to feedback areas of improvement then suddenly I am informed I am to be dismissed at a weeks notice without any opportunity to improve; if I had been involved with a formal disciplinary or gross misconduct then I could understand this but at no point had I ever been warned about my conduct and the reasons being given were not valid.

At this point my line manager indicated that the company would pay me my months notice period on top of my weeks notice during my probation and provide a reference that I had been employed on a short term contract.

I can see no valid reason for dismissing me other then my complaints about changing my contract of employment which I had been fulfilling in the interim, I am looking for opinions regards if I have any legal recourse from this situation, any observations would be gratefully received.

Guest101

Less than two years you don't have full employment rights. Can dismiss for any, non protected, reason

London50

Sorry but you have no redress as you have been there less than 2 years and can be let go for any reason other than religion/sex ect.
I am sorry that you are in this situation but as I see it there is nothing you can do about it :0(

pinkshoes

Accept their offer and move on.

If you weren't wanting to work shift, then perhaps this was not the job for you...

Undervalued

inglorius wrote: »

At this point my line manager indicated that the company would pay me my months notice period on top of my weeks notice during my probation and provide a reference that I had been employed on a short term contract.

I can see no valid reason for dismissing me other then my complaints about changing my contract of employment which I had been fulfilling in the interim, I am looking for opinions regards if I have any legal recourse from this situation, any observations would be gratefully received.

As others have indicated you have no recourse. I'm afraid they do not need a reason (valid or otherwise!) and are not under any obligation to give you one.

I know it may not seem like it but a month's extra pay plus a decent reference is far, far better than it might have been.

TELLIT01

pinkshoes wrote: »

Accept their offer and move on.

If you weren't wanting to work shift, then perhaps this was not the job for you...

Is the OP expected to by psychic? It seems there was no mention of shift work in their original contract, so why would they think the job was not for them?

DCFC79

pinkshoes wrote: »

Accept their offer and move on.

If you weren't wanting to work shift, then perhaps this was not the job for you...

Going by the OP, The contract given to them was for a month to Thursday 8-5 and half a day Friday.

inglorius

Yes the previous 2 posters are correct; there was never any mention of me working shifts in my contract offer and if I had known this I wouldn't have accepted the offer. To then suddenly being informed of non specific performance issues then being sacked straight after I made an approach to HR about my employment contract makes me cynically think that was no coincidence.

sangie595

inglorius wrote: »

Yes the previous 2 posters are correct; there was never any mention of me working shifts in my contract offer and if I had known this I wouldn't have accepted the offer. To then suddenly being informed of non specific performance issues then being sacked straight after I made an approach to HR about my employment contract makes me cynically think that was no coincidence.

Of course it wasn't a coincidence. Many employers aren't going to keep on people who start disagreeing with them and asking for contracts etc in the first few weeks or months . Unfortunately this is what it is - you are dismissed and there is nothing that you can do about it.

inglorius

sangie595 wrote: »

Of course it wasn't a coincidence. Many employers aren't going to keep on people who start disagreeing with them and asking for contracts etc in the first few weeks or months . Unfortunately this is what it is - you are dismissed and there is nothing that you can do about it.

Agreed, however fundamentally the new changes to my employment contract were imposed on me I hadn't even been given the legal amount of notice to change my working hours I was told on the Thursday I would be working shifts on the following Monday. I agreed to this change under duress which I pointed out at the time as I was fearful that I would find myself in the position I am in now if I didn't agree to the contractual changes.

Guest101

inglorius wrote: »

Agreed, however fundamentally the new changes to my employment contract were imposed on me I hadn't even been given the legal amount of notice to change my working hours I was told on the Thursday I would be working shifts on the following Monday. I agreed to this change under duress which I pointed out at the time as I was fearful that I would find myself in the position I am in now if I didn't agree to the contractual changes.

You have no case- move on

Your employer is paying you a month when they only needed to pay a week, be grateful!