Dismissal less than 2 years, no disciplinary meetings

Okocha40

Hello everyone
I am seeking to receive an advice regarding possible breach of contract claim. I worked for an employer for 17 months so less than 2 years hence I cannot claim unfair dismissal. However my performance was never in question, the issue was my high sickness level. The employer terminated my employment recently whilst I was off sick without having a single disciplinary meeting, no single warning was issued. I will be paid 1 weeks notice pay. Question: for those working less than 2 years should the employer follow Acas code of conduct regarding disciplinary procedure before dismissal, or is it legally binding only towards employees with at least 2 years continuous service?Do I stand a chance for a successful breach of contract claim in ET based on the fact that I feel I was discriminated for not having a single formal disciplinary meeting before facing dismissal? My company obviously have a disciplinary and grievance procedure in place but I don't know whether it is contractual or non-contractual to those with less than 2 years service. I haven't been provided a details about this from my employer.
The advice I received from Acas helpline was: The code of conduct is not legally binding, it is just a guide, as long as my employer pays me a weeks notice I have no chance for successful breach of contract claim in ET.
Another question: irrespective of the length of the service what are the minimum legal employers duties regarding dismissal and disciplinary policy?
Any advice would be appreciated.

GlasweJen

I think acas are right, you can be dismissed for any reason and none with less than 2 years employment

Guest101

Okocha40 wrote: »

Hello everyone
I am seeking to receive an advice regarding possible breach of contract claim. I worked for an employer for 17 months so less than 2 years hence I cannot claim unfair dismissal. However my performance was never in question, the issue was my high sickness level. The employer terminated my employment recently whilst I was off sick without having a single disciplinary meeting, no single warning was issued. I will be paid 1 weeks notice pay. Question: for those working less than 2 years should the employer follow Acas code of conduct regarding disciplinary procedure before dismissal, or is it legally binding only towards employees with at least 2 years continuous service? - it's neither, it's advisory. Follow this process to protect yourself, they don't have to follow it. Just have a fair system. Do I stand a chance for a successful breach of contract claim in ET - no based on the fact that I feel I was discriminated for not having a single formal disciplinary meeting before facing dismissal? - That is not a protected characteristic My company obviously have a disciplinary and grievance procedure in place but I don't know whether it is contractual or non-contractual to those with less than 2 years service. I haven't been provided a details about this from my employer. - The result would've been the same.
The advice I received from Acas helpline was: The code of conduct is not legally binding, it is just a guide, as long as my employer pays me a weeks notice I have no chance for successful breach of contract claim in ET.
Any advice would be appreciated.

ACAS are mostly correct.


The only thing you may be able to claim is if your contractual notice was longer.

Undervalued

Okocha40 wrote: »

Hello everyone
I am seeking to receive an advice regarding possible breach of contract claim. I worked for an employer for 17 months so less than 2 years hence I cannot claim unfair dismissal. However my performance was never in question, the issue was my high sickness level. The employer terminated my employment recently whilst I was off sick without having a single disciplinary meeting, no single warning was issued. I will be paid 1 weeks notice pay. Question: for those working less than 2 years should the employer follow Acas code of conduct regarding disciplinary procedure before dismissal, or is it legally binding only towards employees with at least 2 years continuous service?Do I stand a chance for a successful breach of contract claim in ET based on the fact that I feel I was discriminated for not having a single formal disciplinary meeting before facing dismissal? My company obviously have a disciplinary and grievance procedure in place but I don't know whether it is contractual or non-contractual to those with less than 2 years service. I haven't been provided a details about this from my employer.
The advice I received from Acas helpline was: The code of conduct is not legally binding, it is just a guide, as long as my employer pays me a weeks notice I have no chance for successful breach of contract claim in ET.
Another question: irrespective of the length of the service what are the minimum legal employers duties regarding dismissal and disciplinary policy?
Any advice would be appreciated.

The acas code is not legally binding. There used to be statutory procedures but they no longer exist.

If (and it is unlikely) your contract of employment lays down a contractually binding formal disciplinary procedure and you employer failed to follow it then you might have a wrongful dismissal claim (i.e breach of contract) and that does not require two years service.

However, at best, all that would yield is a few days pay to compensate for however long it would have taken the employer to follow their own rules. It would not change anything else.

To answer your final question...

In the first two years effectively none as you can lawfully be dismissed for no reason at all.

After that the law requires them to conduct a fair process. The easiest way of doing that is to follow the ACAS guidelines, However an alternaive process may also be fair.

agrinnall

Even if you did make an ET claim it would cost you £250 just to make the claim and a further £950 for the hearing. You'd have to be pretty confident of winning to make it worth paying that much.

Mersey_2

True, although remember you can issue in the County Court (for breach of contract or owed pay in lieu etc) from as little as £35.

braquo99

I am in the exact same boat, I just cant believe there are no rights to help people like us... I had great feedback all through my employment of 19 months, never any issues then was told as I was leaving for the day, that I was being dismissed and I would find out why in a letter...


How is this allowed to happen! I have a black mark now against my name which is totally unfair - I wasn't given the chance to put any argument across or for them to hear my side in any of this

da_rule

It's unfortunate, but until the 2 years (used to be 1 year) have passed you only have wrongful dismissal. If your employer has met their contractual obligations (notice period etc) then there is little you can do.

That is of course unless you were dismissed because of a protected characteristic.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

braquo99 wrote: »

I am in the exact same boat, I just cant believe there are no rights to help people like us... I had great feedback all through my employment of 19 months, never any issues then was told as I was leaving for the day, that I was being dismissed and I would find out why in a letter...


How is this allowed to happen! I have a black mark now against my name which is totally unfair - I wasn't given the chance to put any argument across or for them to hear my side in any of this

Did you have very high sickness levels as well?

Okocha40

Thanks for your replies.
I had around 25 days of sickness last year on 3 different occasion, most of it related with back injury due to the work nature ( heavy lifting and excessive bending over the big table for most of the day). The was an incident report created by the employer regarding this " occurrence", as it happened at work. However I did not lose any money as employer paid company sick pay and later MRI scan didn't confirm my suspision: no slipped discs, just a small minor compression in L4/L5 area. So I couldnt claim any loss of earnings. Funny thing is: my new manager was employed only a few months ago and despite he doesn't carry liftings he went off sick just 3 months after he started due to back injury and was off sick for about 8-10 days. Other people at work with similar length of service also had on average at least 2 occasions of sickness totalling between 5-10 days. Recently I fractured my rib due to terrible couging lasting over 2 weeks due to bad flue and chest infection as in my workplace there is exposure to dust and other crap in the air as ( mattress manufacturer- natural materials: silk etc.)lot of people at work have been suffering from blocked sinuses and chest infections, myself included. Unfortunately I cannot prove that my rib injury was related with exposion at work, as there was no report of me having pain in my chest, simply towards the end of the working day I after another terrible coughing day I had mild pain in my chest, went home, started feeling much worse and the next day I called in sick. After employer found out about my reason of absence and possible 6-8 weeks recovery, decided to terminate my employment. My point is:I hate the double standards at work , also it !!!!es my off the fact in which direction this country is heading to: growing impact of more !!!!!! employment agencies, zero-contract hours with Sports-direct kind of businesses, now since 2012 even if you have a contract you have to go through 2 years service to have any protection whatsoever. Now I cannot take up another job due to rib injury and cannot prove the impact of work environment to my recent injury. Welcome to the constantly evolved sophisticated enslavement world in the UK.
I am glad I got it off my chest despite chest injury.
Cheers for your feedback.

Guest101

Okocha40 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.
I had around 25 days of sickness last year on 3 different occasion, most of it related with back injury due to the work nature ( heavy lifting and excessive bending over the big table for most of the day). The was an incident report created by the employer regarding this " occurrence", as it happened at work. However I did not lose any money as employer paid company sick pay and later MRI scan didn't confirm my suspision: no slipped discs, just a small minor compression in L4/L5 area. So I couldnt claim any loss of earnings. - That's still 5 weeks off work, which is significant. Funny thing is: my new manager was employed only a few months ago and despite he doesn't carry liftings he went off sick just 3 months after he started due to back injury and was off sick for about 8-10 days. - what other people have or don't isn't relevant to you. Other people at work with similar length of service also had on average at least 2 occasions of sickness totalling between 5-10 days. Recently I fractured my rib due to terrible couging lasting over 2 weeks due to bad flue and chest infection as in my workplace there is exposure to dust and other crap in the air as ( mattress manufacturer- natural materials: silk etc.)lot of people at work have been suffering from blocked sinuses and chest infections, myself included. - That is something for health and safety, and you may have a claim against them if you were unpaid off sick as a result of their negligence Unfortunately I cannot prove that my rib injury was related with exposion at work, as there was no report of me having pain in my chest, simply towards the end of the working day I after another terrible coughing day I had mild pain in my chest, went home, started feeling much worse and the next day I called in sick. After employer found out about my reason of absence and possible 6-8 weeks recovery, decided to terminate my employment. - unfortunately it is legal to dismiss you My point is:I hate the double standards at work - that's unfortunate, but perfectly legal , also it !!!!es my off the fact in which direction this country is heading to: growing impact of more !!!!!! employment agencies - in what way? , zero-contract hours with Sports-direct kind of businesses - well those are immoral but again legal , now since 2012 even if you have a contract you have to go through 2 years service to have any protection whatsoever - well it's fair on the employer as well . Now I cannot take up another job due to rib injury and cannot prove the impact of work environment to my recent injury. Welcome to the constantly evolved sophisticated enslavement world in the UK.
I am glad I got it off my chest despite chest injury.
Cheers for your feedback.

Perhaps being self employed would suit you better