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Mistreatment over disciplinary - Can I/Should I ask for compensation?
Yaasoo
Posts: 1 Newbie
Last year at the end of July, my mother was living with us for a while and I used my discount card (for a large supermarket chain that I work for) with her bank card as she holds the majority of my savings in her account and I didn't have my bank card on me as I was working.
At the checkout I used her bank card, after she went around the store, to purchase food for our dinner that night. When she had finished I used her bank card to pay for the transaction.
She was not my nominated user, however, I believed I was okay to use her bank card myself as it was still my own money.
A few days later I was pulled into the office to find out that I was being investigated for colleague discount misuse. Of course I told them about my mother living with us and the fact that she holds some of my money but they decided to pass it onto a disciplinary manager to investigate further. Whilst they did this they decided to suspend me, even though the suspension policy clearly states that suspension is only to be used in cases of substance misuse or if it is found that the person is working illegally. Colleague discount card misuse is a conduct issue not a gross misconduct issue within the rules of the policy.
It turns out, a manager had seen me go to the till with my mother and thought that I was misusing my discount card so he decided to collect all of my information, including CCTV & discount card payment records. He collected the data then wrote a witness statement BEFORE passing it onto the two managers who interviewed me later in the week. The policy states that, the two managers, not the manager who witnessed the incident can investigate an allegation for a disciplinary. He was a senior people manager, but did not decide to challenge me when he felt that there was something wrong with what I was doing. He let it happen and THEN decided to investigate it.
A week or so later after being suspended (on full pay), I was called back again to answer more questions, as the disciplinary manager could not decide if there was a case to answer. After a few days I received another letter stating that I was to be charged with Gross Misconduct due to a lack of trust between myself and the company. This is not what I was expecting as what I was told was the investigation was for was colleague discount card misuse...
Immediately I contacted my union rep, who also attended as my rep from the second meeting I had. She was baffled, as she had dealt with incidents of colleague discount card misuse before and they had NEVER been put down as gross misconduct. She was more astounded at the fact it was for a total of around £1.80.
She advised me to submit a grievance in about how the manager had allowed me to fail and collected all the data without consent before the official investigation took place. Which I did, to the regional people manager, as I felt that the in-store managers were treating me unfairly. I also had a call from another colleague from another store just hours after I had been suspended asking what had happened, so much for confidentiality... He supposedly didn't know I had been suspended, but refused to tell an investigation manager who in the pub was talking about something going on.
She arranged someone independent from another store to hear the grievance before the disciplinary was heard, as it could have had a direct impact on the outcome of the disciplinary. Initially all bar one or two of my grievance points were declined. So I submitted an appeal (I was still suspended whilst this was going on). The appeal manager upheld another three or four of my points which I raised which the initial grievance manager did not.
My case had then been handed to another manager in another store who once again decided it was exactly the same offence, but the letter was signed by my own people manager... The one how initially saw it. At some point else, I cannot remember when, a third manager had been handed my disciplinary case and come back with exactly the same outcome, once again signed by the initial people manager who was a witness.
My mum had moved back down south a few weeks after the initial incident with my father. I was so terrified that I was going to lose my job I asked them if I could move into a house that they rented out so I could cut my bills for when I ended up losing my job. The house was 65 miles away from my job, but I had been told so much that it was gross misconduct that it was almost certain that I would lose my job.
Some more information had come to light about the manager in question, along with another manager who did the initial investigation (after the people manager). So I submitted another grievance, which was once again dismissed bar two or three points. So another appeal was submitted which another two or three points were upheld.
This postponed the disciplinary again. It was then passed onto another manager from yet another store (over 15 stores had been involved in the whole process). He read through all of the notes and the grievances and decided that it was only a misconduct issue. He phoned me with the 'good news'.
The meeting is in the next couple of weeks, 10 months after I was actually suspended.
It has taken all of this time, stress, worry and I even moved myself and my partner because I was terrified of losing my job and I don't know what to do! My suspension has now been lifted, but I need to contact my store (which I put grievances in against most of the managers there due to their treatment towards me) to find out about my return to work. I am not allowed to be on the department I was on before until the disciplinary is over with, but I have a pre-existing injury from my time in the military, which will minimise my ability to do roles which involve stacking shelves, repetitive movement and heavy lifting, none of which has been taken into consideration. My role before was non-physical and admin based.
Not only that, I've moved... Which they are aware of, as my meetings have recently been moved to a closer store.
I'm not sure where I now stand as it was drilled into me for 9 months that it was gross misconduct which means I would probably have been sacked. Should I ask for compensation for the stress, move and complete mistreatment? How much would you say is fair?
At the checkout I used her bank card, after she went around the store, to purchase food for our dinner that night. When she had finished I used her bank card to pay for the transaction.
She was not my nominated user, however, I believed I was okay to use her bank card myself as it was still my own money.
A few days later I was pulled into the office to find out that I was being investigated for colleague discount misuse. Of course I told them about my mother living with us and the fact that she holds some of my money but they decided to pass it onto a disciplinary manager to investigate further. Whilst they did this they decided to suspend me, even though the suspension policy clearly states that suspension is only to be used in cases of substance misuse or if it is found that the person is working illegally. Colleague discount card misuse is a conduct issue not a gross misconduct issue within the rules of the policy.
It turns out, a manager had seen me go to the till with my mother and thought that I was misusing my discount card so he decided to collect all of my information, including CCTV & discount card payment records. He collected the data then wrote a witness statement BEFORE passing it onto the two managers who interviewed me later in the week. The policy states that, the two managers, not the manager who witnessed the incident can investigate an allegation for a disciplinary. He was a senior people manager, but did not decide to challenge me when he felt that there was something wrong with what I was doing. He let it happen and THEN decided to investigate it.
A week or so later after being suspended (on full pay), I was called back again to answer more questions, as the disciplinary manager could not decide if there was a case to answer. After a few days I received another letter stating that I was to be charged with Gross Misconduct due to a lack of trust between myself and the company. This is not what I was expecting as what I was told was the investigation was for was colleague discount card misuse...
Immediately I contacted my union rep, who also attended as my rep from the second meeting I had. She was baffled, as she had dealt with incidents of colleague discount card misuse before and they had NEVER been put down as gross misconduct. She was more astounded at the fact it was for a total of around £1.80.
She advised me to submit a grievance in about how the manager had allowed me to fail and collected all the data without consent before the official investigation took place. Which I did, to the regional people manager, as I felt that the in-store managers were treating me unfairly. I also had a call from another colleague from another store just hours after I had been suspended asking what had happened, so much for confidentiality... He supposedly didn't know I had been suspended, but refused to tell an investigation manager who in the pub was talking about something going on.
She arranged someone independent from another store to hear the grievance before the disciplinary was heard, as it could have had a direct impact on the outcome of the disciplinary. Initially all bar one or two of my grievance points were declined. So I submitted an appeal (I was still suspended whilst this was going on). The appeal manager upheld another three or four of my points which I raised which the initial grievance manager did not.
My case had then been handed to another manager in another store who once again decided it was exactly the same offence, but the letter was signed by my own people manager... The one how initially saw it. At some point else, I cannot remember when, a third manager had been handed my disciplinary case and come back with exactly the same outcome, once again signed by the initial people manager who was a witness.
My mum had moved back down south a few weeks after the initial incident with my father. I was so terrified that I was going to lose my job I asked them if I could move into a house that they rented out so I could cut my bills for when I ended up losing my job. The house was 65 miles away from my job, but I had been told so much that it was gross misconduct that it was almost certain that I would lose my job.
Some more information had come to light about the manager in question, along with another manager who did the initial investigation (after the people manager). So I submitted another grievance, which was once again dismissed bar two or three points. So another appeal was submitted which another two or three points were upheld.
This postponed the disciplinary again. It was then passed onto another manager from yet another store (over 15 stores had been involved in the whole process). He read through all of the notes and the grievances and decided that it was only a misconduct issue. He phoned me with the 'good news'.
The meeting is in the next couple of weeks, 10 months after I was actually suspended.
It has taken all of this time, stress, worry and I even moved myself and my partner because I was terrified of losing my job and I don't know what to do! My suspension has now been lifted, but I need to contact my store (which I put grievances in against most of the managers there due to their treatment towards me) to find out about my return to work. I am not allowed to be on the department I was on before until the disciplinary is over with, but I have a pre-existing injury from my time in the military, which will minimise my ability to do roles which involve stacking shelves, repetitive movement and heavy lifting, none of which has been taken into consideration. My role before was non-physical and admin based.
Not only that, I've moved... Which they are aware of, as my meetings have recently been moved to a closer store.
I'm not sure where I now stand as it was drilled into me for 9 months that it was gross misconduct which means I would probably have been sacked. Should I ask for compensation for the stress, move and complete mistreatment? How much would you say is fair?
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Comments
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way too much writing to readLast year at the end of July, my mother was living with us for a while and I used my discount card (for a large supermarket chain that I work for) with her bank card as she holds the majority of my savings in her account and I didn't have my bank card on me as I was working.
At the checkout I used her bank card, after she went around the store, to purchase food for our dinner that night. When she had finished I used her bank card to pay for the transaction.
She was not my nominated user, however, I believed I was okay to use her bank card myself as it was still my own money.
A few days later I was pulled into the office to find out that I was being investigated for colleague discount misuse. Of course I told them about my mother living with us and the fact that she holds some of my money but they decided to pass it onto a disciplinary manager to investigate further. Whilst they did this they decided to suspend me, even though the suspension policy clearly states that suspension is only to be used in cases of substance misuse or if it is found that the person is working illegally. Colleague discount card misuse is a conduct issue not a gross misconduct issue within the rules of the policy.
It turns out, a manager had seen me go to the till with my mother and thought that I was misusing my discount card so he decided to collect all of my information, including CCTV & discount card payment records. He collected the data then wrote a witness statement BEFORE passing it onto the two managers who interviewed me later in the week. The policy states that, the two managers, not the manager who witnessed the incident can investigate an allegation for a disciplinary. He was a senior people manager, but did not decide to challenge me when he felt that there was something wrong with what I was doing. He let it happen and THEN decided to investigate it.
A week or so later after being suspended (on full pay), I was called back again to answer more questions, as the disciplinary manager could not decide if there was a case to answer. After a few days I received another letter stating that I was to be charged with Gross Misconduct due to a lack of trust between myself and the company. This is not what I was expecting as what I was told was the investigation was for was colleague discount card misuse...
Immediately I contacted my union rep, who also attended as my rep from the second meeting I had. She was baffled, as she had dealt with incidents of colleague discount card misuse before and they had NEVER been put down as gross misconduct. She was more astounded at the fact it was for a total of around £1.80.
She advised me to submit a grievance in about how the manager had allowed me to fail and collected all the data without consent before the official investigation took place. Which I did, to the regional people manager, as I felt that the in-store managers were treating me unfairly. I also had a call from another colleague from another store just hours after I had been suspended asking what had happened, so much for confidentiality... He supposedly didn't know I had been suspended, but refused to tell an investigation manager who in the pub was talking about something going on.
She arranged someone independent from another store to hear the grievance before the disciplinary was heard, as it could have had a direct impact on the outcome of the disciplinary. Initially all bar one or two of my grievance points were declined. So I submitted an appeal (I was still suspended whilst this was going on). The appeal manager upheld another three or four of my points which I raised which the initial grievance manager did not.
My case had then been handed to another manager in another store who once again decided it was exactly the same offence, but the letter was signed by my own people manager... The one how initially saw it. At some point else, I cannot remember when, a third manager had been handed my disciplinary case and come back with exactly the same outcome, once again signed by the initial people manager who was a witness.
My mum had moved back down south a few weeks after the initial incident with my father. I was so terrified that I was going to lose my job I asked them if I could move into a house that they rented out so I could cut my bills for when I ended up losing my job. The house was 65 miles away from my job, but I had been told so much that it was gross misconduct that it was almost certain that I would lose my job.
Some more information had come to light about the manager in question, along with another manager who did the initial investigation (after the people manager). So I submitted another grievance, which was once again dismissed bar two or three points. So another appeal was submitted which another two or three points were upheld.
This postponed the disciplinary again. It was then passed onto another manager from yet another store (over 15 stores had been involved in the whole process). He read through all of the notes and the grievances and decided that it was only a misconduct issue. He phoned me with the 'good news'.
The meeting is in the next couple of weeks, 10 months after I was actually suspended.
It has taken all of this time, stress, worry and I even moved myself and my partner because I was terrified of losing my job and I don't know what to do! My suspension has now been lifted, but I need to contact my store (which I put grievances in against most of the managers there due to their treatment towards me) to find out about my return to work. I am not allowed to be on the department I was on before until the disciplinary is over with, but I have a pre-existing injury from my time in the military, which will minimise my ability to do roles which involve stacking shelves, repetitive movement and heavy lifting, none of which has been taken into consideration. My role before was non-physical and admin based.
Not only that, I've moved... Which they are aware of, as my meetings have recently been moved to a closer store.
I'm not sure where I now stand as it was drilled into me for 9 months that it was gross misconduct which means I would probably have been sacked. Should I ask for compensation for the stress, move and complete mistreatment? How much would you say is fair?0 -
I think this can be summarised as
I was suspended for 10 months on full pay, then the company decided I was innocent. Can I sue them? And by the way I had made changes in my life in those 10 months as I thought they were going to sack me. (ooops, I should maybe include that there seems to be an issue about being moved to other duties. I don't see anything relevant about how many stores were involved in the process, and grievances raised along the way seem to have been dealt with promptly).
OP - seriously, not sarcastically, have I left anything important out of this summary? Because that's how it read to me. I know it feels ghastly, because I was once suspended for 7 months (I got another job and resigned, with an agreed reference). But I can't see why you are entitled to any compensation...Ex board guide. Signature now changed (if you know, you know).0 -
So, suspended on full pay? So not out of pocket?
You chose to move house - I don't think you can blame that on the company.
Change of role? Well, that depends on the outcome of the investigation - what does your union rep say about this? S/he has been involved through this process.:hello:0 -
jobbingmusician wrote: »I think this can be summarised as
I was suspended for 10 months on full pay, then the company decided I was innocent. Can I sue them? And by the way I had made changes in my life in those 10 months as I thought they were going to sack me. (ooops, I should maybe include that there seems to be an issue about being moved to other duties. I don't see anything relevant about how many stores were involved in the process, and grievances raised along the way seem to have been dealt with promptly).
OP - seriously, not sarcastically, have I left anything important out of this summary? Because that's how it read to me. I know it feels ghastly, because I was once suspended for 7 months (I got another job and resigned, with an agreed reference). But I can't see why you are entitled to any compensation...
He hasn't been found to be innocent, but the investigation has been downgraded to one of misconduct. Hearing in the next few weeks.
A lot of the delays seem to have been caused by the OP bringing frivolous grievances.
No compensation due OP, and I'd expect your future with the supermarket to be very limited. You've marked yourself out as trouble and they'll be waiting for you to slip up again.0 -
I'm not sure where I now stand as it was drilled into me for 9 months that it was gross misconduct which means I would probably have been sacked. Should I ask for compensation for the stress, move and complete mistreatment? How much would you say is fair?
Sorry to be blunt but absolutely nothing at all.
Suspension is a neutral act. You were on full pay. Any actions your took before knowing the outcome were entirely your decision.
Plenty of retail employers treat any misuse of a staff discount card as gross misconduct. I am amazed that yours (apparently) does not. OK, you say you had no intention to misuse the card but you certainly acted in a way that would raise a reasonable suspicion warranting investigation. Yes, the investigation took an extraordinary length of time but, as you were on full pay, that cost the employer a lot of money and you nothing at all. It could also be argued that was partly as a result of your own actions.0 -
Just with your job descriptions OP if this is a supermarket that starts with A and has a green logo then misuse of the discount card is gross misconduct. You would have completed a computer based learning module and passed a test before being given the card and should also have signed a copy of the rules to be added to your personnel file.
Similar happened to me, my mum was my second card holder and no one (not even family) knew she had mental health issues and was stockpiling bleach and toilet cleaner. Flagged up for overbuying too many of the same products and thankfully when I photographed her stash and explained the situation it was deemed acceptable and i was reinstated.0 -
Strikes me you've deliberately lodged vexatious grievances and have dragged this on as long as possible. Now, if you are not sacked you'll need to either go back to work or resign. As another poster said though, I don't expect your 'career' will last much longer at this place.
You've had 10 months free money. You're not entitled to a penny more.0 -
All I recall from your post is that you used you discount card and your mum's bank card, knowing that there was a risk this could be questioned as misuse ALL for a couple of items for one dinner that cost £1.80? Seriously? Why bother using your discount card, why not pay cash?
Something is telling me that what you've been accused of was more serious than this but that you might have picked and chose what you wanted to share.0 -
All I recall from your post is that you used you discount card and your mum's bank card, knowing that there was a risk this could be questioned as misuse ALL for a couple of items for one dinner that cost £1.80? Seriously? Why bother using your discount card, why not pay cash?
Something is telling me that what you've been accused of was more serious than this but that you might have picked and chose what you wanted to share.
I actually get the impression that:
- The OP has been doing this a number of times hence why they pulled the transaction information BUT there was no CCTV evidence to solidify the claim. The managers could also have been aware of prior instances and this was the last straw which was proveable.
- The OP mentioned an underlying condition which prevents them from lifting etc. Maybe OP is not as useful as a younger and fitter employee with no health conditions, and the company were looking for any excuse to shift them out and not look like discrimination.0
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