Suspended but asked what I did wrong

madfiddler

Hey all. Apologies for the late reply to all of this, but I finally had my disciplinary last week. Luckily for me, I'm a member of a Trade Union, and whilst I didn't think of contacting them earlier, a friend of mine did. Thank goodness!

Prior to the disciplinary by three weeks I got all of the documentation through. As it turns out, what I thought may be the breach of trust and confidence was correct and what I was suspended for.. With the attitude and behaviour issue grievance issues, which I believe caused the breach of trust in the first place.. It appears a certain member of staff, who previously reported to me indirectly (him to his boss, to me) but is now in a more senior position, I guess, felt he needed to pump his chest somewhat towards me and pretty much made my life hell for what is now 10 months.

As well as that, I was able to demonstrate a complete lack of managerial support for me last year until this kicked off in this year. The Union was also able to highlight a number of breaches of Acas guidelines regarding the disciplinary proceedure during this process.

I felt that I also had to speak about my recent mental health concerns regarding Autistic Spectrum issues from researching this for my son, and having had some negative chromosomal results myself. This is something I've kept very much to myself until now.

I was also able to demonstrate that the entire basis for one of the interview statements, was based upon a lie, with another based on biased personal views and a final one, the main one, where the interviewee was verbally led by the interviewer.

The whole process, from start to finish, stinks of trying to get rid of me.

Oddly enough, when I went to my Investigation meeting where they told me they weren't able to tell me what I was accused off and was introduced to the Investigation Officer, the statements I was provided with were all for the attitude and behaviour grievance and had actually been taken over two months BEFORE the investigation meeting (where I was told the allegation hadn't been investigated yet so they couldn't tell me what it was about, instead asking me what I thought it was about). Those statements had been taken by a different Investigation Officer to the one introduced to me.

They then waited until I had completed my scheduled work for which without the product can't launch, before starting the process. I had already set a date in my mind to finish the music because of the impending birth of my daughter... I completed the work when I intended to, and having already advised my company of the date that we were being admitted into hospital for an induced birth, so they tried to start the process by booking a meeting with HR and a Director the day before we were being admitted into hospital. I was actually in hospital with my partner when I got the meeting request.

At the disciplinary, the first thing they talked about was HR acknowledgement and support for my health issues, and then discussed how a breach of trust and confidence, and swearing, are no place at work. They then concluded that "no further action" is to be taken.

I have now been given a week and a half time off to "clear my head", and will then return to work. They are making some changes to the way I work, two of which I am extremely concerned about.

The major change from a lifestyle point of view is that I have been working from home for the past 3 years because it has saved the company money me using my own equipment and software rather than them having to buy it for me. Before you have a go at this, I agreed to this and frankly I have really fitted in to the working from home ethos. I get the job done, but it's more flexible in how I get the job done. It also means I avoid a lot of contact with people which makes me feel uncomfortable.

So for me, whilst the office is literally 5 miles away, I suffer from insomnia and IBS, and this works for me. If there was an issue in me getting the job done, that would have come up a long time ago.

The change that causes me the biggest issue, is that knowing the way the management chain works at this company, I know that these grievances would have been authorised by a certain person before going ahead. Not only that, but I believe that with the trust issue, that same person raised the grievance.

This person, when I return to work, is now to be my immediate boss... and whilst I like the guy, and have a lot of professional respect for him.... I don't think I can deal with this and turn a blind eye to the fact that he wanted to try and get rid of me.

The other possible change, is that in a statement the Executive Producer on the game stated that I wasn't cost effective. I was able to easily prove that this wasn't the case using Union payment guidelines. However, the EP still signs off on the budget and if he feels I'm not cost effective, I can't see how I will keep my job.

I mentioned this in the meeting, and of course they couldn't answer for the EP's statement comments.

So... that's where I am right now.

Thanks for all the comments so far, I do apologise for not updating and replying more frequently, but these last 10 months have really broken me. I've spent every free minute thinking and worrying about this, and whilst I feel that I'm exonerated professionally I feel that this is only because the Union were able to demonstrate a number of issues with the way the company led this process. If I had been on my own, I'm pretty damn sure I'd have been sacked because that's what they wanted to do, even though I've had plenty of time to go over and over..... and over this... many times.

baldelectrician

You live to fight another day


Take each day one at a time


Remember if you eventually leave / lose your job / quit the world does not stop spinning.


Maybe it is time to 'help' the company and restart work part time - this gives you more time for your family and keeps your foot in the door.

TELLIT01

I wonder if the OP should remove the date and business sector references from post #42. Whilst it's unlikely that his employer will come across this discussion, the OP could potentially be identified by the timeline, and the employer might then claim breach of trust etc all over again.

madfiddler

Good point, thank you - I will do

kokopao

you should have received a letter from your employer before the investigation telling you the allegations and on the meeting they will present to u the evidence against you,

madfiddler

Yeah, unfortunately they were very unspecific, wanting me to guess at things over a period of 8 months.

madfiddler

Hey all, just to let you know the project I was working on when all this was going on was released in the shops at the end of August.

I resigned the same day.

I've now gone freelance, and have jumped straight into some work, and feel all so much better for it.

The situation really hit my mental health in a bad way, but it's amazing how quickly you can bounce back when you're not thinking about that stuff.

Thanks for all your advice!

xapprenticex

I got sacked once, I was about 17 or 18 with a crap agency, i rode the electric pallet truck to the toilets to have a pee then rode it back to where i worked.. on CCTV. Got escorted out, no problem, i just worked for extra change back then (had no outgoings).

Got home expecting to jump on the playstation but ended up meeting my uncle who was laying new concrete slabs for the back garden and ended up doing the hardest days work i have ever done in my life.... for free. Good memories though.

Soon after i went back to college to get my life right.

madfiddler

Haha, going to the loo in style.

Yep sometimes things happen to give you a kick up the backside doesn’t it.

FBaby

In the end, you knew they wanted to get rid of you, and they found a way to do without costing them anything. However, it has worked well for you, so a win/win situation.