Home ill for 2 weeks could be fired from job!!

Doom_and_Gloom

LittleVoice wrote: »

"Never have, never will" - that's a very definite statement for one so young. But let it pass, maybe experience will reinforce your view but you won't know if you never trust anything to the post.

If you can email them, you can ask for the address.

An emailed doctor's certificate is not the same evidence as the actual piece of paper.

How is it that you now know there would be a discrimination case to answer if you were fired? You have already written that your absence is not because of a disability.

I have entrusted items in the post and they have been lost or taken a very long time to get to the place they were intended to get to. With every postal strike my resolve becomes stronger (although I do realise there are other postal companies that are not as well known and all that).

I only have an e-mail addresse for the pay roll. You can not ask for the addresse through this. Only things connected to pay are allowed.

Discrimination can be called as people working for the company that have worked for longer would not be threatened with being fired. Therefore I can call discrimination on the base of not working there for long and them looking at that and making their decision. My boyfriend does not work for my company but has been ill for 2 weeks before and has not been able to work. He was not threated with being fired as he has worked for them for nearly 3 years. Someone who has not worked for a company for as long can not be treated differently due to being ill as you can not help being ill it's that simple. People that work part time do have rights as do people just starting in the work place but it seems we have to know our rights more than those that have been in the work place for longer.

Doom_and_Gloom

Gnomemeister wrote: »

I used to work for an agency employing cleaners to cover shifts all over East London (I was arranging rotas, not cleaning), most people do not enjoy it at all and do it as a last resort; you said you were looking for a job for about 2 years, I doubt you were applying for cleaners jobs for that long.
Be careful not to inhale cleaning chemicals by the way - they contain some very toxic stuff! and can cause all sorts of nasty diseases later in life (at the very least, the 70% increased chances of getting asthma working with sprays containing ammonia would put me off!).

Plus, you spend an hour walking to work, show up early, and do a two hour shift for £12.50 a day? That works out to (I'm presuming it takes an hour to get home too) 4 hours, and arriving early too, so 4 and a quarter say, for £2.78/ph less NI and possibly income tax too.
There's a reason it's mostly immigrants bankrupts and alcoholics doing these jobs (in my experience!).

You're probably wondering what alternative you have, well to make £62.50 a week for over 21 hours input, you should have a read of this:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/make-money
(21 hours doing Avon would make at least double that, even in a really awful area, btw)

I was looking for ANY job I could do (except fast food as I am against them, the smell is horrific and I would just be criticizing all customers ethics for going there so wouldn't last a day) but PART time is very difficult for anyone to get in the areas I could work as I have no transport other than walking or public transport. The person that interveiwed me for the cleaning was very shocked to find out that I was more than willing to walk there and not even consider a bus (but that costs £1.70 one way so not worth it to me).

I am cearful not to breath in too much of the fumes when I am setting up and working but obviously can not make it so I do not at all. I do not work with the sprays it's in buckets and you transfer it into your mop bucket or machine so it is rather minimal. I use more chemicals at college to be honest as I am doing a BTEC national diploma in applied science so work is not my worry it's college but that's why you learn about COSHH to be honest something that corrasponds (sp?) for college and work for me.

I can not do 21 hours of work as I am still in education and do not have that kind of time on my hands after college and doing assignments (I go to my parents on weekends so I can spend time with them otherwise I do not get to see them) I WORK 10 hours a week. I do not earn enough to pay NI or Tax. As I walk to college in the morning (40 min walk) I'm almost there as it is (takes another 15 min from college as there is a short cut I can use from college but not worth it on the way home from work) and I like night time walks as it is so that's personal time to me and my boyfriend is happy as I do not ask him to go on night time walks anymore. I get to work 15 mins early so I can set up the mops and machine. So 17 1/2 hours a week over all time spent purely on work as I have to go to college as it is and I have to have some ME time and that is the walk home.

Terrylw1

Well, its very clear that you've got a very poor employer!

They do need the original doctors note for the 1st 28 weeks so won't accept a copy. I understand your issues with the post, I also try to avoid it.

I think in relation to the other poster, you're more likely to become more synical about the postal service the older you get! You have to trust them, but to a point so with nothing important to you.A nything important you should send using a service where you can prove reciept...the gas & elec board on here has lots of missing letters issues on the go...

I always keeps a copy of mine and so should you. Employers do lose them and then they will blame it on you. By having a copy you can easily throw it back at them.

I would suggest you look on the ACAS site. If you are sacked with an inappropriate notice, they can do it but I believe they have to compensate you by paying the 2 weeks. Remember, there are always sitautions where they cannot have people on the premises and need to fire them e.g. fighting at work, bullying, racism etc.

Have a look at some of these links, I find Business Link is a much easier site to find these things out on. The last is a .pdf from ACAS.

The days of employers sacking people so easily have changed somewhat however don't underestimate their nasty attitude towards their staff...

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?r.l1=1073858787&r.l3=1074209970&type=RESOURCES&itemId=1073793845&r.l2=1073858926&r.s=m

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073932288&r.l1=1073858787&r.l3=1074209970&r.t=RESOURCES&r.i=1073793844&r.l2=1073858926&r.s=e

http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/l/p/CP01_1.pdf

CFC

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

I did keep my employer notified regularly of when I would be able to go back to work (about 6 times over 2 weeks and I do not work weekends). I did not go back to work untill the Monday when my doctor said I could go back. I was still a bit weak but was alot better than before. I sent the first doctors certificate over email with the work time sheet it corasponded with (sp?) and plan to do this with the second one uness they ask for it before hand (I do not trust the post, never have, never will, and do not know exactly where their offices are to be honest as I've never been there).
I have heard no more about the potential of being fired since they contacted my ma over a week ago now. I am hoping they are just going to sweep it under the mat and forget about it. However I know now that if they do try to fire me that I can get them done for discrimination and breach of contract (if they try and say one week again) but I would rather keep my job as, as I said I do enjoy it.

Hi again.

First point; A doctor's certificate is a 'legal piece of paper'. You cannot scan it and send it via email as that is not valid. You will be entitled to statutory sick pay but this cannot be paid off an emailed certificate. Here are the rules to see if you can claim it.

You must have worked for your employer under a contract of service. Even if it is your first day of work with a new employer and you become sick part way through the day you may be entitled to SSP.
To get SSP you must be:

• Sick for at least 4 or more days in a row (including weekends and bank holidays). This is known as a Period of Incapacity for Work.
• Earn, before tax and National Insurance an average of £87.00 a week. This is called the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance Contributions (NIC). The amount you need to earn is lower than the amount when you have to start paying NIC’s or would start paying if you were treated as an employed earner.

Your earnings are averaged, over an 8 week period before your sickness began. This period may vary slightly depending on whether you are paid weekly or monthly paid, or at other intervals. If you have just started your job the calculation may be different, contact your employer for more information.

Secondly; there is no discrimination in firing someone in their probationary period for being sick. You do not have to treat employees with a shorter length of service in the same way as an employee with a longer length of service. That is why there is a probationary period and why employee rights differ with length of service.

Discrimination and sickness only come into play when there is a disability or if you are discriminating against a part time employee, treating them less favourably than a full time employee. Please do not be under a misapprehension on this matter.

LittleVoice

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

I only have an e-mail addresse for the pay roll. You can not ask for the addresse through this. Only things connected to pay are allowed.

CFC has said most of what I would have said in reply; however -

asking for an address to which you can send your doctor's medical statement is related to pay!

Any email reply from the company should also include their postal address.

If they are a limited company, you should be able to trace an address for them on the internet. Even if they are not a limited company, it is highly likely you would find an address if you did a simple Google search.

Your employer's address should be given to you in your written particulars. I don't know how long you have been employed by them, so they may not have been required by law to provide this yet.

Going back to your earlier posts - almost certainly your work at college is more important than this part-time work. Therefore concentrate on college for now and think about another job later.

A_Nice_Englishman

If I was the OP I would see if there are any cleaning jobs available at her college.

Terrylw1

Your employer won't accept an email only copy although there is nothing wrong with sending that advising the original is in the post. Just keep a scanned copy, employers can often lose them in transit between line managers & HR depts. In those cases, you can only then submit your scanned copy or get a new one to backdate from your doctor. However, employers have to take that on the chin.

Seen that many a time with HR depts blaming managers, managers blaming...etc

As CFC says, it's not discrimination unless you can prove you can prove others in the same situation have received preferential treatment over you. Thats a difficult one to prove.

However, your employer should attempt to find a resolution rather than just sack everyone. You would have to point to flaws in their handling of the situation to go for unfair dismissal and get it into tribunal stage, but you need a rock solid case...

Debt_Free_Chick

It is legal and acceptable to terminate someone's employment if they are unable to do the job - even where that inability is due to genuine illness*. If you think about it .... if the employment contract could not be terminated, then employers would have people "employed" by them who cannot do any work at all (assuming they were employed before they became ill).

However, the employer must follow the correct process to terminate employment and, as others have said, you have more protection under employment law if you've been employed for a year or more. Even without employment law protection, the employer must follow its own procedures and the contract of employment may give you greater rights anyway.

So .... how long have you been employed, Doom and Gloom?

And what does your contract of employment say about the employer terminating your contract?

* In law, your contract is not being terminated due to illness. It's been terminated due to "incapacity" i.e. you are incapable of fulfilling your part of the contract, which is to work.

C_Ronaldo

Id find another job, your course is more important to you than a job, if you need a reference you could always get 1 from 1 of your tutors at college

PasturesNew

Have you thought of promoting yourself as a babysitter locally?
Ideal work if you can get it - you get to do your college work while doing it too!

At your age I had a Saturday job, in a jewellers. Better to work in one long block than every day. And now there's Sunday opening. Coming up to Xmas now a lot of shops are taking on extra evening staff.

Are there any reasons why these wouldn't be suitable for you?