unfair dismissal

tempest84

Hi. I have been working for a small industrial business for the better part of a year, with my attendance and performance never being called into question.
until this week I have had 2 sick days in 8 months, one day in October and one day in January due to a cold.
Now for the last few days, i have been struck down with the flu, leaving me bed bound and feeling a wreck. I informed my manager of my situation and that i would not be at work.
I went to check my post earlier, and an envelope marked hand delivered, containing my letter of dismissal from this company citing poor attendance as the cause.

I have never had had any warnings from this company, and find it very nasty on their part.

Do i have any rights as an employee in the modern-day UK to seek severance, as i am out of a job.

Thank you.

elsien

You don't get the right to claim for unfair dismissal until you've been in post for two years. What they've done might not be fair but it is lawful.
You need to check that you've been paid correctly including any notice pay (which would be a week unless your contract says otherwise) and accrued holiday.

westbridgfordguy

tempest84 wrote: »

Hi. I have been working for a small industrial business for the better part of a year, with my attendance and performance never being called into question.
until this week I have had 2 sick days in 8 months, one day in October and one day in January due to a cold.
Now for the last few days, i have been struck down with the flu, leaving me bed bound and feeling a wreck. I informed my manager of my situation and that i would not be at work.
I went to check my post earlier, and an envelope marked hand delivered, containing my letter of dismissal from this company citing poor attendance as the cause.

I have never had had any warnings from this company, and find it very nasty on their part.

Do i have any rights as an employee in the modern-day UK to seek severance, as i am out of a job.

Thank you.

You have no rights if you've been employed for less than 2 years, as long as they pay you your notice period as poor absence would not be classified as gross misconduct.

PersianCatLady

tempest84 wrote: »

Hi. I have been working for a small industrial business for the better part of a year, with my attendance and performance never being called into question.
until this week I have had 2 sick days in 8 months, one day in October and one day in January due to a cold.
Now for the last few days, i have been struck down with the flu, leaving me bed bound and feeling a wreck. I informed my manager of my situation and that i would not be at work.
I went to check my post earlier, and an envelope marked hand delivered, containing my letter of dismissal from this company citing poor attendance as the cause.

I have never had had any warnings from this company, and find it very nasty on their part.

Do i have any rights as an employee in the modern-day UK to seek severance, as i am out of a job.

Thank you.

Until you have been working for an employer for two years, you have no right to take an unfair dismissal claim to an Employment Tribunal (except for a few automatic reasons).

Here are some links if you want to have a read -

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/leaving-a-job/

https://www.gov.uk/dismissal

Sncjw

Have to say if you can get out of bed to get post it isn!!!8217;t flu it!!!8217;s more a cold.

I!!!8217;ve seen how bad a flu is and your practically stuck in bed.

marliepanda

Misread so starting again.

Having three colds/flu that keeps you off work in just over a year is unusual. I think Ive had maybe 1/2 days off with flu in my entire working life. Whilst I!!!8217;m not saying no one ever gets flu, three times in just over a year is excessive.

Also you cant be bed bound if you went to check your post

TELLIT01

There are some pedants on the board. Flu does flatten you and makes it very difficult to move, but does not totally paralyse you. To me 'bed bound' in terms of the way the OP used it is simply stating that they spent the day in bed and were unable to function at anything like a normal level. Bodily functions still have to be attended to for example. On the one occasion when I definitely had flu I was still able to get to the toilet when I needed to. It wouldn't have taken much additional effort to pick up the post if there had been any.

marliepanda

I was being a pedant yes, how many winky faces do I need to put, however, this is the third time the OP has had 'flu/cold' so bad that they need to be off work. In such a short period of time that will not be acceptable to an employer.

Real flu would flatten you for way more than a day, 100% agreed, so absences of 1 day are likely to not be flu...

Doesn't really matter anyway, employer could have sacked after the first instance, but has waited until the 3rd...

tempest84

Thank you to all the sensible forum members who gave me advice which I asked for, much appreciated.

As for the troll who gave its critique were it wasn't sought, your 2 cents are not welcome.

I should clarify 2 things though, the first being my previous 2 days off work with illness, only one day was due to a cold, the other was due to an attack of ibs.
And 2, unlike some keyboard warriors, i am not superhuman, the work i do is very labour intensive, with a lot of heavy lifting and physical exertion involved, whilst also operating very dangerous machinery. Now im speculating here as to the above trolls profession, but im sure sitting at a desk all day isn't going to cause it to pass out or put anyone's safety in jeopardy.

Again, thank you for all the guidance.

RichardD1970

tempest84 wrote: »

Thank you to all the sensible forum members who gave me advice which I asked for, much appreciated.

As for the troll who gave its critique were it wasn't sought, your 2 cents are not welcome.

I should clarify 2 things though, the first being my previous 2 days off work with illness, only one day was due to a cold, the other was due to an attack of ibs.
And 2, unlike some keyboard warriors, i am not superhuman, the work i do is very labour intensive, with a lot of heavy lifting and physical exertion involved, whilst also operating very dangerous machinery. Now im speculating here as to the above trolls profession, but im sure sitting at a desk all day isn't going to cause it to pass out or put anyone's safety in jeopardy.

Again, thank you for all the guidance.

I've had one week off in 5 years with flu/chest infection. I've had the occasional cold as well, as and when the season for them happens.

Never had time off for a cold.

I do factory work, lifting up to 700 15-20kg objects per shift.

My previous job was with potentially very dangerous machinery, 2x3.5 tonne overhead cranes in tandem and a 7.5 tonne rated all terrain counter balance forklift.

Again never a day off with a cold.

But then I have a good work ethic and have never been let go due to anything other than the company closing/relocating.

marliepanda

Im not sure why youre calling me a troll because I, like your employer, thought that three colds in just over a year, colds bad enough to keep you off, was a lot. You didnt mention the additional issue until your last post.

Anyway, whether or not you think Im a troll and disagree with my opinion, your employer thought the same and has legally dismissed you.

My previous job involved working constantly with snotty 5 year olds so you bet I caught after germy horrible thing going. The only time I was off was when I had Norovirus. I!!!8217;m not acting like I!!!8217;m Hercules and I realise flu is debilitating, but you said cold, not me. It!!!8217;s doesn!!!8217;t matter really anyway whether you had a cold or something worse, as legally your company has not unfairly dismissed you.