Forced to resign on the spot

youda

Hi all,

I have been full-time employed for the last 14 years, with my current company since May 2017.
At the beginning of July this year I was called into a meeting whereby I was asked to resign immediately or be 'sacked'. This was completely out of the blue and was a massive shock as every performance review I have been told that I'm doing well and to keep up the good work.
On asking for a few minutes outside to consider my options I was told that the decision had to be made before I left the room.
I was told that if I 'play the game' then they would write me a good reference and if I didn't then they could potentially 'as a company policy, refuse to do references'.
I asked for a piece of paper and wrote my resignation as instructed.
I was immediately put on 2 months garden leave but as it was the start of the summer holidays it has been a nightmare trying to find something else - still nothing confirmed and very stressed now, making me physically ill at times with worry.
Any comments would be gratefully appreciated as I can't help thinking there is something untoward with the way it was handled...

Many thanks,
D

Ms_Chocaholic

Did they say what you had done wrong?

sangie595

I'm sorry, but the fact is that with a very limited number of circumstances, they can dismiss your any way they wish because you have no employment rights. And any employer is allowed to hold a reference hostage- again, with a few exceptions, employers are not obliged to provide them. There was nothing else you could have done. Look to the future...

martinthebandit

Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »

Did they say what you had done wrong?

'....... company since May 2017.'

As it's less than two years I am not sure that it matters

youda

They were clutching at straws..
One reason they gave was that the company is a million £ down on last year - this is irrelevant as I was not affecting last year's figures.
Another reason they gave was that this year's pipeline was not good enough - we were only one month into the new financial year so there was every likeliness that this would grow and my pipeline was growing, not shrinking.
Pulling out a log of phone calls and e-mails, they picked out days when my activity was low - I asked them if these were days when I was driving or on-site for example, when I wouldn't be able to phone or send e-mails and they couldn't answer.

Stuff like that!

LilElvis

youda wrote: »

They were clutching at straws..
One reason they gave was that the company is a million £ down on last year - this is irrelevant as I was not affecting last year's figures.
Another reason they gave was that this year's pipeline was not good enough - we were only one month into the new financial year so there was every likeliness that this would grow and my pipeline was growing, not shrinking.
Pulling out a log of phone calls and e-mails, they picked out days when my activity was low - I asked them if these were days when I was driving or on-site for example, when I wouldn't be able to phone or send e-mails and they couldn't answer.

Stuff like that!

They're struggling financially and need to cut costs. Less than 2 years as an employee and you're the easy way to cut those costs.

marliepanda

They don’t need to give you any excuse.

As long as they didn’t say ‘you’re sacked because you’re a Sikh’ or ‘sorry but we don’t employ heterosexuals here’ then there is nothing you can do

[Deleted User]

youda wrote: »

I was immediately put on 2 months garden leave but as it was the start of the summer holidays it has been a nightmare trying to find something else - still nothing confirmed and very stressed now, making me physically ill at times with worry.

D

Nasty things happen when money is involved.

Need to look at it another way - Least you haven't been caught in a trap of having to accept the first job that comes along. This summer I ended up working for a firm that didn't want to pay minimum wage and the second, (didn't exactly thank me for my situation, what is someone to do who's about to need to apply for benefits, apply for the immediate start of course) with the insults still coming I spent this morning hearing about the ever changing payday date for being paid what I'm owed so summer could have gone better.
*much earlier*
I was ushered out of my fixed term job in July as a little earlier then hoped, 1 weeks notice was sure better then paying 3 more, like you I ended up writing my resignation hands tied though I made sure I left a footprint and would sure keep all their letters, the company would go on to write references with no indication to the fixed term tenature so you can imagine how it looked, thankfully, they seem to have done no real damage. When I had reason to go back to visit the company premises recently I felt nothing as the real positive to cling on to. I did think about asking them to amend the reference I did get to see but I think that will just get a no reference supplied and whilst it's done me no harm it should be mild irritation.

Today I got to cancel an interview which was 2k up then the job I'm offered even so it can get better. Something will turn up. I'd rather be paid 15k and be settled then have a job that keeps running into these horrid situations! They will be here to commit me soon!

Move on and put this behind you, don't try for answers x

Les79

youda wrote: »

They were clutching at straws..
One reason they gave was that the company is a million £ down on last year - this is irrelevant as I was not affecting last year's figures.
Another reason they gave was that this year's pipeline was not good enough - we were only one month into the new financial year so there was every likeliness that this would grow and my pipeline was growing, not shrinking.
Pulling out a log of phone calls and e-mails, they picked out days when my activity was low - I asked them if these were days when I was driving or on-site for example, when I wouldn't be able to phone or send e-mails and they couldn't answer.

Stuff like that!

Not really clutching at straws.... If they aren't making as much money then they might give consideration to chopping some of the staff. Sadly, with less than 2 years you are one of the easy targets and the first out.

Really cut-throat, but that sort of thing occasionally happens unfortunately.

I would reflect on whether you could have been a bit better at work. If you were merely *good* then you may have fared better working a bit harder. Whereas, if you were better than *good* then it is probably a good thing you've got out because they wouldn't have appreciated you as much as you deserve.

Little tip as well, have a look at companies house with your next employer. You have to take it with a pinch of salt, but often you can track your employer's accounts and see how their profits have gone up/down and read about the future direction. My previous company was a high revenue low profit venture and was having concerns about the long term viability due to a certain factor (documented in companies house). This effectively meant that I was never going to get a payrise and being in a non essential department I would have been one of the first offered a demotion/redundancy when cost cutting started. It also meant that the company would move location in 1-4 years time by my guess.

Ja7188

Sounds like you're much better off out of there - not only does the company seem to be struggling but it also sounds like a thoroughly nasty place to be...

Given that you were given 2 months' garden leave and presumably had a 2 month notice period, I'm guessing you were quite senior within sales so I doubt you'll have too much trouble finding something else. The jobs market always goes quiet in July and August, so arguably the timing of your leaving was a bit unfortunate, but things should pick up now...

I'd also take time to find the right company and role and to thoroughly scope both out before joining - and if necessary, take on temporary work whilst you search - there are a lot of false promises out there!

General_Grant

I can't understand why they didn't say "your position is redundant", here's your two-month notice period as garden leave".

Making you resign means that, if you wanted to claim JSA, the DWP would say you had made yourself unemployed deliberately and therefore not eligible for JSA immediately your notice expired.

If they had declared a redundancy then, once you ceased to be an employee and if you had not found other work, you could claim JSA.