Casual worker dismissed

nickylabron

This is a little long winded sorry but wanted to give some background to the case:

I was a full time operator in an emergency contact centre for a local council for five years. When I left for another full time role, I immediately without break stayed on as a relief operator.

I was given consistent monthly shifts without break for three years after this.

Last December, my on call manager did not pick up the phone or mobile to me several times when I called for help as I manned the extraordinarily busy shift alone. At the end of the shift, the operator next in to relieve me did not appear as she was under the impression she had booked the day as leave. Turns out the manager text her to say her leave was cancelled the day before but she’d not read the text. The relieving operator informed me they would be in very shortly as she lived close by. Having already stayed ten minutes after my shift had finished at this point I again tried to contact the manager but she still wouldn’t answer. I diverted all incoming calls to our partner control room and had to rush off as I had to pick up my young daughter. The relieving operator came in minutes after me.

The next day I emailed the my bosses and the head of service to state my concerns about this shift as the on call manager did not answer, I was too busy to be working alone and about what happened at the end of shift. The head of service told me he would pass it down the chain and someone would get back to me. They never did.

I worked the week after this, then the week after that, and no one got back to me about my concerns. I was then offered shifts for January 2018. These shifts were cancelled by email the day before the first one by a manager three levels above me. He refused to elaborate why and it eventually went to a pre grievance hearing. This took three months to investigate and the end result was there was no answer for it, but there are still currently no shifts for me.

I took it to grievance level, none of the grievance was upheld. It again took months to get the findings, and in the findings the then head of HR said the manager of the call centre took me leaving that shift back in December before the next operator came in as Gross Misconduct. This only came to light in these grievance findings which I was delivered on 28th September this year, nearly ten months after the shift in question that I actually worked for two shifts after.


My union are telling me I cannot go to tribunal for unfair dismissal as it’s outside of the three months one day rule. My argument is that I only found this out on 28th September and would have had no way of knowing I was dismissed.

The relief contract, I’m told as I’ve never seen of had a copy, says that work is allocated on an ‘as when required’ basis.

Some people have mentioned unfair dismissal, some say suffering a detriment of a casual worker, some say excluded from companies policies and procedures as I was relief. There is also an element of bullying as the managers ganged up on me and one even admits to telling me to “crack on son” when I said I was worried and may go to HR.

I would just like some pointers on where to go and where I stand. I do not want to work for them again as I know they will find a way to get rid of me. Instead I would like to be compensated for missed work and work I will no longer have.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Thank you

Undervalued

nickylabron wrote: »

This is a little long winded sorry but wanted to give some background to the case:

I was a full time operator in an emergency contact centre for a local council for five years. When I left for another full time role, I immediately without break stayed on as a relief operator.

I was given consistent monthly shifts without break for three years after this.

Last December, my on call manager did not pick up the phone or mobile to me several times when I called for help as I manned the extraordinarily busy shift alone. At the end of the shift, the operator next in to relieve me did not appear as she was under the impression she had booked the day as leave. Turns out the manager text her to say her leave was cancelled the day before but she’d not read the text. The relieving operator informed me they would be in very shortly as she lived close by. Having already stayed ten minutes after my shift had finished at this point I again tried to contact the manager but she still wouldn’t answer. I diverted all incoming calls to our partner control room and had to rush off as I had to pick up my young daughter. The relieving operator came in minutes after me.

The next day I emailed the my bosses and the head of service to state my concerns about this shift as the on call manager did not answer, I was too busy to be working alone and about what happened at the end of shift. The head of service told me he would pass it down the chain and someone would get back to me. They never did.

I worked the week after this, then the week after that, and no one got back to me about my concerns. I was then offered shifts for January 2018. These shifts were cancelled by email the day before the first one by a manager three levels above me. He refused to elaborate why and it eventually went to a pre grievance hearing. This took three months to investigate and the end result was there was no answer for it, but there are still currently no shifts for me.

I took it to grievance level, none of the grievance was upheld. It again took months to get the findings, and in the findings the then head of HR said the manager of the call centre took me leaving that shift back in December before the next operator came in as Gross Misconduct. This only came to light in these grievance findings which I was delivered on 28th September this year, nearly ten months after the shift in question that I actually worked for two shifts after.


My union are telling me I cannot go to tribunal for unfair dismissal as it’s outside of the three months one day rule. My argument is that I only found this out on 28th September and would have had no way of knowing I was dismissed.

The relief contract, I’m told as I’ve never seen of had a copy, says that work is allocated on an ‘as when required’ basis.

Some people have mentioned unfair dismissal, some say suffering a detriment of a casual worker, some say excluded from companies policies and procedures as I was relief. There is also an element of bullying as the managers ganged up on me and one even admits to telling me to “crack on son” when I said I was worried and may go to HR.

I would just like some pointers on where to go and where I stand. I do not want to work for them again as I know they will find a way to get rid of me. Instead I would like to be compensated for missed work and work I will no longer have.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Thank you

There are very limited circumstances in which you can exceed the 3 month rule. This might be one of them.

Who in the union told you that you couldn't? Was it proper legal advice, based on the full facts of your case or a generic "you can't" from a lay "official"?

Comms69

It sounds like you were a zero hours worker, not an employee.


Therefore there is no dismissal as such. They simply stops providing you with work.

agrinnall

Have you actually been formally been dismissed, or simply not given any more shifts? If you were dismissed, when did that happen? Does your employer view your relief role as continuous service from your previous full time role?

General_Grant

agrinnall wrote: »

Have you actually been formally been dismissed, or simply not given any more shifts? If you were dismissed, when did that happen? Does your employer view your relief role as continuous service from your previous full time role?

Was there really no break? No two Saturdays after your normal employment ended?

ReadingTim

When was your last shift with them and what have you been doing for work since?

sangie595

There are a number of potential factors at play here, so I'm going to cut to the chase and not get distracted by too much information.

OP, please answer .... You have had no payments at all since January when your last shifts were cancelled. Did you not notice that you hadn't worked or been paid for nine months?

Because if you were an employee, believed yourself to be, then I think you might have queried it a bit sooner. So, you aren't an employee. There is therefore no right to claim unfair dismissal. Your union is right for the wrong reasons - workers cannot claim unfair dismissal, only employees can.

As a worker there is no such thing as dismissal in law - the employer is not obligated to offer you any work ever.

Finally, employee or worker, and regardless of extenuating circumstances, walking out of an emergency contact centre and leaving nobody on duty is quite certainly gross misconduct. Either way, when this came to the employers attention, you wouldn't have been working for them again.

There is no law that says that casual workers cannot be treated with to a detriment. That's for part time employees. Wrong category again.

And telling you to "crack on son" is not bullying. It's pretty much the same reaction you'd get from a lot of people. You threatened to go to HR because you thought you had rights (that you didn't have), so the manager told you to do it! Also, bullying isn't actually against general employment law, much as people think that it is.

Bluntly speaking, you haven't got a case of anything at all. And you aren't going to get compensated because you have had no loss - you were never entitled to any payment and that is exactly what you got. And you aren't entitled to go to a tribunal because you are not an employee. This is going nowhere.... Move on, because that's the only option you have.

classriot

I think it's safe to say that if you were a zero-hours worker you won't be entitled to any compensation. There were other questions in the other comments, provide the info pls

nickylabron

Hi there,

It was via a phone call to the union line experts, they knew brief details of the case but not the full facts

Thanks

nickylabron

Not officially dismissed, just not offered any more shifts. And yes, it was continuous from the full time role. Continuous as regular monthly shifts

nickylabron

I queried from the first time my shift was cancelled, to the next time, in several emails, calls and informal and formal meetings why I wasn't being offered work anymore and no explanation was given. It was only ten months my last shift in December 2017,after an arduous grievance appeal did the findings come back and it was stated by my manager that she thought I was guilty of gross misconduct. There was no disciplinary hearing, no discussions, nothing.

Fact it, the manager didn't like me because I've whistle blowed about people, procedure and health and safety. This is the real reason I'm not being offered shifts, they came up with gross misconduct after ten months of saying nothing as they had to come up with something for the grievance. I worked two more shifts after this 'gross misconduct'. And point to note again, the control room calls were all diverted and the relieving operator came in minutes later.

As for the bullying, there was a lot more, would have taken a very long time to explain it all.

It just seems highly unfair casual workers get no rights of employment.