Suspended on full pay

lja19

Hi all, looking for some advice. I have been suspended on full pay from my job whilst they conduct an investigation. They have said there could be 2 outcomes. Firstly, nothing happens and the investigation shows that nothing has arisen - which it should! - or maybe further training etc Secondly, a disciplinary hearing. As awkward as it is, I have been looking for a new job prior to this happening and I have now got a few interviews - just bad timing they all come after the suspension. I have been looking to submit my notice for the past 2 months prior to this happening but I didn't as I can't afford to be unemployed especially of the festive period. I have been told the suspension doesn't constitute a disciplinary action and that it doesn't imply any assumption that I am guilty of misconduct. Regardless of the outcome I do not want to continue in this company as I will not feel as trusted or as comfortable as i once did. I am really worried about the reference they could provide. I am also hardly sleeping from worry and feel sick to my stomach every day. Can anyone advise me of what would happen should I submit my notice. I am also unsure as to whether to submit with immediate effect or with the notice period (3 months). Any advice welcome! Thanks!

Undervalued

lja19 wrote: »

Hi all, looking for some advice. I have been suspended on full pay from my job whilst they conduct an investigation. They have said there could be 2 outcomes. Firstly, nothing happens and the investigation shows that nothing has arisen - which it should! - or maybe further training etc Secondly, a disciplinary hearing. As awkward as it is, I have been looking for a new job prior to this happening and I have now got a few interviews - just bad timing they all come after the suspension. I have been looking to submit my notice for the past 2 months prior to this happening but I didn't as I can't afford to be unemployed especially of the festive period. I have been told the suspension doesn't constitute a disciplinary action and that it doesn't imply any assumption that I am guilty of misconduct. Regardless of the outcome I do not want to continue in this company as I will not feel as trusted or as comfortable as i once did. I am really worried about the reference they could provide. I am also hardly sleeping from worry and feel sick to my stomach every day. Can anyone advise me of what would happen should I submit my notice. I am also unsure as to whether to submit with immediate effect or with the notice period (3 months). Any advice welcome! Thanks!

Nobody can tell you what would happen, the best we can do is say what might happen.

As they have told you, suspension is (legally) a neutral act. It does not imply guilt but inevitably some people will see it that way. No smoke without fire etc.

If you resign the firm may be perfectly happy and draw a line under whatever they are investigating. Or, they may press on regardless. They could do either.

Equally, regarding references, they could perfectly lawfully say "resigned whilst under suspension and investigation for XXX" which most people would read as a "bad" reference. Or they could just provide a bare bones reference confirming dates of employment which is all quite a lot of employers do anyway.

A third option is to offer to resign in exchange for an agreed reference. Technically this should be done via a formal settlement agreement for which you have to receive legal advice but you may be willing to take an informal assurance.

shortcrust

If your notice period is three months you’re obviously going to be in breach of your contract if you resign with immediate effect. If an employee just walked and ignored their notice period I’d definitely put that on a reference and I wouldn’t dream of hiring someone who’d done so.

How about just being open with your employer, saying you’ve been looking for work elsewhere and asking what they would put on a reference at this stage? If you don’t want to stay there and are thinking of quitting that would seem like a pretty low risk move.

Mistral001

Resigning WILL be seem by an admission of guilt my many. You cannot make that go away. If you want your name cleared of the allegations you must stay on and see through the disciplinary procedures.

Smodlet

Mistral001 wrote: »

Resigning WILL be seem by an admission of guilt my many. You cannot make that go away. If you want your name cleared of the allegations you must stay on and see through the disciplinary procedures.

Whilst I agree with Mistral001's post, only you know the situation, OP. You are a far better judge of what is likely to happen in your situation than anyone on a forum can possibly be.

What do you want to happen? How sure are you that this investigation will exonerate you? How much do you care about clearing your name compared to how much you just want to cut and run?

Presumably, you know what the investigation is about so know whether or not you are guilty of whatever you are supposed to have done. If you are innocent, how confident are you that your employers will find the truth of the matter? I think, as always, there's the rub.

Annisele

Mistral001 wrote: »

Resigning WILL be seem by an admission of guilt my many. You cannot make that go away. If you want your name cleared of the allegations you must stay on and see through the disciplinary procedures.

I don't think things are quite that clear cut.

If OP works in something like teaching, and the allegations are the sort of things that (if proved) would rightly mean they shouldn't work in teaching anymore, then if they want to remain in the same industry they might have no choice but to see through the disciplinary procedures.

In other industries, a "bare bones" reference that just gives dates employed might be pretty valuable to the OP, and potentially much better than risking the outcome of a disciplinary.

I know what my employer would do if somebody with a three month notice period were to resign with immediate effect without first attempting to negotiate- it would accept the resignation, discontinue the disciplinary, and future references would say the employee had breached their contract. But I've no idea what OP's employer would do.

eamon

12 weeks notice is quite long so you must be reasonably important to your employer.



I would suggest that you attempt an informal chat with a HR manager (but be careful to avoid any conversations re the suspension reason) and find out their approach to references.

annetheman

If it is making you stressed to the point of unwellness and you were planning an exit anyway, I would definitely take the option of resigning now; at least it comes with the potential added bonus of them closing the matter with no further disruption for you.

It would be worth asking them beforehand if they would be able to confirm the suspension would not be mentioned in a future reference. They still might - but if they are like most employers I have been with (not that I've been in this situation), they likely would not mention it, just give dates and position/job roles during your employment.

Life is too short to be unhappy - move on! One lean Christmas is worth a stress-free life.

Edit to add: further to the comment that "resigning is like an admission of guilt" - that is in the eyes of the general populace/your colleagues who know about it. Really, in the eyes of the law and to most employers, it is just ending your employment during a period you were not performing your duties whilst they were investigating something. That can happen to you even if you were not the accused perpetrator of anything against company policy - e.g. my dad was "suspended" technically because he could give evidence at a tribunal of another colleague in a messy situation that reached the news (he's an NHS doc). He ended up leaving during the suspension because the whole situation was mismanaged and the person in question was a "friend". It was never mentioned again.

[Deleted User]

eamon wrote: »

12 weeks notice is quite long so you must be reasonably important to your employer.



I would suggest that you attempt an informal chat with a HR manager (but be careful to avoid any conversations re the suspension reason) and find out their approach to references.

Notice is no indication I'm afraid of importance. Employers will say anything when nobody else is willing.

In July 2018 working close to 50 odd hours which worked out at simply £7.50 p/h for the mega salary on offer based on working these hours I remember the potential of being held to a 2 /3 month notice period as a customer service agent in shipping , I also remember the company had all it's female employees in the dept going on maternity and had an unstable future (company sold 4 months down the line to a big player who booted a rather long-standing HR and many positions in power out.)

TBagpuss

I would not resign until you have been offered a new job.

Do you know what kind of reference s you employer normally gives? A lot now only provide factual references, stating the dates of your employment and the job titleyou had.

If you resign now, then they could give a refernce which stated that you resigned while under investigation, and that will make potenatil future emnployers wary as it it is common for people to do that when they know they have done whatever they were under investigation for, and hope that by jumping before they are pushedthey can avoif being dismissed.

Particualrly as you say you didn't do whatever you are accused of, I would suggest that you keep up with your job huunt, and hand inyour notice once you get an offer.
At that point you may be ableto negotiate a shortened notice period.

In fairness, most employers are not going to set out to make it more difficukltfor you to move on, especially if there have ben disciplinary issues. If you get a new job then the risk of you making any claims or accustations of unfair dismissal etc are much lower, so unless the misconduct alleged is somethingthey wouldhavto report to a regulator or governing body, in most casesthey aren't going to care what you doateyou leave, so shouldbe open to agreeing to give a stritly limited reference setting out ates worked only.

ohreally

Are you guilty of the allegations and what can the employer demonstrate?