Looking for the best strategy to dismiss an employee - Question for any HR/Employment law experts

AW618

Hasbeen said:

Mellisa_D said:

There are several performance related issues with this Employee over the past several months so planning to hold a disciplinary hearing.

The outcome we want is to dismiss her.
 However she has recently applied for flexible working due to Childcare reasons which has been rejected by the Company.
 

So newish employee, she has been there just under 2 years. What has been discussed at reviews re, work / performance?

Last few months problems occurred ? perhaps due to child care reasons. And she has asked for flexible working, to help this?

So what efforts have the "company" done to help / support her? You have already invested just under 2 yrs in this employee.

But her request has been refused due to performance or other non specified reasons?

Your mind is already made up to dismiss, without any discussion. But you are holding a disciplinary hearing. Where the outcome is "surprise" dismissal.

As others have said under 2 years employment, no reason to be given for dismissal unless Race, Gender, etc by law.

But it appears to be a really unprofessional company, that do not follow any procedures and have to resort to asking anonymous people on a forum for advice. Really!

If the company does not understand basic employment legislation, then I would advise getting a professional employment HR Specialist / Solicitor etc involved ? ASAP before your "hearing"  

Many companies are essentially one person with a couple of employees.  It is hardly surprising they are "unprofessional" in situations like this.  Is it your view that companies should not be allowed to exist until they are big enough to sustain an HR department?

Undervalued

AW618 said:

JReacher1 said:

It seems against the premise of this forum to have a thread advising how to sack someone. 

Why?  Where does this forum make any claim to be "on the side of the employee"?

Quite!
Anybody can post and anybody can respond. Whilst some of the responses from people who really know the subject can be excellent, sadly some are not. Either way all advice comes without any guarantee but may at least help the person by raising points that they may want to investigate further.

JReacher1

AW618 said:

JReacher1 said:

It seems against the premise of this forum to have a thread advising how to sack someone. 

Why?  Where does this forum make any claim to be "on the side of the employee"?

It’s a moneysaving consumer site that has a main goal of championing the consumer!

A company asking the best way to sack someone goes against the principles of why Martin set this site up! I enjoy watching Martin on TV and am yet to see his episode where he advises how to sack people 😂

elsien

An employee isn't really any more of a consumer than a small business owner with one or two employees.  
Martin's principles in setting up the site started to get watered down when he sold it. Which he was obviously entitled to do but it's certainly not the site he set up any more.  

AW618

JReacher1 said:

AW618 said:

JReacher1 said:

It seems against the premise of this forum to have a thread advising how to sack someone. 

Why?  Where does this forum make any claim to be "on the side of the employee"?

It’s a moneysaving consumer site that has a main goal of championing the consumer!

A company asking the best way to sack someone goes against the principles of why Martin set this site up! I enjoy watching Martin on TV and am yet to see his episode where he advises how to sack people 😂

Even if that were true, he sold this site, for money, and what he thinks carries no weight whatsoever.

MalMonroe

Why not contact Acas? (At one time, they used all capitals to form their acronym, now they don't) in the first instance, before going to the expense of hiring solicitors, etc.?  https://www.acas.org.uk/

They helped me so much when I needed help and advice. Mind you, mine was from the perspective of an employee but they also advise employers and they're impartial. 

MalMonroe

elsien said:

An employee isn't really any more of a consumer than a small business owner with one or two employees.  
Martin's principles in setting up the site started to get watered down when he sold it. Which he was obviously entitled to do but it's certainly not the site he set up any more.  

I agree with what you say but it does say at the outset - in the MSE Forum policies - that people are free to ask any questions they like, as long as they understand that the answers they may receive may be absolute and utter rubbish. (Not in those words, obviously but that's the gist.) 

People can ask questions, and people can give answers but nobody has to take any of it seriously. Nor should they, and they are warned not to.

MalMonroe

Annisele said:

I agree with others that the most money saving thing you can do here is to get yourself some paid for advice. Almost certainly cheaper to do it now than later!

Just as food for thought - emphatically not as questions that I expect answers to - I wonder about things like:

• You say this employee has had performance issues "over the past several months" and that there are "childcare issues". Would these performance issues have started, say, in March 2020? And have the employee's normal childcare arrangements been disrupted? If 'yes' and 'yes', I'd wonder if the pandemic might be having an impact here. And dismissing anybody because the pandemic had a disproportionate impact on them does start to look as though it might be indirect sex discrimination.
• Did the employee's manager draw the performance issues to her attention before the flexible working request was refused? If not, a dismissal might look retaliatory.
• Was the employer acting lawfully and reasonably when it rejected the flexible working request? If not, and if the poor performance is in any way related to childcare, there are definite risks in a dismissal.
• Does the employee actually want to stay? If not, a COT3 "here's some money to go away" agreement might be a way forward.
  

COT3 is an Acas-issued form, usually at the conclusion of an Employment Tribunal. OP hasn't quite got that far yet. I know these things because I've had a COT3.

Paid-for advice isn't necessary yet, Acas will give free, comprehensive and impartial advice, as I've mentioned here.

MalMonroe

Thrugelmir said:

Mellisa_D said:

We have an employee who is less than 2 years service.
There are several performance related issues with this Employee over the past several months so planning to hold a disciplinary hearing. Examples are around:
-Lack of attention to detail
-Keeping files up to date
-Payroll errors
-Failure to follow reasonable management instructions
- Accurate reporting
Etc.
There are around 30 supporting evidence documents to back this up.
The outcome we want is to dismiss her.
Ordinarily this would be a straight forward case. However she has recently applied for flexible working due to Childcare reasons which has been rejected by the Company.
There is also some indication that she may raise a grievance against her line manager who has raised the performance related issues.
I'm reaching out to this forum to get some HR advice on this as I believe that we have grounds to dismiss her however I would like to get some opinions.
My question to any HR experts is what would be the best strategy to dismiss her and what are the pros and cons based on the above?

Speak to an employment solicitor if you don't have internal HR expertise. Sounds as this employee may well try it on.  You need to nip this in the bud immediately. Before she fires the first salvo putting you on the back foot. 

OP could go to Acas first, it's free and impartial. And, in my experience, sensible.

Masomnia

AW618 said:

JReacher1 said:

It seems against the premise of this forum to have a thread advising how to sack someone. 

Why?  Where does this forum make any claim to be "on the side of the employee"?

There's certainly no danger of that.

Happy for people to post what they want but I personally don't like advising employers as really they should be paying for proper advice. This forum is not at that standard most of the time and I'd hate to think employers were making decisions that affected people's livelihoods based on randomers on the internet.