Is Dismissal Fair?

Brendan90210

Hi, I was recently dismissed following 20 years of exemplary service. I had been caught speeding 4 times in 3 years and received 6 month ban. I chose to appeal the ban and wrongly assumed I could still drive under appeal and drove a work car once without realising I was committing a criminal offence. It was only when my licence was checked several months later that the incident came to light and I confessed to my manager that I may have made an error of judgement. The matter was subsequently investigated and I was summarily dismissed, citing gross negligence and an irretrievable breakdown in trust. I held my hands up and was co-operative and remorseful throughout. I have subsequently found out through a freedom of information request that other staff have been found guilty of gross misconduct for theft, conduct or fraud (some where it wasn’t a first offence) yet were given a lesser sanction eg final written warning. The question I ask is that although I’m guilty of gross negligence, is it fair that I have not been treated differently to other colleagues with regard to a decision on sanction. Should the organisation have considered my mitigation’s eg long service, first offence, remorse, along with previous decisions/sanctions awarded to colleagues. If so should I be taking this decision to a tribunal? Or should I accept that the misconduct falls within a boundary of reasonable responses and accept that decisions can be different dependant on how serious the organisation deems the offence, even if it is inconsistent. Any advice is greatly appreciated! 

Thrugelmir

What outcome are you hoping to achieve? 

AskAsk

I am afraid your employer had every right to sack you, and I agree with them.  I believe they have just cause.

elsien

What sanctions were applied to other colleagues isn’t relevant. The decision is based solely on your case and the individual facts, not on unrelated instances for other people where the details shouldn’t be being shared with you anyway. 

Brendan90210

Thanks for your opinions and thoughts thus far, all greatly appreciated! 

My personal opinion is that decisions and sanctions should be consistent unrelated or not, I’m not sure where that stands in law. Otherwise there may be bias eg I get fired because decision maker doesn’t like me or I’m old, or black. Yet someone else gets a final written warning because they are pretty, young or white. I think there should be a consistent approach right? So other cases and precedents should be considered surely?

KatrinaWaves

If all outcomes were the same, what would be the point in an investigation. 

You bring up race and age. If you feel you have been treated poorly due to a protected characteristic, then feel free to go to a tribunal. Your point about ‘not being liked’ well guess what, if you commit gross misconduct then they can sack you because they don’t like you, and keep someone else because they do. That’s not protected. 

If you’ve been sacked simply for your actions, then it doesn’t matter if someone else’s actions were deemed more redeemable at the time. Thousands of things can change. They could have been more valuable to the company. Maybe the company was looking to make redundancies and you handed them an opportunity to dismiss you on a plate. It doesn’t matter what happened to other people, unless it was illegal discrimination. 

Brendan90210

Thank you for your opinion, again it is greatly appreciated. So what you are saying is that a company can dismiss or keep, it’s down to them and doesn’t lawfully have to be consistent or fair. Just as long as there is gross misconduct they can get rid regardless of it being a first offence, an uncharacteristic  mistake or if you have long unblemished service, That saddens me if true.

[Deleted User]

It's a hard situation for you and i feel for you.
Of course it's true though, a business is just that, it's a machine, not an emotional being.

tealady

You say it was a 1st offence, but you were caught speeding 3 times. You drove a works car which could affect the company's insurance, thus possibly hiking their premiums. That could have been a factor in their decision.
I would suggest you look for another job which does not involve driving for a living.

Undervalued

Brendan90210 said:

Thanks for your opinions and thoughts thus far, all greatly appreciated! 

My personal opinion is that decisions and sanctions should be consistent unrelated or not, I’m not sure where that stands in law. Otherwise there may be bias eg I get fired because decision maker doesn’t like me or I’m old, or black. Yet someone else gets a final written warning because they are pretty, young or white. I think there should be a consistent approach right? So other cases and precedents should be considered surely?

The cannot discriminate on legally protected grounds such as race, gender, sexual orientation etc. However that is all. If you think about it many aspects of employment totally rely on "discrimination". Who do you appoint, promote, give a pay rise? Nothing says it has to be the best qualified candidate (however you define that) otherwise what would be the point of holding an interview?

To get back to your original question. You committed a criminal offence whilst carrying out your work and ignorance of the law is no excuse. In fact your ignorance of the law, given that driving seems to be a part of your work, quite frankly condemns you further. That is on top of four speeding offences in three years!

Stenwold

If you're guilty of gross misconduct then the outcome is at the company's discretion.

I'd imagine one of the reasons for the dismissal was the risk you placed on the company - if you got caught driving or were involved in an accident in a company car whilst on a ban, there would be serious consequences for the company.