Unfair dismissal 5 January at 4:56PM in Employment, jobseeking & training 13 replies 1.2K views

tilemaster

Hiya everyone , 
I have worked for a firm for 6 years in total with a one year gap after being let go when lockdown started , this time since I’ve been back which is two years , it’s been stressful with just one of two bosses unfairly treating me but I needed the job , things have come to a head and the last three months has been like going to war each day and not to work , I’ve never slackened with my job or made mistakes , I was hired to deliver to our sites and tha was it but for years I’ve also been told I had to do remedial works fixing problems caused by our tilers , and also jobs like the roof gutters on the warehouse and doing work for one of the bosses own companies which isn’t related to the company who employs me , as I say I’ve just got on with it and been verbally abused constantly if I question any of it , 
just before Xmas we were due to all finish on the Wednesday , but I was told I was on on Thursday too , which was wrong and I’d given up holidays for the Xmas period , when I got in , the boss rang me and I questioned only me being in so I let him know this and a few other things I thought was unfair , he shouted down the phone with more verbal abuse so I hung up but continued to load my van , I then noticed a message which was a text dismissing me , ( I have confirmed it was him dismissing me ) 
it read 
“park the van up and f . . K off , 

I did go and had no contact , the other partner texted me to say he knows the other boss has been at me for three months and doesn’t know why and also stating I don’t do anything to deserve this , and now they are all back I am due tomorrow to receive my week in hand payment , 
I found out today but can’t say how , that I’m not receiving my payment it has been stopped , the boss has been told he has to pay it and he’s said it’s not being paid , 

I know it’s only my side but believe me there’s a lot more of his threats and abuse , I have plenty of texts over time stating these things , 

anyway can anybody tell me where I stand please 
thanks in advance 

marcia_

Have a read here

https://www.gov.uk/dismissal/unfair-and-constructive-dismissal

someone will be along with more advice 

JReacher1

Sounds like an open and shut case of unfair dismissal. If this gets to a tribunal stage then just that text from your boss will be enough to demonstrate a fair process wasn’t followed. 

Read the link Marcia has shared and then start proceedings. Make sure you do it within three months. 

tilemaster

Thank you that helps me feel a lot better 

Undervalued

JReacher1 said:

Sounds like an open and shut case of unfair dismissal. If this gets to a tribunal stage then just that text from your boss will be enough to demonstrate a fair process wasn’t followed. 

Read the link Marcia has shared and then start proceedings. Make sure you do it within three months. 

That may well be so but, in itself, it no longer gets you very far.

At one time there were statutory procedures that an employer had to follow almost to the letter and automatic awards that a tribunal would make for any failure to do so. 

That is no longer the case. Yes, an employer is required to make a reasonable effort to follow a fair process and a clear failure to do so will constitute unfair dismissal. Whether any compensation will be awarded will depend on whether, despite the process (or lack of it) there were grounds for dismissal.

For a dismissal to be fair (in law) the employer must have a "reasonable belief" that the misconduct took place and if so the dismissal must be within the range of sanctions a reasonable employer might choose.

So, the fundamental question here is did the employer have a reasonable belief that the OP was "guilty" of misconduct? The OP says " I’ve never slackened with my job or made mistakes" if that is so then they may have a viable case. The fact that they were asked to do other tasks ("I was hired to deliver to our sites and tha was it but for years I’ve also been told I had to do remedial works fixing problems caused by our tilers , and also jobs like the roof gutters on the warehouse and doing work for one of the bosses own companies which isn’t related to the company who employs me") is almost certainly irrelevant. Most employment contracts have a clause to the effect of "such other duties as may be reasonable required" but even if it is not spelt out it is an implied duty.

tilemaster

Thanks i got a lot from that , I can assure you there is not one thing he can say about my work or attitude to work or to him , I have a text from his partner stating that nobody knows why he’s been doing this and it’s certainly not anything I’ve done , even down to site managers emailing him to compliment my work that he’s never told me about and having to hear that they have from the lad in the office , I have many texts with verbal abuse in , I do feel like a moaner but I can honestly say it’s really affected my home life and like I say it’s felt like going to war each day so maybe i should of left a long time ago but I do love my job except for this one person creating this atmosphere 
thank you for taking the time to give me that information and it feels good knowing I may be able to do something about it 

GiantTCR

get a lawyer or at least go to citizens advice

TBagpuss

As others have said, get some proper advice. Also, how long *exactly* have you been back working for them? Most employment rights kick in after two yesrts, if you were just under the full two years you would be in a much weaker positon, although you would still be entitled to be paid for your notice period and for any holiday accrued but not taken. 
Check whether you have legal cover on your home or other insurnace as this might allow you to get some initial advice from a solicitor, if not, you can try CAb or see if any university near you has a law clinic and whether they coveremployment issues. 

Marcon

TBagpuss said:

As others have said, get some proper advice. Also, how long *exactly* have you been back working for them? Most employment rights kick in after two yesrts, if you were just under the full two years you would be in a much weaker positon, although you would still be entitled to be paid for your notice period and for any holiday accrued but not taken. 
Check whether you have legal cover on your home or other insurnace as this might allow you to get some initial advice from a solicitor, if not, you can try CAb or see if any university near you has a law clinic and whether they coveremployment issues. 

The two years includes the statutory notice period which you can add on to your actual period of employment. It won't help much, as it is only one week for someone with under two years' continuous employment, but might just tip the scales.

penners324

Does sound like you're better off out.

However, an approach to ACAS and CAB is needed.

Whether a polite message to the partner you get on with saying you have outstanding salary monies, holiday pay, notice pay, statutory redundancy pay still due might be an idea....

Savvy_Sue

Are you a union member? If so, take their advice immediately.