postman sacked

stmoritz1960

Hi, not sure if anyone can help, my daughter's boyfriend was a postman, they are all given extra leaflets to deliver and lots of them get dumped or left behind, anyway the boyfriend had, had a bad foot, after slipping off a kerb, on this particular day he had only a few leaflets to deliver and put them in the bin, unbeknown to him there was a letter in there too, which was found and reported to Royal Mail and he has been sacked, he had never done this before and would never again, is there anything he can do to appeal?  I know this won't be a popular post and I don't need to hear, serves him right sort of answers as that won't help, but just wondered if because of the circumstances it would be worth appealing, he actually loves him job and is distraught.

DE_612183

Is he employed by Royal Mail or an agency?

They should have gone through a specific process that's outlined in his contract - that would have given him the opportunity to appeal.

I'm guess this is classed as "gross misconduct" - there should be a procedure.

DullGreyGuy

Did it go through a disciplinary process or was it a frog marched out the building type thing?

How long had he worked for them?

noitsnotme

How long was he in the job?

Brie

Difficult one.  I can see how RM would take this to dismissal rather than having a warning given that delivering letters is their primary service.  Has he talked to the union about it?  They would be the best ones to advise. 

I'm wondering if it's a case of having to leave things as they are for now but to apply again in a few months, even if as a temp replacement for those on summer holidays.  That might then potentially allow him back in.  But I'd say that if he manages to get to interview stage to be very up front about what happened.  "I hurt my foot, was limping and out of frustration chucked some leaflets in the bin and didn't notice the letter.  I certainly would never throw away anyone's post on purpose as I know it's such an important part of the RM service.  I'm truly sorry for making such a stupid mistake and would never do so again."

noitsnotme

The leaflets are important to the businesses that paid Royal Mail to distribute them.

GingerTim

noitsnotme said:

The leaflets are important to the businesses that paid Royal Mail to distribute them.

Yes - implying that it was okay to chuck out the leaflets in some sort of mitigation is just not going to fly.

Devongardener

Did he injure his foot whilst on duty, if so did he contact to his line manager and report it as an accident?  That’s the only way I think he might claim mitigating circumstances.

Marcon

stmoritz1960 said:

Hi, not sure if anyone can help, my daughter's boyfriend was a postman, they are all given extra leaflets to deliver and lots of them get dumped or left behind, anyway the boyfriend had, had a bad foot, after slipping off a kerb, on this particular day he had only a few leaflets to deliver and put them in the bin, unbeknown to him there was a letter in there too, which was found and reported to Royal Mail and he has been sacked, he had never done this before and would never again, is there anything he can do to appeal?  I know this won't be a popular post and I don't need to hear, serves him right sort of answers as that won't help, but just wondered if because of the circumstances it would be worth appealing, he actually loves him job and is distraught.

If he 'only had a few leaflets to deliver' it's hard to see how a letter could have escaped his notice. Nothing lost by appealing, but not quite sure what 'circumstances' you think would help. 

DullGreyGuy

Marcon said:

stmoritz1960 said:

Hi, not sure if anyone can help, my daughter's boyfriend was a postman, they are all given extra leaflets to deliver and lots of them get dumped or left behind, anyway the boyfriend had, had a bad foot, after slipping off a kerb, on this particular day he had only a few leaflets to deliver and put them in the bin, unbeknown to him there was a letter in there too, which was found and reported to Royal Mail and he has been sacked, he had never done this before and would never again, is there anything he can do to appeal?  I know this won't be a popular post and I don't need to hear, serves him right sort of answers as that won't help, but just wondered if because of the circumstances it would be worth appealing, he actually loves him job and is distraught.

If he 'only had a few leaflets to deliver' it's hard to see how a letter could have escaped his notice. Nothing lost by appealing, but not quite sure what 'circumstances' you think would help. 

The letter and leaflets are both things Royal Mail and he were being paid to deliver. Not sure if RM would see a material difference between bumping either and claiming to have finished the day. Clearly with a letter there is a potential for it to contain PII and so be a data breach as well but it also could have just been generic marketing addressed to "the owner" with no PII

Mr.Generous

I'd have thought the stuff you could do and not get sacked - although varied by job - would not include the core business of your employer. He's paid to deliver post. It might be sealed letters, postcards or leaflets. He threw them in a bin. I think that would be pretty clear cut gross misconduct. For Royal Mail not to take such an act very seriously then they would be complicit in fraud - taking payment to deliver advertising materials (as well as actual letters) and not taking reasonable steps to make it happen. Whether he claims it's common practice to dump leaflets or not there is no possibility they will admit this in a formal interview with a written record of the meeting.