Advice please on disciplinary

[shippy]

Hiya all

I received a letter from my employer statting that i have been suspended from my possition of work this has come as a tottal surprise to me.

The reason's for this is use of company mobile for personel calls to my wife and a problem with my paperwork being late into office, ok i can live with that but this is what the letter saying breifly.

All these matters have been brought to ur attention befor and that ur contract will be terminated without any compansation then few more lines latter then termanate without any compansation again appears.
Then it gose on to say unless orther wise agreed a disapliary will be held on the 19/10/10.

this sounds to me like thay just want me out of the company' and offering me a carrot to get shot of me! up untill today i loved working for them but i dont no now what to do risk a disaplinary or leave i dont think this is a gross missconduct case for dissmisal but would like ur oppinions on it.

I wana say i have neva missed a day in 5yrs of service and have on plenty occasions done 15 to 19 hr shifts leaving my home sometimes at 2am and not returning to following evening staying away from home for a week a time with only 12hrs notice. any advice gratfull

[WendyB]

Re: Advice please on disapinary

There are procedures which must be followed before dismissal, unless it comes under gross misconduct. Normally there would have to be a verbal and a written warning I believe. You say the letter says these matters have been brought to your attention before. Have they? If so, verbally or in writing? You say they are offering you a carrot, but you haven't said whay the carrot is. As to whether or not you think it's gross misconduct, that would depend on what it says in your contract I would think, as different companies may specify different things under the gross misconduct heading.

Any chance you could scan in the actual letter, with personal details removed?

I am not an expert in Employment law but am sure someone who is will be along to answer you more fully, but as I said, a bit more background etc would help.

[Amethyst]

Re: Advice please on disapinary

Do you have your employment contract and disciplinary handbook/code of conduct ? have a look through those and see if it is a specific term or requirement not to use the company phone for personal calls and so on.

Have you had any warning about this in the past ? did you offer to pay for the personal calls at that point ? how many previous warnings ?

You say you received a letter - have you been on leave ? or was this at work ?

[TUTTSI]

Re: Advice please on disapinary

If and when you have access to a scanner, can you please scan the letter up on this thread but omitting your personal details.

Can you confirm if you have actually received any previous written notices in this connection in the past or was it just verbal and how many times have you received this verbally and the time scales i.e when you were last told about using your mobile or/and being late with the paperwork.

Do you belong to any trade union?

[MAXXX]

Re: Advice please on disapinary

This sounds a bit OTT.
An employer would normally suspend an employee before a disciplinary, to investigate the claim and to avoid the employee in question interferring with the investigation i.e to stop the employee talking to other employees (possible witnesses) but if all they are saying you have been suspended for is because of improper use of a company phone and late paperwork it would suggest that there is something else afoot.

1. You are entitled to know why you are being invited to a disciplinary.
2. You need to be advised of your right to representation.
3. Anything conduct related (apart from anything that constitues gross misconduct) really needs addressing with you face to face before sending you a letter.
4. Anything performance related, again needs to be raised with you face to face first with areas to improve.

A key point here is - If the disciplinary procedure has not been followed correctly then the outcome whether that be a subsequent dismissal or warning is automatically deemed unfair.

As requested above, can you copy the letter.

[Caspar]

Re: Advice please on disapinary

Shippy - I notice your original post was in September and you have had no input since. Any news on what happened? I've dealt with a lot of disciplinary issues (always in education) and the closest I've had to your situation was personal abuse of the internet network in a school. This led to a formal written warning that stays on file for a certain period (can't remember without looking it up) and is then removed and ceases to be part of your record of employment anymore.