suspended without reason!!!

[Tempty]

Hi all
I need a little advice, My husband has a friend working for the same company (PH Jones) as he does. They fit electric meters for the company as part of the companies British Gas contract.

on Friday afternoon my husbands friend recieved a call on his work mobile phone from the area supervisor telling him to down tools and go home! no reason was given other then he was on suspension with full pay untill further notice. He was told a letter would be sent to him in the post, as yet nothing has arrived.

As you can imagine this person is very stressed and despite asking for information has been told nothing ..... first of all can the company do this? ie. suspend without reason?

I am aware that there are certain things within the contract that can lead to instant dismissal .... such as working live etc. but this person is not aware of having made such a mistake and is genuinly racking his brains and worrying over just what the reason for his suspension could be.
Is there anyway he can force the company to reveal the reason he has been suspended? Are there any laws to protect against this sort of thing?

it does seem a bit strange.... this is not a small company we are talking about here.
any help most apreciated. my husband is quite concerned for this person.
Thanks Tempty

[Guest]

Re: suspended without reason!!!

Suspensions on full pay are relatively common and are used when an accusation of some kind has been made and until the facts can be checked no implications can be drawn by the company against the employee. As odd as it may sound, this is done for the protection of the employee.

As soon as it is reasonable, he should be told why he has been suspended, however, if the accusation involves another employee and it might prejudice an impartial investigation and the purpose of the suspension is to eliminate your husband's friend from any blame, then this may not be the case.

A meeting will be arranged when the reasons for the suspension will be explained. Your husband's friend is entitled to know, in advance of any meeting, the reason for the meeting.

For further information, Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) offers free, confidential and impartial advice on all employment rights issues. He can call the Acas helpline on 08457 47 47 47 from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm Monday to Friday.

[Birdie]

Re: suspended without reason!!!

Hi.

He has a right to know why he has been suspended - they should put it in the letter (once they write it). They should actually have told him verbally, even if over the telephone when he was initially suspended. Has he been told how long he is likely to be suspended for, has a meeting been arranged with him and an HR person (which I take it they have if they are a fairly large company) to discuss length of suspension?

If it is alleged that he has done something wrong, there should be an investigation.

Does he have a union rep?

Who has he been trying to contact at work - the supervisor or HR?

Does he have a copy of their disciplinary policy?

Birdie

[Tempty]

Re: suspended without reason!!!

Suspensions on full pay are relatively common and are used when an accusation of some kind has been made and until the facts can be checked no implications can be drawn by the company against the employee. As odd as it may sound, this is done for the protection of the employee.

As soon as it is reasonable, he should be told why he has been suspended, however, if the accusation involves another employee and it might prejudice an impartial investigation and the purpose of the suspension is to eliminate your husband's friend from any blame, then this may not be the case.

A meeting will be arranged when the reasons for the suspension will be explained. Your husband's friend is entitled to know, in advance of any meeting, the reason for the meeting.

For further information, Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) offers free, confidential and impartial advice on all employment rights issues. He can call the Acas helpline on 08457 47 47 47 from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm Monday to Friday.

Thanks for that Cet,
I had a feeling that would be the case, I have passed on the phone number for him to contact Acas.
just one more daft question ...... is there any guideline on what would be classed as a reasonable amount of time?
obviously the longer this goes on the more stress he is under, poor sod has allready said he has hardly slept all weekend and on one occasion made himself physically sick! not good

[Tempty]

Re: suspended without reason!!!

Hi.

He has a right to know why he has been suspended - they should put it in the letter (once they write it). They should actually have told him verbally, even if over the telephone when he was initially suspended. Has he been told how long he is likely to be suspended for, has a meeting been arranged with him and an HR person (which I take it they have if they are a fairly large company) to discuss length of suspension?

If it is alleged that he has done something wrong, there should be an investigation.

Does he have a union rep?

Who has he been trying to contact at work - the supervisor or HR?

Does he have a copy of their disciplinary policy?

Birdie

Hi Birdie
I must admit I would have expected him to be given an explaination too. However Cet's post does make sense to me, and I can understand why it must be investigated before any accusation is made to the employee. I'm sure he will be told before having to attend any meeting, I'm just concerned over the leangth of time they can hold someone in limbo like this, it's causing an immense amount of stress as you can imagine.

As far as I am aware there is no union (or if there is my husband nor his friend know about it lol)
He has tried to contact HR, they have just been told he has been suspended and say they don't know why.
He's also tried at least 3 of the managers Area supervisor as well as field manager and line manager. All are saying they don't know (or if they do they are not telling)

I have had a quick read through thier contract (i assume his is the same as my hubbies) it does not go into detail on disiplinary proceedures but does state there are a number of things that can lead to instant dismissal!

I'm assuming (i know should not assume anything really) that if it was suspected he'd done one of those things that suspension would be the first step ..... Im pretty sure they can't just fire someone without making damn sure they are guilty of making the mistake in the first place.

my husband has obviously questioned him about these things, although he is pretty convinced he has not made a mistake ..... it is not totally out of the question, when you are working with electric it's easy to make a mistake and although test's are done it's not impossible to be distracted and miss something (my husband has once got half way down the road before he realised he had missed a test and went back for it ... so he knows just how things can happen)

there has also been cases where customers have "come on" to the fitters (pmsl hubby has been asked outright to go to bed with someone) some have made sexual harrasment claims when they have been turned down. unfortunatly when you are entering someones home anything can happen.

This is what's tearing him up ..... has he made a genuine mistake or is this a victisous claim!!!

[Birdie]

Re: suspended without reason!!!

Hi,

An employee should always be told of why they are being suspended especially if something will be investigated as it would involve them? He needs to ask when he will receive his letter as it happened last Friday and it is now Thursday - rathe a long time to keep someone worrying so much. Sorry Cet, if I appear to disagree with you slightly here.:tinysmile_hmm_t2:

As Cet says, would strongly advise your friend to call ACAS. There are so many different factors that would need to be considered.

If any further probs, do let me know as I can call the legal line at the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) of which I am a member.

Kind regards

Birdie x

[viv67]

Re: suspended without reason!!!

Hi Tempty , i have been suspended from work whilst an investigation is being carried out and have now been away from work for 12 weeks . I have tried to find out if there is a time limit and so far have come up with no answers, so i am assuming that it takes as long as the investigation takes. If he isnt in a union you can get lots of imformation on disciplinary procedures etc from the ACAS website and other employment law specialists online. viv

[strangewayofsavin]

Re: suspended without reason!!!

As of the 6th of April 2009, the Acas proceedures on dissmisal and disciplinary action have changed, with more advice on how to conduct investigations, what new rights apply to these proceedures, and what rights the employee have at every step of the investigation.
I would suggest anyone who finds themself in a situation with the're employer or employee, read these new proceedure's, as non compliance will result in an instant loss.
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Hi Tempty , i have been suspended from work whilst an investigation is being carried out and have now been away from work for 12 weeks . I have tried to find out if there is a time limit and so far have come up with no answers, so i am assuming that it takes as long as the investigation takes. If he isnt in a union you can get lots of imformation on disciplinary procedures etc from the ACAS website and other employment law specialists online. viv

As per the new rules 12 weeks without explanation is not a resonable amount of time