Dismissed (Kind of my own fault)

[Slapbang]

Hi,

Dont know if this is a strange one or not but here goes - I was dismissed a couple of months ago under a breach of contract. The long and short of it is that I was very over worked, never listened to, taken for granted and had insane amounts of workload piled at my door. Me being me and not the kind of person to show weakness or unwilling, I carried on. Working through lunchbreaks (Although their retort was "we never asked you to" coupled together with the constant working late just so I could get level for the next day. I made my feelings known to my manager who told me that if I wanted to get another job then thats fine and to give them notice as per contract.

Anyway.....me having an entrepreneurial streak in me, I decided that I would set up a company, the same type of company I was in. Stupid I know, but when you want to be a success and are at the end of your tether then you do irrational things. Anyway I was found out and dismissed after being called to head office "for a catch-up" then I found HR and a director there to ambush me. I couldnt deny it and explained I wanted to be noticed, I wanted to make my family proud. I never did any work for my business, I didnt even have a business bank account set up - I was accused of fraud and allsorts. I took it on the chin and went on my way.

Now I have continued to set this business up as it was the thing that lost me my career, it would be a shame for it all to be for nothing. My only problem is that I can see my previous employer visiting my website, daily and multiple times. It has set the small rusty cogs in my brain turning as to whether I am now open to legal action from them. Why are they doing this? I just want to move on and get on with my life to be honest. I have even turned work away from customers I have dealt with when I was employed so just as to not rock the boat. Its stressing me out a bit which is not what I want when setting up a business.

I may be worrying about nothing but I just wanted to ask anyone's opinion. I know I did wrong but nothing was done fraudulently, and in hindsight if I hated the job that much I should have just left first...I understand that!

Any advice would be appreciated. I cant find a copy of my contract but from memory there was no clause in there about cooling of periods before starting a business within the same industry.

Also, out of interest, does anyone know what would have happened if I hadn't have admitted everything in this meeting? Is there a case of constructive dismissal due to the circumstances or does me setting up a company trump everything else?

Thanks in advance for your help

Cheers

[Amethyst]

Main thing then as you sound like you know - was there any non-compete clause in your contract ? You need to know that to know if you are breaching anything that could put you at risk from legal action.

[Slapbang]

When I was at the head office meeting, one of the directors had scribbled all over a copied contract I had, highlighting the clause that prevented me from doing anything like this whilst employed. Should I do this then I would be found in breach of contract and dismissed. To me, being dismissed is my punishment and that should be that, but just wondered if they could have any legal ammunition to come after me now.

I really need to find my contract! I also wondered it I had any ammunition as to why I did it like I did - I know straws and clutching may spring to mind

[ULA]

Hi, Amethyst is correct one of the main things is a non-compete clause which if extended could include non-solicitation of customers and staff members for a period of time. Also there is the issue of sensitive confidential information which is likely to include pricing information/discounts etc which your ex-company may believe you are using to your advantage.

In regard to constructive dismissal this is where an employer has committed a serious breach of contract, entitling the employee to resign in response to the employer’s conduct. It is in fact difficult to prove constructive dismissal - not many claims win. First, you must prove a fundamental (rather than minor) breach of contract by the employer. You must also show that your decision to terminate your employment was in response to the breach and not, for example, because you had been offered a more attractive job or decided to set up your own business. An employment tribunal will also need to satisfy itself that you did not delay too long in resigning. In addition, the tribunal will usually expect that you have tried to resolve the complaint through the grievance procedure before resigning.