Employment terminated after I handed in my notice

[Guest]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice...

Last week I handed in my notice as I have received a job offer at another company. My notice period is currently 3 months, however yesterday I had a meeting with my manager (who has always had it in for me to the point I made a formal complaint about her last year) and she*informed me that there was going to be an investigation into 2 incidents that occurred last year. Both are ridiculous and petty and this was the first I'd heard about it. The first is an accusation that I didn't send an email to a contractor to get their national insurance number so they could be paid, this is not true as I did send the email and the person was paid (as this was back in September). The second accusation was that I wrote the wrong date on a document I scanned (this was supposed to have happened in October), this could have happened but if it did it was simply a human error and there was no negative impact of this mistake.

I was then told in this meeting that due to this investigation being treated as a*disciplinary my employment was to terminate immediately and I would be paid up until the end of the month as well as any holiday days remaining. I have now been locked out of my email and all the systems I use for work, I have not received anything in writing as yet and no one from HR was in this meeting.

Where do I stand? Neither of the incidents being investigated seem like they would constitute a disciplinary procedure. Are they legally required to pay my notice period in lieu? Could this affect my references for my new job?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I have emailed the HR department but have not heard anything back yet.

Thanks

[ULA]

Can i just ask how long you have been employed at the company?

[KDC_85]

I have been at the company for just over 7 years

[ULA]

Thanks for that information*and useful to know you have more than 2 years’ service.
In order to dismiss you fairly even though you are in your notice period then the company would have needed to hold a disciplinary meeting with you, which includes written notification of the meeting, details of the allegation, any documentary evidence they will rely on at the meeting and against which you can prepare your defence and be given the right to be accompanied. This does not appear to have happened. Following on from that you should have been notified of the decision and then been given the right to appeal.
The next thing is that if they wanted to dismiss you without paying any notice then it would have had to be for gross misconduct effectively summary dismissal. If they want to dismiss but not for gross misconduct, then they would have to pay you notice in accordance with your contract, plus any accrued but untaken holiday pay. However you need to check your contract as it would be in accordance with the notice that the company is required to give you not what you have to give the company. *
*

[KDC_85]

Thank you this is really useful, I just checked my contract and the Company are also required to give me 3 months notice.

What would you suggest my next steps should be? I've got no access to my work email at the moment but I sent an email to HR this morning from my personal email address outlining what has happened and asking whether I will be paid my notice period and outstanding holiday.*

I've also spoken to my new employer to see if I can bring my start date forward as I didn't want to be out of work for 3 months with no pay. I'm just worried because they're still in the process of doing background checks and references etc. that this could be flagged and impact my new job. I haven't put my current manager down as a reference anyway for obvious reasons.

I just don't want anything on my permanent record that I've been dismissed following an investigation as it could affect future employment.

[ULA]

If the company has to give you three months notice then they have two options, notwithstanding that they have not followed a fair dismissal process, then it is either gross misconduct which, given what you have said and was for instances that occurred 8/9 months ago it would be hard for this to be argued or dismissal with contractual notice. If the latter then the offer to pay you up until the end of the month is not correct.*
You do potentially have some leverage, since there is the potential for you to bring a claim for unfair dismissal, however you could consider not pursuing such a claim so long as they pay your notice period as pay in lieu in accordance with your contract, accrued holiday up to that date plus an agreed form of reference which would be requested by any future employer via the HR department.
In the first instance though i would wait and see what the HR department comes back with. *

[KDC_85]

So I've finally spoken to HR and they've given me two options:

1. My reason for leaving is changed to resignation (as they had it down as termination for misconduct even though I didn't go through any disciplinary hearing) and as I had asked to leave earlier than my notice period (although nothing had been agreed) they won't pay me my notice period.

2. For an investigation to be carried out into the claims where I could get paid my notice period if I won but I'd have to be put on gardner leave in the meantime (can they even do that if my contract has already been terminated?).

I can't go on gardening leave as I've already brought my start date forward with my new company.

What do you think? Do I go with option 1? Are they just trying to get out of paying my notice period?

[ULA]

Option 1 would seem the best. If you had already starting negotiating an earlier release date so as not to work your full notice and and earlier date was agreed then the company would have probably agreed to this on the basis that you were paid up to your last working date. In other words by releasing your early from your notice period obligations to start a new job you are agreeing reduce your entitlement to notice.

[KDC_85]

But as they were the ones that terminated my employment because of misconduct (which I did not commit) before an earlier end date was agreed, can they now just revert my reason for leaving to being resignation and not pay my notice? Although I did want to leave earlier it wasn't supposed to be this early and it's only sheer luck that I've been able to bring my start date forward at my new job otherwise I would have been out of work for 2 months.

It just feels like they're trying to clean up the mess made by my manager who didn't following the correct procedure to dismiss me and not have to pay any additional notice period.

[ULA]

Put aside the fact they terminated your employment without due process you had handed in your notice first and I understand from your post #7 you had asked to leave early, which if agreed would have meant you receive pay up until your leaving date plus accrued but untaken holiday. I appreciate that you would not have requested a leave date so imminent as happened because your employment was terminated but you are effectively no worse off since you have managed to pull the start date forward with your new company.

I am not saying they have handled the situation well and ultimately the choice of which option you decide is up to you. However given the situation I personally would just want to draw a line under what has happened and move on to my new job without having to go through an investigation, the outcome of which is academic as I am no longer going to be working there.