Unfair dismissal

[Xpatterdale]

My adult son, who is living at home was sacked today. Just a quick review of his contract and written procedures more than suggest that the company have not followed their own rules.
The letter he was given this morning has errors in it and refers to a meeting that did not occur and not documented.
His work colleagues are pretty amazed and from a phone call received from someone at another depot it would seem that others had knowledge that he was being sacked. This is a most
disturbing state of affairs. He has been through difficult events this year, his father in hospital for months and dying on 27th May and his relationship with his partner ending in April. Something
smells fishy and a little input would be appreciated. thankyou

[PallasAthena]

How long has he worked there?

[Xpatterdale]

More than a year but less than 2

[PallasAthena]

Sounds like the letter he was given explained why he had been dismissed? Did it say he had a right of appeal.internally? But even if he can appeal internally would he actually want to continue working there?

As he has worked less than two years he does not have the right to bring an Unfair Dismissal claim to an Employment Tribunal (except in some limited circumstances, none of which apply here from what you have posted).

[Xpatterdale]

Thanks for that. Are there any other avenues of complaint you would suggest pursuing?

[ULA]

Unless he has a protected characteristic or some other limited criteria that can lead to an automatic unfair dismissal (2 years service length is not applicable in this case), unfortunately there are no other avenues of complaint.

The only other thing to check is whether the company has a contractual disciplinary policy which is a) applicable to staff with less than 2 years service and b) which has not been followed. However this is highly unlikely as most companies have such a policy as non-contractual.

[Xpatterdale]

ok THANKYOU, I will explore further. He does have a medical syndrome but where would I look to find if this is included. Does it have to be mentioned in his contract? He was shut out of the company portal in short order but a few things were already downloaded. Can ACAS intervene in such as case.

[ULA]

I do not know what you mean by a medical syndrome but it would need to fall under the definition of the Equality Act 2010 to be considered a disability and his employer would have to have been aware of this because he had informed them or it can be proven they should have reasonably been aware of it by way of some other reason.

If a disciplinary policy is contractual, which I have said in my previous post is not the norm, there may be a clause to this effect in his contract with either the full details or reference to a policy.

ACAS can assist where there has been a contravention of employment rights or best practices. However with less than 2 years service your son has no employment rights unless certain criteria apply to his situation as set out in my post #6.