Help needed. Bad day at work, possible disciplinary issue

[Rugbyman191]

Hello all

i need some help. I have worked for a large UK company for the past 7 years and have had a incident occur at work today.

it was our team Christmas party and we started the day heading to the big meeting room to play some music and put manager brought 2 big sacks of alcoholic drinks in with plenty to go round.

There is also a small set of shelves in the corner which housed some goody bags, previously given out as a good will from the management. This contained a small can of drink with mixer (g and t etc), some chocolate, a mug. Fairly innocuous stuff.

Anyway 2 days prior the management team had come round and distributed the said bags around the office.

some of my colleagues, including myself came to the conclusion these were leftovers (as happened regularly with these sort of things, I was in the management team for a year and the surplus usually just got dished out or given as incentives or whatever) so I proceeded to help myself to a g and t and thought no more of it.

anyway a member of the managemt.team comes in to get some of the goody bags as it turns out there were still to be given out. She vents at how annoyed that the bags were dipped into (8 cans went, I had 1).

I immediately admitted to having one and offered to replace with one of the drinks in the bag. She refused as they weren't the same so then offered to go to the shop. She still declined and left very angry. I felt bad as obviously it was a bit of a thoughtless or careless thing to do, but I still wasn't worried for my job.

5 mins later, anyone who had anything to do with taking drinks was escorted to a room and watched by more management as the ops managers scurried around and decided to form an investigation.

i am very worried as the matter was closed with the investigation still pending over the weekend and I am not suspended.

i have no file notes or other disciplinary issues of any kind during my 7 years, and am panici g that this could be deemed as theft and therefore gross misconduct.

i feel so sick. Does anyone have any experience of theft as minimal as this (value £1) of how it is likely to pan out.

thanks all

[leclerc]

Re: Help needed. Bad day at work, possible disciplinary issue

I don't think it's theft but I do think it was a mistake......

[teaboy2]

Re: Help needed. Bad day at work, possible disciplinary issue

I agree with Leclerc.

I think as there was clearly others that did the same as you, that they would have no grounds to stand on in all honesty. It was a clear mistake, and to be honest its the employer that's at fault here for leaving them out in the open and not clearly marked giving any indication that they were meant as gifts to anyone i.e. name tags/stickers on them. Especially when in previous years that is what they did with, or put, the left overs!

Simply put what you have said to us in writing explaining the situation and how and why you all thought they were left overs, and that if they had no been left overs they should not have been left out in the open as per previous years left overs were. State unequivocally that it was an honest mistake and that you had offered to replace the T and G and even go to the shop to buy replacement to remedy your honest mistake!

They will have a very hard time disciplining you all as they would have to give you all the same punishment. And if one of you is already on a final warning, then that would be dismissal for them, which would likely be unfair dismissal given the circumstances!

[Rugbyman191]

Re: Help needed. Bad day at work, possible disciplinary issue

Thanks for the replies guys.

Ok update, 5 of us have been invited to disciplinaries. All 5 for drinking on company premeses and 2 for taking drinks not allocated to us.

The atmosphere in the office is getting nasty and one of the 5 is a poor lady whose record is whiter than white and now faces losing her pay rise for having a written warning on file.

None of us are suspended but I am very surprised they included the drinking on works premesis part included. To be clear the time line is this. 15 of the 25 in the room were taken on the 'party bus' to be taken to the venue and the other 10 of us were left with 2 bags of alcoholic drink by our manager.

we all made the perfectly reasonable assumption that we could have a drink while waiting. We were actually drinking when all 25 were on site but for some reason it is just the 5 of us being highlighted.

any advice on where this is expected to go from here. It is all very strange.

[Rugbyman191]

Re: Help needed. Bad day at work, possible disciplinary issue

I should have made it clear that it was while we were waiting for the party bus to return. It was to drop 15 of them in town whilst coming back and picking us up 15 minutes later

[teaboy2]

Re: Help needed. Bad day at work, possible disciplinary issue

Ok hit them with a collective grievance (signed by all 5 of you with Names Printed) Pointing out that employers course of conduct is unfair and therefore biased from the start. As they are well aware that prior to the other 15 people getting on the mini bus and departing to be taken to the party venue, 25 (all) were drinking waiting for the bus, and were permitted to by the employer representative i.e. manager in charge. The incident happened after the minibus took the first 15 people to the party venue, though no instructions were given informing you not to drink any more or that the bags on the side were not left overs (as in previous years) and were meant for others, and in fact 2 bags of drinks had been left for the 5 of you by the manager. Therefore any disciplinary action against you for drinking on the premises when permission had previously been granted would be biased, and therefore any out come unfair - Paving the way for tribunal action should anyone sufferer any detrimental effect to their job or prospect of promotion or pay rises.

In the mean time call ACAS and explain the situation to them, they will be able to mediate between you and the employer. Plus the employer may well back down knowing you have involved ACAS, since Acas conciliation is the first step to tribunal!

[Rugbyman191]

Re: Help needed. Bad day at work, possible disciplinary issue

Thanks for the quick reply.It should be worth pointing out some more specifics so we are clear on the situation. When all 25 were in the room, people held drinks and a small number, maybe 3 or 4 had started on their drinks. My boss I don't think had seen and they just took their drinks outside and drank in the car park or going onto the bus or whatever.The rest of us made the collective assumption that drinking was fine so proceeded to drink! The room has glass walls so can be seen into and is actually about 8 yards from the centre manager desk and no one thought there was an issue.Does this change anything ?

[teaboy2]

Re: Help needed. Bad day at work, possible disciplinary issue

Yes it does, as unless you were clearly give permission to drink then you shouldn't have been drinking. So hold off on the grievance letter for now and see where they go with the disciplinary.

Though i would still speak to ACAS and inform them of whats happened.