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My mother has been working for nursery since June last year after many years working for local authorities. She had been mentioning the her work environment was becoming increasingly difficult, and she was dismissed yesterday under the terms of gross misconduct. This despite the fact she had already handed her 4 week notice in on 22/02/15.
I'm fully aware she has little in the way of employees rights as she has not been at the firm in question for 2 years. However just wanted some advice on what she is presenting for her disciplinary hearing. The manager has had track record of dismissing staff she does not favour for gross misconduct - this would be the third case in a short period of time! My mother already has another bank staff role offered to her at a different local nursery; so all we would like is a sensible reference (if possible) and to present the facts around what has happened.
Here is the letter from her employer:
We are writing to you regarding termination of employment which is a consequence of a breach of your Job Description, Safeguarding and Health & Safety Policies and Procedures.
- On Thursday 26th February we sent an email to you with the entire shift for this week.
- On Friday 27th February, we discussed that your remainder days holiday will be taken from 18th March. During this conversation you agreed to this, but omitted to mention any other arrangements previously made before you handed in your resignation as Nursery Assistant.
- On Monday 2nd March you failed to turn up to work for your 9:00am shift. Although you assumed you were on holiday it was an act of negligence to not check the shift rota which was sent well in advance to your home email. By not attending work that day you jeopardised Nursery operation and the safety of the children as it added stress and work load to the remainder team as some other members of staff were on annual leave and sick leave.
As stated in your job description you are obligated to follow, “all routine duties, timetables, rotas, record keeping activity and any other reasonable duty as required by the Nursery Manager”.
On Tuesday 3rd March, after receiving an email of your employment termination sent on 2nd of March, you turned up to work. In conversation with the Deputy Manager you disregarded the importance of your actions by stating that it must have been a misunderstanding and acknowledging that you did not look at the email containing the shift rota. As stated above in the Job Description you were in breach of Nursery Policies and Procedures in failing to follow the” rota required by the Nursery Manager.” We would like to stress that you did not at any time question the shift schedule for Monday 2nd March.
In addition to the above, we have other points of concern which led us to the decision to terminate your employment. During the week starting 23rd February, we observed two Safeguarding incidents.
- Firstly on Wednesday 25th you were unable to open the Nursery due to lack of knowledge of entry code and were unable to open the fire exit door which is a basic security and safety requirement. It is shocking that after working in the Nursery for 5 months and being regularly put on the opening and closing shift that you were unable to proceed with these simple duties.
- Secondly, on Thursday 26th March you compromised child safeguarding and wellbeing by not following nappy changing and toileting procedures which are clearly stated in the Nursery Policy and Procedures. The incident being that after a child’s accident you decided to undress the child in the main room in view of other children and adults and in front of the main door where any person could witness the child’s state of undress. Also the child’s clothes were wet with bodily fluids so changing them on the carpet is in breach of the Health and Safety procedure.
In January 2015 after in-house training on Safeguarding you signed an induction to Nursery Policy and Procedures stating that you have a clear understanding of the Safeguarding and Health and Safety policies.
During your employment we had several Staff Meetings with in-house training, informal meetings with management and formal Supervisions on 31/7/14, 14/7/14, 20/8/14, 9/9/14, 27/10/14, 24/11/14. Unfortunately any of this helped to develop your knowledge and understanding of Policies and Procedures of the setting.
The above actions show that you are in Gross Misconduct of Safeguarding Policy and unable to understand the importance of policies and good practice in the Nursery environment. Due to this and a general lack of initiative the decision has been taken to terminate your employment. In the contract signed by you on 27th June 2014, under the conditions of Termination it states that, “after notice of termination has been given by either party and until your termination date the company reserve the right to exclude you from the company premises.” For this reason your termination takes place with immediate effect.
If you feel unclear about our decision and would like to continue with the disciplinary procedures in case of misconduct we are able to offer a meeting on Monday 9th March at 3pm. Please let us know about attending as soon as possible.
During your employment from 30th June 2014 – 28th February 2015 you were entitled to 13 days of holiday.
8th July 2014 1 day
22nd Dec- 24th - Dec 2014 3 days
31st Dec 2014 1 day
6th Feb 2015 1 day
2nd March 1 day
Total 7 days holiday taken
Entitlement left 6 days (payable 28th March)
Our response - please bear with me it's not fully drafted as I presume we just respond at the hearing rather than by email:
1. You agreed that any remaining leave would be taken after 18th March, however we did not discuss any pre-booked leave. With this in mind I took the 2nd of March as pre-booked, however, when I reached work on 3rd of March upon discussion with Deputy Manager, I discovered that it had not been assigned. As I was on holiday on 2nd of March, I opened the rota in on the 2nd March evening to review what shift I was on. I am not obligated to open a rota immediately especially over the weekend and whilst I'm on leave.
2. It has been outlined that I had changed the child in the main room on the carpet, this is untrue. I simply went to the main room to collect change of clothes for the child. At this point child followed me to the room and was led back to the nappy changing room by the Manager. I did not change the child.
3. On the day, it is alleged that I was to open the nursery I was not rota'd for an early shift. The Nursery Manager was rota on and was due to open the nursery. As I had arrived early, I offered to open the nursery as the Nursery Manager was running late however, could not remember the correct code. This is not negligence, rather I worked on best of endeavors to assist to open the nursery on time.
My mother has been working for nursery since June last year after many years working for local authorities. She had been mentioning the her work environment was becoming increasingly difficult, and she was dismissed yesterday under the terms of gross misconduct. This despite the fact she had already handed her 4 week notice in on 22/02/15.
I'm fully aware she has little in the way of employees rights as she has not been at the firm in question for 2 years. However just wanted some advice on what she is presenting for her disciplinary hearing. The manager has had track record of dismissing staff she does not favour for gross misconduct - this would be the third case in a short period of time! My mother already has another bank staff role offered to her at a different local nursery; so all we would like is a sensible reference (if possible) and to present the facts around what has happened.
Here is the letter from her employer:
We are writing to you regarding termination of employment which is a consequence of a breach of your Job Description, Safeguarding and Health & Safety Policies and Procedures.
- On Thursday 26th February we sent an email to you with the entire shift for this week.
- On Friday 27th February, we discussed that your remainder days holiday will be taken from 18th March. During this conversation you agreed to this, but omitted to mention any other arrangements previously made before you handed in your resignation as Nursery Assistant.
- On Monday 2nd March you failed to turn up to work for your 9:00am shift. Although you assumed you were on holiday it was an act of negligence to not check the shift rota which was sent well in advance to your home email. By not attending work that day you jeopardised Nursery operation and the safety of the children as it added stress and work load to the remainder team as some other members of staff were on annual leave and sick leave.
As stated in your job description you are obligated to follow, “all routine duties, timetables, rotas, record keeping activity and any other reasonable duty as required by the Nursery Manager”.
On Tuesday 3rd March, after receiving an email of your employment termination sent on 2nd of March, you turned up to work. In conversation with the Deputy Manager you disregarded the importance of your actions by stating that it must have been a misunderstanding and acknowledging that you did not look at the email containing the shift rota. As stated above in the Job Description you were in breach of Nursery Policies and Procedures in failing to follow the” rota required by the Nursery Manager.” We would like to stress that you did not at any time question the shift schedule for Monday 2nd March.
In addition to the above, we have other points of concern which led us to the decision to terminate your employment. During the week starting 23rd February, we observed two Safeguarding incidents.
- Firstly on Wednesday 25th you were unable to open the Nursery due to lack of knowledge of entry code and were unable to open the fire exit door which is a basic security and safety requirement. It is shocking that after working in the Nursery for 5 months and being regularly put on the opening and closing shift that you were unable to proceed with these simple duties.
- Secondly, on Thursday 26th March you compromised child safeguarding and wellbeing by not following nappy changing and toileting procedures which are clearly stated in the Nursery Policy and Procedures. The incident being that after a child’s accident you decided to undress the child in the main room in view of other children and adults and in front of the main door where any person could witness the child’s state of undress. Also the child’s clothes were wet with bodily fluids so changing them on the carpet is in breach of the Health and Safety procedure.
In January 2015 after in-house training on Safeguarding you signed an induction to Nursery Policy and Procedures stating that you have a clear understanding of the Safeguarding and Health and Safety policies.
During your employment we had several Staff Meetings with in-house training, informal meetings with management and formal Supervisions on 31/7/14, 14/7/14, 20/8/14, 9/9/14, 27/10/14, 24/11/14. Unfortunately any of this helped to develop your knowledge and understanding of Policies and Procedures of the setting.
The above actions show that you are in Gross Misconduct of Safeguarding Policy and unable to understand the importance of policies and good practice in the Nursery environment. Due to this and a general lack of initiative the decision has been taken to terminate your employment. In the contract signed by you on 27th June 2014, under the conditions of Termination it states that, “after notice of termination has been given by either party and until your termination date the company reserve the right to exclude you from the company premises.” For this reason your termination takes place with immediate effect.
If you feel unclear about our decision and would like to continue with the disciplinary procedures in case of misconduct we are able to offer a meeting on Monday 9th March at 3pm. Please let us know about attending as soon as possible.
During your employment from 30th June 2014 – 28th February 2015 you were entitled to 13 days of holiday.
8th July 2014 1 day
22nd Dec- 24th - Dec 2014 3 days
31st Dec 2014 1 day
6th Feb 2015 1 day
2nd March 1 day
Total 7 days holiday taken
Entitlement left 6 days (payable 28th March)
Our response - please bear with me it's not fully drafted as I presume we just respond at the hearing rather than by email:
1. You agreed that any remaining leave would be taken after 18th March, however we did not discuss any pre-booked leave. With this in mind I took the 2nd of March as pre-booked, however, when I reached work on 3rd of March upon discussion with Deputy Manager, I discovered that it had not been assigned. As I was on holiday on 2nd of March, I opened the rota in on the 2nd March evening to review what shift I was on. I am not obligated to open a rota immediately especially over the weekend and whilst I'm on leave.
2. It has been outlined that I had changed the child in the main room on the carpet, this is untrue. I simply went to the main room to collect change of clothes for the child. At this point child followed me to the room and was led back to the nappy changing room by the Manager. I did not change the child.
3. On the day, it is alleged that I was to open the nursery I was not rota'd for an early shift. The Nursery Manager was rota on and was due to open the nursery. As I had arrived early, I offered to open the nursery as the Nursery Manager was running late however, could not remember the correct code. This is not negligence, rather I worked on best of endeavors to assist to open the nursery on time.
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