unfair dismissal

[danspurs]

Hi everyone

I am looking for some advice.....

The company I work for are restructuring and I applied for voluntary redundancy in mid February. I have worked for the company for 5 years and have never had any performance or conduct issues.

On march 2nd someone reported me for leaving a safe unspun... it was locked but the dial wasn't spun. I was investigated and taken to disciplinary. During my disciplinary I was told that they had found further concerns and the would investigate them before concluding the meeting. The following day I was due to find out if I had been accepted for vr but was then told they hadn't made a decision for me, all other employees were finding out but I was told it had nothing to do with my disciplinary. Later that day after emailing my manager she responded and said it was completely due to my disciplinary.

The further concerns of sharing a till against company procedure and leaving a safe unattended whilst I served a customer have now been investigated although they wont tell me how these concerns came about and why they were viewing cctv after I had already admitted leaving the safe unspun.

On the days in question I had a very very heavy work load and felt very stressed, I even asked someone to help relieve my workload. I am also aware of two people who have broken the exact same procedures in the last couple of months and who were not taken to disciplinary for the same allegations.

I am concerned that the company may be looking to dismiss me to avoid paying my redundancy. My disciplinary is now on thursday and I will not find out if I will get redundancy until after it is concluded if they dismiss me I wont find out at all. I have spoken to labour relations who advised me to let the company complete the process, I have not been suspended.

please help
Last edited by danspurs; Today at 01:42:AM.
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[sean5302]

Re: unfair dismissal

Hello danspurs.
It's clear that the company wants to investigate the allegations before deciding whether to let you take vr.
You admitted "leaving the safe unspun".
Is that classed as gross misconduct?

[danspurs]

Re: unfair dismissal

Hello danspurs.
It's clear that the company wants to investigate the allegations before deciding whether to let you take vr.
You admitted "leaving the safe unspun".
Is that classed as gross misconduct?

Thanks sean5302

Its not classed as gross misconduct as I have been involved in chairing disciplinary meetings for the same issue. The consistent outcome previously has been a written warning, however my concern is that the further concerns raised had no relevance to me leaving the safe unspun and I fail to understand why the disciplinary officer in my original meeting re investigated my original investigation to find other things and they wont answer me as to when the additional concerns were discovered and by who.

I have specific examples of when two people have been highlighted for doing exactly the same things as me but not even taken to disciplinary, I have not mentioned other people during my previous meetings as I dont want to get their backs up.

I have considered raising a grievance but dont want to aggravate my situation. I have provided mitigating circumstances that are relevant, I was managing 3 stores at the time, completing remote audits, doing the area payroll and rotas and working 12/13 hour days.

[sean5302]

Re: unfair dismissal

Your last paragraph does you no favours and I advise you not to use that tack in any discussion or hearing at work.
If you're responsible for doing something, it's pointless saying you were overburdened and suchlike. You invite action against you.
Right, so where does this leave us?
It's clear that the business is restructuring and the payoffs are viewed as being something that the recipients would like.
If a company can sack someone for gross misconduct, it saves them the cost of paying vr.
Very harsh on an individual denied vr, especially when they have not committed / omitted things which normally would not be classed as gross misconduct.
My honest impression is that they know you have not committed gross misconduct but are looking to find anything else which would support their case or undermine your case that it is. They could then sack you and leave the burden on you to go to ET.
A better outcome is that they give you a warning of some description but deny you vr.
Not great for you or them.

[danspurs]

Re: unfair dismissal

Thanks.

I don't hold hope of vr now anyway to be honest but at this point I would be happy with compulsory redundancy and just move on. Do you think I should mention the other two cases during my disciplinary in the hope they consider being consistent during consideration of my outcome.

The mitigation relating to my workload etc in my eyes is a reason as to why my concentration on other aspects of my work may have been affected on the two days in question do you not agree?

I have worked my backside off in the last 5 years and just feel picked on at the moment, I am happy to accept mistakes I've made however if they do dismiss me I genuinely feel it would be unfair and would not hesitate in proceeding to an ET.

I guess I am just looking for outside opinions

[danspurs]

Re: unfair dismissal

Meant to also add that if they were looking to turn my case in to gross misconduct would they not have needed to have suspended me?

[sean5302]

Re: unfair dismissal

Definitely not, mate. All you will do is alienate other people.
If you were caught going through a red traffic light, what effect do you think it would have on the constable if you said "lots of other drivers do it"?
Your mitigation would cast doubts on your ability in your previous service. You're effectively asking them to let you off whenever your workload became / becomes high. Imagine yourself in your initial job interview if, when asked how you cope under pressure, said "I tend not to do the job properly, but hope you'd let me off".
I'm being harsh with you, but entirely realistic.
Viewed in the cold, harsh light of day, your comments would be damning.
I've tried to give you honest answers. I employ just over 500 people and have a pretty good feel for these situations.
There are some very good people here and we'll all try and help you.

- - - Updated - - -

Meant to also add that if they were looking to turn my case in to gross misconduct would they not have needed to have suspended me?

No. Suspension should only be considered where it would be prejudicial to the investigation or risk business security.

[danspurs]

Re: unfair dismissal

Thanks so much, appreciate your honesty....

If they do dismiss me in relation to the safe that would be failure to protect company assets and a security risk, would I not therefore be a risk to the business.

I understand what you're saying regarding my abilities being questioned and dont want to be seen to be making empty excuses, however I left the safe unattended to serve a customer and it took me 3 hours to hand count the safe sue to another staff member ordering 6/7 times the amount of money in we would normally hold.

I just hope they act consistently in my meeting and with my outcome....

Thanks again

[sean5302]

Re: unfair dismissal

If they haven't dismissed you for the safe, and they haven't, it's unlikely that they will do so now.
Particularly when you said others have done likewise and been given warnings for it.
The likelihood is that you would have been given a similar warning.

The difference here is that the business is now restructuring.

In a normal situation you don't want rid of your people. If they've made mistakes, you warn them and move on.
This situation is different exactly because they now want to get rid of people.
That is why they are now looking for additional things to fault you with.
I hope I'm wrong.

[danspurs]

Re: unfair dismissal

Thanks for your honest advice, much appreciated. I think logically if they havent suspended me for the issues then it would be difficult for them to dismiss.

If they dismiss I will be definitely claiming unfair dismissal and I think as a company they would need to be in a difficult situation proving they haven't used the restructuring as an excuse to get rid of me and save them a sizeable payout