Disciplinary for misuse of mobile phone, is it fair?

[Insuranceferret]

So this is the circumstance of my predicament..

I work in an office (insurance) and we have a no mobilephones policy. Phones must be put in our lockers at the start of the day.

On the 28^th of march I was caught with my mobilephone in my drawer by my manager (lets just call him frank for now) and was given a piece of paper to sign to say I wouldnot use my phone for personal use in the office again. Im guessing this iscounted as maybe a written warning, but not an official written warning.

On the 27^th of October, my heating and hot waterbroke in my flat and I had come into work and advised my manager (frank) of theemergency situation and that I would be contacting my landlord who lives in America.
My landlord had arranged for a plumber to come to my housethe next day.
The morning of the 28^th October, I messaged theplumber and told him I had left my keys in the garden and for him to lethimself into the flat to fix the boiler and to contact me if he needed me, I hadalso brought things into work to shower if it wasn’t fixed that day.
My phone was in my bag on vibrate and my director (lets callhim bob) caught me with my phone when my plumber had text me, I advised him itwas purely an emergency as I needed to be regularly updated by text from mylandlord and the plumber as to if/when the problem was fixed. Bob then asked mewhy it wasn’t in my locker, I advised my locker key was on my house keys, whichwere in my flat with the plumber.
We have all previously been advised aswel, that we are notallowed to give mobile phones to managers to look after.

I have a disciplinary today for the misuse of a mobilephone,

I believe it would be unfair for me to be dismissed or givena final warning or have my bonus removed as it was down to an emergencysituation and my manager WAS previously aware there was a problem.

Also just to state, the 2 people holding my disciplinarymeeting is frank and bob, there will be no HR rep present, is this fair?

Can anyone shed some light on perhaps where I stand withthis, is my disciplinary fair? Should I dispute the outcome? Is my situationand the action I had taken, enough to invalidate the complaint of ‘misuse of aphone’?

[Kati]

Re: Disciplinary for misuse of mobile phone, is it fair?

[MENTION=19071]teaboy2[/MENTION] [MENTION=26290]mariefab[/MENTION] [MENTION=70489]judgemental24[/MENTION]?? any advice??

[stevemLS]

Re: Disciplinary for misuse of mobile phone, is it fair?

Hi and welcome

Shame you didn't find us in advance so we could maybe have helped you prepare.

No, your domestic emergency does not excuse your breach of the policy.

Does the "no mobile phone policy" says what will happen if you don't follow it.

It doesn't help that you have a previous occurrence which, whether formal or not, will no doubt be mentioned.

I don't particularly understand why you had to be contactable during the day by the plumber, you had made arrangements for him access the flat and presumably he should just have been able to get on with it. How on earth did people manage before mobile phones!

Were you given proper notice of the hearing today and a copy of the disciplinary policy? Were you advised that you had the right to be accompanied?

Personally, I think dismissal would be disproportionate but anything else may be fair game.

How long have you worked there?

[Insuranceferret]

Re: Disciplinary for misuse of mobile phone, is it fair?

Hi Steve, thanks for your post.

Because my landlord lives in amercia, i had not actually had any contact with the plumber so he wasnt really aware of the problems we were having, ie, noises from pipes, heating coming on different times during the day and so on, so she had asked him to call me to explain to him the problems we were having. Also, because the boiler had not worked for a few days, i needed to know that it could be repaired on that day, otherwise i would have needed to make arrangements for me to shower somewhere after work.


The no mobile policy does not state anything really, its just that we 'agree to no personal use of mobile phones during working hours'. it really isnt very clear about what can happen if we dont agree to those terms.

Ive worked there for 2 and a half years. I was advised last friday that i would be attending a hearing today, however in my letter.. it does not state any possible outcomes, and i was sure its a legal requirement to make us aware of the worse possible outcome from the hearing, prior to the hearing date.

[stevemLS]

Re: Disciplinary for misuse of mobile phone, is it fair?

I think it is a "best practice" rather than a legal requirement to say what the potential consequences are.

Afraid I still don't think your domestic situation would operate so as to excuse your breach of the policy, it may mitigate it in terms of sanction though.

Have they specified as to whether it is being treated as gross misconduct or simple misconduct?

They have given sufficient notice. When is the meeting/hearing?

[mariefab]

Re: Disciplinary for misuse of mobile phone, is it fair?

Although the policy doesn't state consequences for any breach, you knew that there could be some because when you breached it before you were required to sign a written undertaking not to do so again. So, you would be ill advised to to say that the policy is unclear as to outcomes.

When the Statutory code of practice was in force it was a requirement for the possible outcomes to be specified in an invitation to a disciplinary hearing. However, that code was repealed years ago and, as stevem correctly states it only best practice now.
That said, it's a good sign that Frank and Bob are doing the hearing because if HR were involved and a potential outcome of dismissal was being considered it would almost certainly have been mentioned.

A final written warning and loss of bonus are definitely fair possibilities.

You should:
accept that you breached the policy,
apologise,
promise not to do it again,
and explain, in mitigation, that you had previously given Frank a heads up about your problem although you now accept that you hadn't clearly indicated that you would need to have your phone nearby in order to resolve it,
and add as much as you can to your mitigation. Perhaps you were under a lot of stress at the time (anything else going on in your personal life?), insomnia...whatever you can think of that does not involve work.

It would be a waste of your time, and would be likely to operate to your disadvantage in the mind of your employer, if you were to dispute any outcome short of dismissal.

[Trev1234]

Re: Disciplinary for misuse of mobile phone, is it fair?

Wise words agreeing fully with MF. Do not attempt to defend your pisition given the previous but agree and apologise and promise to refer to mgt for any future support or call to deal phone.

Good luck

T