Disciplinary Action

[MariaH]

Hi all, am after some advice on behalf of my boyfriend...he works for a very well known charity in their call centre and has been wrongly accused of fudging his contact figures (they have come up with some figures for December, but he is totally innocent...there's no financial gain as calls are not sales based, he receives no financial incentives for higher call figures and is just on his basic wage). He is up for disciplinary action for gross misconduct next Wednesday...and is absolutely devastated by it all! He is a conscientious worker and is very well-liked....his only defence is that he must have just dropped the ball and not been concentrating fully when these events occurred, there was definitely no malice or anything untoward going on! Would it be better for him to resign completely? Am I right in thinking that if he does that, his employers can put that on his references? I'd be most grateful for any advice....he is in absolute bits over this!

[Sangie595]

Re: Disciplinary Action

Hi all, am after some advice on behalf of my boyfriend...he works for a very well known charity in their call centre and has been wrongly accused of fudging his contact figures (they have come up with some figures for December, but he is totally innocent...there's no financial gain as calls are not sales based, he receives no financial incentives for higher call figures and is just on his basic wage). He is up for disciplinary action for gross misconduct next Wednesday...and is absolutely devastated by it all! He is a conscientious worker and is very well-liked....his only defence is that he must have just dropped the ball and not been concentrating fully when these events occurred, there was definitely no malice or anything untoward going on! Would it be better for him to resign completely? Am I right in thinking that if he does that, his employers can put that on his references? I'd be most grateful for any advice....he is in absolute bits over this!

Yes, they can put this in a reference even if he resigns now, and resigning makes it look like he is guilty. The only use of resigning is if they give him a neutral reference, and it would be difficult to make them stick to that. But otherwise he may as well stick it out and fight his corner.

It seems odd that a few numbers would matter much if there is no benefit to him?

[leclerc]

Re: Disciplinary Action

How do they calculate calls?
Is there any reason that they provide figures? Is there Key performance indicators for the job?
Would there be an automatic way of working out the figures rather than one person recording it manually?

Need more info on that one....

[Yoshi1738]

Re: Disciplinary Action

Your boyfriend may have case law on his side, as per the case of In Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust v Westwood the Employment Appeals Tribunal decided that misconduct must comprise either "deliberate wrongdoing" or amount to "gross negligence". It seems as stretch, from what you're saying, that his actions were the above.

However, the reality on the ground is, if an employer gets a "bee in their bonnet" (for want of a better term) and just do not like somewhere nothing they do will stop them being dismissed.

If that does come to fruition and your boyfriend has had over 1 year and 51 weeks service (yes - don't let people tell you it's 2 years or no claim) he may have a claim for unfair dismissal, dependant on the circumstances. May be worth having a chat with citizens advice or seeking legal advice?

[leclerc]

Re: Disciplinary Action

[MENTION=2937]Yoshi[/MENTION] here is the case you have referred to: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT...2_09_1712.html

[Yoshi1738]

Re: Disciplinary Action

Spot on. At paragraph 45.