Feel I've Been Unfairly Dismissed

[obwales]

Hi,

I was called to a meeting with less than 24 hours notice. I asked if I needed to prepare anything or bring anybody with me. My line manager said no it's nothing to worry about just bring yourself it's just an informal meeting with a HR representative.

I attended the meeting which was in terms of some admin / reports not being returned to him and a lack of communication.

We discussed the above points and I said I'd get these resolved and gave a commitment to improve going forward. Then they asked me to step outside.

When I then went back in they made further accusations.

I worked as an external sale representative, they claimed that I hadn't been visiting customers.

I used an IPad to log my calls and they claimed it wasnt logging my location, I logged a call there and then and asked them to show me that it wasn't showing my location in the place I was sat. They refused to do this.

They then claimed to have called customers who said I hadn't been to visit, I offered to call these customers on loud speaker to confirm this but they refused. I was then asked to step outside again.

When I went back in they then said they were terminating my employment and giving a months notice & salary.

The fact they refused to confirm that my iPad was displaying my location correctly, apparent say so that they spoken to some customers, and last but not least that I was called to a meeting under false pretences. I feel very hard done by. There is no concrete evidence of this at all. I'd also had no prior disciplinary with HR.

Unfortunately it became apparent that my line manager was breaking company policy and sold me a product outside of work when I started. (Just over a year ago) The product he'd had from work on a sample account free of charge and then made money out of me. It seems he's done what he can to get me dismissed to remove me as a problem.

I also had a sample account and tools were sent to me to show customers and leave them so they could try. The HR manager claims I'll be deducted from my final salary if I don't return all the items, there is no policy whereby I had to get customers to sign they'd had them or not. I can't possibly account for all the samples that were sent to me. I've even got emails from my line manager stating to leave samples with customers, but again nothing to say log it etc. This I feel is extremely unfair.

Unfortunately I'm not in a position to pay for legal representation. Any advice or recommendation of firms that would do a no win no fee would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

OB

[jaguarsuk]

Re: Feel I've Been Unfairly Dismissed

tagging in [MENTION=51026]Ula[/MENTION] for you.

I'd say that you have had a raw deal here, I know how it feels to have something like this happen and I hadn't worked for my employer more than 2 years, so I couldn't take them to tribunal. Sadly there are some sneaky and nasty individuals out there, in my case they we're all patting me on the back so they knew where to stick the knife when the time came.

[ULA]

Re: Feel I've Been Unfairly Dismissed

Unfortunately,with less than 2 years’ service, you can be (fairly) dismissed without your employer giving any reason at all.Although with anyone who has gone beyond their probationary period I would always advocate an employer follows a procedure to dismiss an employee with less than 2 years’ service that is in line with best practice. From what you have detailed they have unfortunately not done this however the fact still stands that you have less than 2 years' service

There are certain types of dismissals that are automatically unfair even if you have worked at a company for less than 2 years, however from what you have said in your post the circumstances would not fall into any of the categories.
However justone thing to check, is whether your employers' dismissal process is contractually binding. This means that if they have not followed their own procedure in dismissing you then there is a possibility of having a claim for breach of contract and be in a position to claim damages resulting from the breach of procedure. There is no qualifying service requirement in order tobring a claim of breach of contract. Most days employers state that their disciplinary process is non-contractual in which case this would not apply butit may be worth the check just in case.

Also in regard to the issue of the tools please check what was in your contract of employment in regard to samples, providing to customers, process for logging this and deductions from wages on termination if the samples are not returned.

Pleaseremember you that have a right to a minimum notice period as stated in yourcontract of employment which should be paid to plus you are entitled to all of your contractual pay up tothe termination date, including a payment for any untaken holiday entitlement.