[Help] Unfair dismissal in first week

Official Old Man · Sep 7, 2018

I've got exactly the same problem except I'm the employer. Email from staff with reasonable excuse for letting me down. In this case it was their third day. I need staff I can depend on. Sacked. Contract states no notice in first month. Get outta here.

timbha · Sep 7, 2018

I remember the good times said:
I've got exactly the same problem except I'm the employer. Email from staff with reasonable excuse for letting me down. In this case it was their third day. I need staff I can depend on. Sacked. Contract states no notice in first month. Get outta here.[/QUOTE

Saved yourself years of trouble .....”it was ok last time”, “why is she being treated differently from me”, “it’s only coz I’m a *****”, etc

Tom Hark Preston Park · Sep 7, 2018

I remember the good times said:
I've got exactly the same problem except I'm the employer. Email from staff with reasonable excuse for letting me down. In this case it was their third day. I need staff I can depend on. Sacked. Contract states no notice in first month. Get outta here.

Sort of crystalises the point of view of the employer, especially in a small business. Fair enough. Down to the employee to value the job a bit more and not to be so naive. It's a lesson learned for OP. End of.

timbha · Sep 7, 2018

Apologies if this has already been posted but if the job is important to the O/P has he /she thought of making an appointment with the manager (out of hours if necessary) and explaining circumstances, apologise and say that on reflection he could have been more considerate to his bosses situation, etc etc, offer to work a week at half pay to prove himself, and so on. Worth a try.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Sep 7, 2018

timbha said:
Apologies if this has already been posted but if the job is important to the O/P has he /she thought of making an appointment with the manager (out of hours if necessary) and explaining circumstances, apologise and say that on reflection he could have been more considerate to his bosses situation, etc etc, offer to work a week at half pay to prove himself, and so on. Worth a try.

Sort of irrelevent as OP already has a new job. Time to move on. Tho he needs to more fully value having a job and not just dash off a derisory email when if suits him to not show up for work instead of calling the employer and stating his case. Especially in his first week of employment. Sake!

btnbelle · Sep 7, 2018

If you have legal cover with your home insurance, they will be able to give you the correct legal advice, free of charge for employment issues.

The Clamp · Sep 7, 2018

btnbelle said:
If you have legal cover with your home insurance, they will be able to give you the correct legal advice, free of charge for employment issues.

Everyone on here knows your chances of being given a fair hearing are greatly increased if you print off the relevant NSC thread and produce that in court.

DJ NOBO · Sep 7, 2018

Bit of a cocky tone to your email to be fair , unintentionally I’m sure.
I bet the ‘thank you for your understanding’ line would have made their blood boil !

Albion my Albion · Sep 8, 2018

I think of myself as being firm in my position as head of payroll. I would have ended your employment also.

Spicy · Sep 8, 2018

Dick Swiveller said:
On the Thursday of my first week at an old job, I slipped on an outdoor pitch playing football and twisted my ankle. At the time, I heard two pops. Decided I couldn't take the next day off on my first week so got a lift in. Got up Saturday morning and went to A&E. Very heavily swollen and bruised. Told the female A&E doctor how I did it and her manner changed. Took one look and said I had sprained it. Prodded very heavily swollen parts of my ankle and asked if there was pain which there wasn't. You could almost mind read "Stupid man injured himself playing stupid game and whining about nothing."

Got a lift in again on Monday and was limping so heavily, my boss said he thought maybe should get it looked at again. Got up Tuesday and just touched a toe on the floor and got a wave of pain. Finally gave in and went back to A&E during work time and saw the same doctor. Still the same attitude and only reluctantly had it X-Rayed. I am sure you are well ahead - clean break. Cue 5 minutes of the doctors staring at the bloke who walked on a broken ankle for 4 days - only to abandon me in A&E reception to arrange my own lift home as I had somehow driven.

Luckily able to get a lift so went in every day after that as I didn't think getting signed off would be the best start to a new job. As it turned out, I should have done as they laid me off 363 days in whilst trying to save themselves which they ultimately didn't do. Did check with CAB but didn't have a leg to stand on, so to speak. And my ankle didn't really heal properly and I was booked in for a bone graft which took 6 months to get an op. Just before they did the op, they decided to X Ray again and found it had healed. I went through the complaints system and tried to get them to change the Ottowa Rules for checking if a bone is broken. They would have worked if I had gone straight to A&E but after waiting a day, there was no "bony tenderness" because of all the swelling. Also needed a cartilage op a few years later as I tore my meniscus in the same injury.

Not sure of my point but it is a story that covers issues in the first week of a new job and ends with what felt like unfair dismissal.

The point of your story is that you were a good employee and I am sorry you weren't treated fairly when you went to A & E.

AlastairWatts · Sep 8, 2018

Albion my Albion said:
I think of myself as being firm in my position as head of payroll. I would have ended your employment also.

So would I. In my years running a big pub with I'd thought that I'd heard almost every excuse going. Without wishing to add insult to injury if I'd received that e-mail I too would have been furious that someone having just started work with me was now having a day off for his sister in law's health problems. Not even a particularly close relative. Perhaps I'm old fashioned but small businesses like mine expect employees to at least make a reasonable effort to show up for work. And I've never, ever had someone use e-mail to communicate their excuse.

Chicken Run · Sep 8, 2018

jcdenton08 said:
Oh the up side, I’ve already found a new job and start a week Saturday.

That is good news and remember (I’m assuming you’re a millennial?) It’s good to talk.

Djmiles · Sep 8, 2018

SeagullinExile said:
Pretty harsh. But maybe a phone call to your line manager would of been better? I don't except e-mails or texts from anyone I employ. Makes me think they've something to hide.

Absolutely this. It’s not difficult to pick up the phone.

GloryDays · Sep 8, 2018

The Gem said:
OK, I am going to try and be empathetic, however I have to say, I am really struggling with it.

As sad as the situation is, if you worked for me and sent the email rather than take a minute or 2 to call and explain what had happened, rather than being on the phone with your girlfriend, then I think I would have seen it as you're not bothered and taken the same action.

Trouble with people today, of a certain age, they find it acceptable to text and email rather than call.

People are scared of the phone now. It’s actually quite a skill to be concise in such way without the use of mannerisms and you have to think fast, either in how you tell the truth or how you lie...and I’ve come to appreciate how it’s actually a bit of a power thing now. I rarely use a phone but some situations call for it IE decision making and delivering important info. And always follow up with a mail / receipt.

In regards to this particular situation perhaps the employer would have appreciated that directness and candidness (being that your email didn’t give them a choice or option) but I suspect they thought, “hang on a second...who’s calling the shots here?”

Congrats on the new job.

Kosh · Sep 8, 2018

This is an interesting one. First off, I'm pleased to read you picked up another job so quickly. However, having been in my job for seven years if I'd taken that route as a first point of contact I'd expect an investigation and HR involvement etc. After one week, I'd expect to get my P45 fairly rapidly, which you did. Legality wise; you're undoubtedly wasting your time, and would be far better off concentrating on the health of your loved ones, which is a obviously a big priority, and keeping your new job

Most of us have been through a quick in and out, usually I've exercised my right to walk within the probation period which, obviously, works both ways.

Anyway; my mantra remains: like your job, love your life.

That and: work is bad, but don't be sad, it doesn't take long, if you do it all wrong.

Rock on x

drew · Sep 8, 2018

It seems that, universally, the considered opinion of NSC is that you should have picked up the phone!

Lesson learnt?

El Presidente · Sep 8, 2018

drew said:
It seems that, universally, the considered opinion of NSC is that you should have picked up the phone!

Lesson learnt?

Can I email you my views on that?

Whitechapel · Sep 8, 2018

Thunder Bolt said:
Now that is harsh. You made the effort to go in and were struggling, unsurprisingly. You should have been given the rest of the day to go home imo.

The company in question are rotten to the core as I later found out. Remarkably that wasn’t even the worst scenario I had there. That goes to when I was suspended for over a month for an incident that had happened when I was at Carrow Road, watching us lose 2-0, turns out their key witness was a shift leader I had reported for bullying me who hadn’t even been investigated.

Thank f*ck I’m out of there.

TheJasperCo · Sep 8, 2018

Lankyseagull said:
As a senior manager, in my opinion, people rely too much on communication by text or e-mail and often this is where they fall down as interpretation of those texts and e-mails is very often not the same between sender and recipient.

As people have said before, a simple phone call to your line manager may have got you a different result, but by putting "I’m going to catch up on sleep, so will not call to talk on this occasion. " has not cut any ice and cost you. If you had spoken directly to the recipient, you may have got a more sympathetic ear that may have resulted in a warning at the most.

While I sympathise with your predicament, put yourself in your ex-employers shoes and consider how it make you look to them. Learn from your mistake and make sure that in any similar circumstance in the future you speak directly to someone to explain your intended absence, not give them a fait accomplis.

In theiry one benefit of emails over verbal communications is that there's a paper trail. No "he-said, they said" arguments. Although it's a fair point, the interpretation of emails is more subjective.

Lankyseagull · Sep 9, 2018

TheJasperCo said:
In theiry one benefit of emails over verbal communications is that there's a paper trail. No "he-said, they said" arguments. Although it's a fair point, the interpretation of emails is more subjective.

You can always follow up a conversation with an e-mail to confirm what was said so that you can have the benefit of a paper trail. In my industry (construction) this is a vital part of the communication process.

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[Help] Unfair dismissal in first week

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