[Help] Unfair dismissal in first week

[Thunder Bolt]

Wow, your employer is a heartless *******.

We've had worse from a former employer of my husband. He had to take a day off without pay for his father's funeral.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I'm more surprised anybody on a contract would bother paying subs to a union TBH

Because employers try it on. I was always a union member and had to use the union a few times to check that a contract is legal. Contracts can be changed at a whim.

Have you lived under a stone for the last 8 years or not noticed how many employment rights have now disappeared under the Tories

Once we leave the EU, employees rights will go right down the drain. It's one of the reasons the Tories are so keen. Sorry to bring the B word into it.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Have to say I'm quite surprised that a union exists for anybody on a contract at all.

We can personally give you at least three examples of a union protecting us, even under contract. I'm not going into them on Nsc.

 

[el punal]

I’m sorry to hear about your situation, and, commendable as your actions were in your support, it does leave you vulnerable with your new employer if you choose to absent yourself from work so soon after starting, particularly as you sent an “impersonal” email rather than speaking to someone directly over the phone.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but would it not have been better if you had turned up for work? You would have then had the opportunity to talk to your boss face to face about the problem, and maybe, a suitable solution could have been found to allow you to go home early and recuperate.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

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.

 

[Gwylan]

Have to say I'm quite surprised that a union exists for anybody on a contract at all.

I'm more surprised anybody on a contract would bother paying subs to a union TBH

I would have thought that people without permanent employment would have even more need of a union. I'm self-employed and two clients are ignoring invoices and requests to pay. I'm going to have to take them to court, something that my union will greatly assist me with - they're invaluable when it comes to getting money out of bad payers.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I would have thought that people without permanent employment would have even more need of a union. I'm self-employed and two clients are ignoring invoices and requests to pay. I'm going to have to take them to court, something that my union will greatly assist me with - they're invaluable when it comes to getting money out of bad payers.

As I say I'm just surprised. I contracted for more years than I care to remember. The concept of having access to a union (and collective bargaining?) was just alien to me. Tho prior to that in my last permie job I was a member of an all-powerful print union - no union membership, no job.

 

[marlowe]

Under your current circumstances and because you have been fortunate enough to quickly find new employment I think you should chalk this up as a lesson learned and move on. If you hadn't found work so quickly and had really suffered financially as a result I would understand your reasons for wanting to pursue this but quite frankly it's not worth the aggravation. Even in the unlikely event that you would win your case any award would be extremely negligible and certainly not worth the time expended on it. I can empathise with your feelings that an injustice has been done to you but having read your email I can also appreciate your employer's standpoint. Your email was clearly written after a stressful and sleepless night and under different circumstances you might have considered your words more carefully before pressing send.
Instead of getting twisted and bitter about this you might find it more cathartic to write to your former employer, not by way of asking for a second chance, because you obviously don't need it, but by way of explaining that you understand his response to your email as having reread it yourself with a clearer head you can appreciate how it came across. Tell him you bear him no hard feelings and you have managed to quickly find alternative employment just to make clear you are not offering a grovelling apology because you want your job back. This approach might help you draw a line under the situation rather than dwelling on it with bitterness. It might also demonstrate to your former employer that perhaps he was a bit rash in getting rid of you as he had lost someone of genuine value with a genuine and honest attitude that perhaps your earlier email didn't convey. Just be careful not to come across with an attitude that confirms that he made the right decision in getting rid of you. Its best if he is left with the impression that perhaps he made the wrong decision. It would be a small moral victory on your part but the only one you are likely to win.

 

[Triggaaar]

I’ll be unable to work today. My partner Lisa lost her brother at the start of the year to cancer, and is very distressed because her sister-in-law yesterday underwent major neck surgery.

I’m fine myself, but spent all night supporting her and don’t feel I’d be much use today, as I am exhausted. I’m going to catch up on sleep, so will not call to talk on this occasion.

In your email you didn't mention that there were complications. You also didn't mention your father or your partners grandmother, so they're not part of the equation.

It's really good of you to support your partner, but reading the email it seems like a poor excuse for not going to work or phoning in, particularly having only worked there for 3 days. It also seems unusual to me to stay up all night trying to support someone (I've had more than my share of needing to support/be supported, but it's never involved being up all night).

That aside, I don't know if they've breached contract or not. You need to ask a lawyer if you are in 'serious breach of your obligations as an employee'. I'm not convinced you are.

 

[Brovion]

As I say I'm just surprised. I contracted for more years than I care to remember. The concept of having access to a union (and collective bargaining?) was just alien to me. Tho prior to that in my last permie job I was a member of an all-powerful print union - no union membership, no job.

Yeah, I must admit in all my years as a contractor I never joined a union - not sure what union covers IT contractors?

The only union I ever joined was the Musicians' Union (back in the early 1980s) which was a stipulation of my RCA contract (brag, brag).

 

[Pavilionaire]

As an employer I know what a big commitment it is to offer a contract of employment to someone, and in that first week you are very sensitive to first impressions.

I'm not surprised things turned out the way they did in the OP's case, although in those circumstances I would have simply agreed with them not to pay them for the day missed and move on.

 

[phoenix]

I'm sorry but the least you could do was phone. I think it would have made all the difference.
The text doesn't mean a lot! How many people have got drunk then night before and done that ? If you had phoned it would give the impression you really cared about your job. you took the easy way out ! you had the phone in your hand when you text after all. I dfon't wish to sound uncaring but that's my take on things. Good Luck.

 

[wellquickwoody]

No, they botched the operation and she’s presently paralysed. Having lost her brother to cancer this year and her grandmother a few weeks ago, she has not taken the news well.

Phew, wow that is tough. All the employers fault though

 

[drew]

After one day I would have rung them first thing in the morning to explain the situation. Might have got a more sympathetic ear from the employer, even offering to them to take it as unpaid leave!

Out of interest, on your first day had you mentioned to anyone about the surgery?

Also, you are aware you are on probation so assume there are parts of the contract that relate to that that you haven't put here, possibly on the offer/acceptance letter?

 

[pearl]

We can personally give you at least three examples of a union protecting us, even under contract. I'm not going into them on Nsc.

Recently?

(I am a member of Unite btw)

 

[Skaville]

My guess is they took issue with your assumption that it would be okay to take the day off without speaking to them first, hence unauthorised absence. HR procedures have to be followed

 

[Thunder Bolt]

As I say I'm just surprised. I contracted for more years than I care to remember. The concept of having access to a union (and collective bargaining?) was just alien to me. Tho prior to that in my last permie job I was a member of an all-powerful print union - no union membership, no job.

Unions aren't just about collective bargaining. A union member is very much an individual and you matter. You have access to free legal represenation for starters, and includes such extras as free will writing.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Recently?

(I am a member of Unite btw)

Two of them within the last 8 years.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Welcome to Tory Britain where you have no rights

Alternatively, in Erndiots world you would live off the earnings of a rich person, forever. See the irony?

 

[pearl]

I would have thought that people without permanent employment would have even more need of a union. I'm self-employed and two clients are ignoring invoices and requests to pay. I'm going to have to take them to court, something that my union will greatly assist me with - they're invaluable when it comes to getting money out of bad payers.

Yes I agree they are and I'm glad to hear as a self-employed person they are invaluable to you