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I have just been fired - can they do this?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Sorry this is going to be a bit of a long one

I have worked for a company for nearly 2 years.

The company was sold in late december when it was taken over by a chain (A).
The staff were then told that we had been sold again in january to a different company (B) but actually A had agreed to let B run the bar for 12 months to increase buisness and then after 12 months it would be given back and B would get to keep the profits.

We had a contract with the original company and the bar was bort along with our contracts by the second employer (something about a 2p takeover) so if i understand it corectly then our contracts should still stand.

I was fired about an hour ago. I was given a letter that read
Dear **********
I ********* ( trainee Assistant manager) and ********* (Supposed owner - the guy running it for a year) have noticed a great decline in your work strength and as a result of this your job has not been done to a completed adequatley.

We have left importaint notices for staff to read and follow, of which youhave broken the majority of a many time. Words have been said and we are displeased with the outcome of then.

It is now that i regret to inform you of your imediate notice.

Assistant managers name

*i know that 1/2 of it doesnt read, i just typed what it said*

I asked what rules i had broken and was tolod that last wednesday i forgot to clean the bar top (i cleaned it) and last night i forgot to put the blender back together after it had been washed (this is true, there were two people working at this time). Also there have been constant complaints about how rude i am to the customers (i know this is a lie as i am never ever rude to customers).

I have recieved no warnings written or otherwise, and in the letter where it says i was told when i broke the rules this never happened.

As i understand it i am entitled to 1 weeks notice as i have been there for over 1 month but under 2 years.
Also do they have to give me warnings before they fire me unless its gross misconduct?

i dont really know what im asking, but if anyone has any helpful comments that would be great

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    That's an outrage. Ask for a meeting with your boss and seek clarification. If you are not satisfied with their reasons for sacking you, seek legal advice.

    You can askTheSite through this website or via ACAS.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I am going to write a letter and post it tomorrow requesting a meeting with them.

    how does this sound?

    Dear Sir,

    I am writing to request a meeting with you to discuss the termination of my employment, the breaches of legislation relating to the dismissal of an employee, and the terms of my notice period.

    Yours sincerely
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    melanie wrote:
    Dear [Big Boss],

    I am writing to request a meeting with you to discuss the termination of my employment.

    I would appreciate meeting with you at your very earliest convenience.

    Yours sincerely
    Fine.

    Date it, sign it, and send it via recorded delivery or by hand.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    thankyou :)
  • JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    Nah, thats not on whatsoever.

    Do as Kentish says, they have no right to act like that.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    can also send JsT around to sort them out
  • JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    Good plan. Although I very much doubt it'd help get her job back!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    JsT wrote:
    Good plan. Although I very much doubt it'd help get her job back!

    well you could be the last resort then ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bastardos. illiterate bastardos...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    worth a shot
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ok, i have hand posted the letter.

    I have a photo copy of my contract that states i am entitled to 1 weeks notice when being dismissed. It also has the diciplinary procedure
    19. Discipline

    ... The company may suspend you on full pay pending investications into gross misconduct situations. The company may also suspend you without pay for a period of up to 10 days as an alternative sanction to dismissal.
    You are entitled to appeal against disciplinary warnings or against your dismissal for discaplinary reasons. Appeals should be addressed in writing to your imediate manager.


    so atleast i know that there are no hidden suprises in my contract.

    So in this meeting im going to take aphotocopy of my contract,
    a copy of the letter i was given.
    I have called them to say that i will be coming in later to pick up a list of the reasons for my dismisal.

    Im well scared, formal situations dont do me well.

    I have a feeling that i will get a phone call saying come down now as soon as he sees the letter so i have my mate on standby to be a witness.

    So what should i say, im not sure wether to turn up with lots of things off the acas website about disciplinery procedures and ways of terminating employment. But im not to sure what good that will do. If they dont want me there then shurly a meeting cant make them keep me on.

    what should i say in the meeting?

    ahhh
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well ask yourself this: do you really want to work for a bunch of illiterate cnuts who decide to sack people with no notice?
    If not i'd suggest you have your protest and state how unhappy you are with the way in which the situation has been dealt with but then just leave and find another job.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    im leaving in three weeks anyway.

    its more that im going to start applying for carear jobs or proper ones anyway AND WHEN THEY ASK WHY DID YOU LEAVE YOUR LAST JOB AND CAN WE (oops caps) get a reference then i will have to say no and it will be clear that i was fired and i dont really want that.

    plus i really want to get my job back just to piss them off. i dont want to work for them and i hate the management team but i can just imagine the looks on their faces when they realise that they cant fire me.

    And if they do continue then im going to go to acas and attempt to shit on them from a very great height.

    i appolagise if thats a bit pigeon englishy but im on a library comp and the keyboard is knackered
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    In short, they can't do that, as at no time has a correct and transparent disciplinary procedure been followed. "Words have been said" does not constitute a formal warning, and without this they are unable to dismiss except in cases of gross misconduct.

    Sounds like they're trying to lay people off without paying the money tbh. I would be taking serious legal advice with regards to taking them to industrial tribunal.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ok, i have just been in to get the list of "rules broken"

    it was
    *smoking at the bar - as i was told i could do when the bar was quiet by the owner
    *Mobile phone at the bar - I was talking to the manager as i was in on my own and he wanted a till read
    *None customer friendly - outright lie
    *Bringing the company into disrepute for example "its's shit in here i would go somewere else" - untrue again however if someone was looking fdor a club to go to ad wasnt local which is quite often as we are oppersit a hotel i would direct them to the club which is shurly being customer friendly
    *not cleaning down properly at the end of a shift - once again untrue (if they could watch the cameras to see that i had read a magazine then they can watch me do this.
    *giving free drinks away - outright lie
    *during quiet times no cleaning done (the bar was clean) and a magazine was read - true but thats what everyone does when the bar is empty
    *not folowing management proposals (no idea what they might have been)
    *talking about staff behind their back to customers and staff in an ill manner - ok maybe im a bit guilty of this but then so is everyone - i think actually what there refering to is when we had a staff discussion about how the pr staff are treated differently to the bar staff

    fucking tossers. i will be ringing acas 1st thing in the morning
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeah, you shouold go to the meeting and tell them how angry you are, show them the evidence, then threaten to sue for unfair dismissal unless they give you some form of compo, your job bk, or the world's best reference ever!!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeah, good for you!! did you argue these reasons when you went there?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If i were you i'd also, if possible, take someone along with me as a witness or take along a device to record the meeting so you have a recor of the meeting. Certainly what i'd do so i can have someone or something to back me up in event of it turning nasty or them throwing accusations at you etc.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    no i was only speaking to the manager / trainee / whatever he is

    i will wait for the meeting.

    The thing is with a few of them it is technically true but then i had either been told that i could by the owner or was just doing what we have always done and have never been told otherwise
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    does the owner agree with your dismissal, or his he the guy who sacked you?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    He is just glad that i am gone, there is only myself and 1 guy that are remaining from the original staff when the bar was sold. A friend of mine (who also works there) went in today to talk to the owner about something unrelated.
    he was told by the owner that i had been sacked and asked why. The answer was just a few bitty things that have been building up. I think that *manager* overreacted a bit and it should have been a warning but hey never atleast we got rid of her, 1 down and the next in the firing line is *other staff member*.

    however i have been told this in confidence as the guy that told me still has to work there.

    The other guy that he said was next on his hit list is the only other member of staff that came with the bar when it was sold.

    When i took the letter in i also left a copy of my contract with it. The manager i handed it to said that it wouldnt matter as the second time the buisness was sold they bort it without our contracts (aparently when it was given to the other company it was sold for £1 and will be bort back at xmas)

    can they do that. im sure i read somewere on the acas website that my contract will still stand but i cant find the page now
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    iv just spoke to acas and aparently my contract still stands as they cant change it without consenting me.

    your going to get daily reports on this now wether i need help or not because my mums on holiday and i have no-one to tell :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    there are definite issues here that i think you should seek legal advice on. a tribunal could find that they have breached your contract because they didn't give you your notice period. however if your behaviour counted as gross misconduct (which from the list it looks like it did) then they do have the right to terminate your contract without notice. but they should have done an investigation into your behaviour. have they ever questioned it or given warnings?
    if not then that could have breached mutual trust and confidence at common law.

    good luck.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    lipsy wrote:
    there are definite issues here that i think you should seek legal advice on. a tribunal could find that they have breached your contract because they didn't give you your notice period. however if your behaviour counted as gross misconduct (which from the list it looks like it did) then they do have the right to terminate your contract without notice. but they should have done an investigation into your behaviour. have they ever questioned it or given warnings?
    if not then that could have breached mutual trust and confidence at common law.

    good luck.
    i have never been given any warnings, verbal or written. 4 weeks ago i was given all the supervisors roles when he left and once i had proved myself (which in my opinion i did) after a 4 week trial then i would be given the job and my wages would be changed and backdated - so this proves that its not an ongoing problem.

    The only thing on the list that i think could be taken as gross misconduct would be giving away free drinks ie stealing, but its just not true.

    I have a form to fill in off acas after i have had the meeting with them so i suppose i will just have to wait and see.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Has your staff handbook / terms of employment (wherever you got that paragraph about Discipline from) got a section about the Company's Grievance Procedure?

    If you do want to go all the way and take it to a tribunaral, you need to make sure you stick to the time contraints of the grievance proceedure otherwise it could affect your rights to claim. I think it's about three months from the date of the incident giving rise to the grievance, but don't quote me on it. There'll be more about it on the ACAS website.

    Good luck with it all :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You must be given a verbal then written warning (I'm pretty sure)

    That letter for a start has no standing whatsoever, it is a non-professional piece of nonsense.

    As for the rules you broke then I must be in for a right good sacking. When it's quiet and there's no more work to be done all we can do is read a magazine or whatever, and as for telling people to go elsewhere! My manager herself tells people where to go if we can't offer the products they are looking for.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What bastards! Good luck in the meeting. It sounds scary but it's good you're standing up for yourself.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Keep it up, sounds like you're doing brilliantly. Teach the bastards a lesson they won't forget, if nothing else it'll stop them from doing it to more people in the future.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hi
    Much in the same boat myself. Make out a list of the items that you have quoted here on the site. Keep it factual. State that you have not previously been made aware of these. Argue the points at the meeting.
    Wait for your reply to their findings.
    If it goes against you - appeal stating that you do not find it fair.
    Wait for a reply. If this is still unfavourable, contact a solicitor on the NO Win No Fee basis for Wrongful Dismissal. Follow his/her instructions
    It is a long road - but if you know you are right...Then fight for your rights!
  • littlemissylittlemissy Posts: 9,972 Supreme Poster
    Laconica wrote:
    Hi
    Much in the same boat myself. Make out a list of the items that you have quoted here on the site. Keep it factual. State that you have not previously been made aware of these. Argue the points at the meeting.
    Wait for your reply to their findings.
    If it goes against you - appeal stating that you do not find it fair.
    Wait for a reply. If this is still unfavourable, contact a solicitor on the NO Win No Fee basis for Wrongful Dismissal. Follow his/her instructions
    It is a long road - but if you know you are right...Then fight for your rights!

    Given that this thread is 6 months old, I have a funny feeling that Melanie has sorted out her grievances and moved on ;)
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