Furious at ds work dismissal

At 19, why did he have to wait to be told by his employer to get an earlier train? That was on him from the start. It’s concerning that you can’t see that. Why would anyone employ someone who is late every day when there are scores of people who will arrive on time without being babied to do so?

He’s lucky he could get a job at all, in this climate.

This too. It’s very possible that the employer was honouring existing holiday commitments and DS hadn’t yet accrued the paid leave to cover it. As you say it’s a hard lesson to learn, but at this stage a useful one for improving his motivation.

I think there has probably been some miscommunication between your DS and his employer.

Ok to being a little late was probably referring to the odd occasion, not every day, and if there was an earlier train to take them he should have taken it.

We are not talking about late due to a delayed train here (which they probably thought he meant) but he was late deliberately when he could have been on time.

Lateness really pisses people off.

I would say to you sincerely - you are at a parenting crossroads here. Either you use it s as a teachable moment about a) the importance of punctuality and b) that the workplace doesn’t always rely on one person’s opinion or you decide it is all the employer’s fault and leave him less employable.

The idea he couldn’t be expected to arrive at work on time because of a 40 minute commute is crazy. Everyone who commutes into London has an hour’s commute as standard…

As somebody else said, things are different in every different workplace.

For example, where my DH works everybody has to clock in before their start time and clock out after their finish time. The same applies to work breaks as well.

If you're late then it is recorded and if you're late enough times then there will be a warning and performance management.

If this is your attitude OP I suspect you're part of the problem.

He is a grown adult, why would he need to be told by his employer to get an earlier train if he is consistently late?
It's fucking obvious.

But your son has been pulled up on it. He should have caught an earlier train from his first day then he would still have a job.

Get him a job where you work if it is such a doss with no negative consequences for taking the piss and turning up late every day.

The train being delayed wasn’t the issue though. It was that the train he was taking every day was never going to get him to work on time. As an employer, l wouldn’t give an employee an adjustment for that if the problem is that he just can’t get out of bed in time for an earlier train. Which is what the problem seems to be here.

On time for work is generally 10 minutes early, ready to start. Coming in after the start time is considerably late. He should have been on the earlier train.

Yet another thread where the OP doesn’t get the expected answers, so throws a hissy fit……..!

Doesn't mean it was true ...

Teenagers say a lot of things are 'ok' when they're actually not.

And being late every single day because he didn't want to get up and take an earlier train ( and that is what this is ) isn't a good look.

So take an earlier train!!!! might help keep the bloody job FFS!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if he has taken a week’s annual leave within his first month, there is also a possibility that the unaccrued annual leave will be deducted from his final salary.

I think the lesson here is that DS needs to make sure he understands the terms and conditions of his job in future. Fortunately, he is young, so if he pulls his socks up, he can look back on this as a life lesson and laugh one day. Today has been a hard lesson, but let’s hope it’s a useful one.

He told you...

Of course he did. And you believed him and didn't challenge him on it.

It's up to the employee to negotiate an adjusted start time to match public transport time tables. You can't just turn up late and shrug as if your helpless to do anything to resolve the problem. If he works a 5 day week is 5 minutes late every day he is being paid for an hour and 40 minutes every month where he's actually not working. Accounting for holidays that's about 18 hours, or 1.5ish days leave each year.

I would suspect he's not telling the whole truth. Also whether others are coming in late isn't really relevant to him, when you're in the first month of a job, you make a good impression in the first couple of months, before you ask for things like coming in late.

Going against the grain here but I can’t see the issue with a few minutes late depending on the job, is he office based ? !! Everyone gets the trains issues delays particularly in london

Yes ThreadGuardDog, another thread whereby we’re all damned if we don’t agree with the OP 🤪

They might have misled him about the train , or he misunderstood or it could be that they just have decided they don’t need another employee after all and it’s a good excuse to ditch him .
One thing about a workplace is the same rules don’t apply to everyone equally and never take it face value that a couple of minutes late is ok . I wish him good luck getting a new job.

I wonder if -

he was late once
boss said "it's OK"
son thought OK to come in late every day
boss just mean "I'm not making a fuss for a one off"

It's a tough lesson to learn

OP's son lacks initiative to make the necessary arrangements to ensure he arrives on time.

I have hired Gen Z employees and made it very clear that they need to arrive on time. If their train is delayed, they need to provide evidence that it was delayed or cancelled.

Like everyone else, I don't understand why he didn't get the earlier train in the first place.
Perhaps when he said he was getting the train and might be late his employer assumed he meant it as a one off/just giving the heads up that if transport was bad that morning that he might not be on time.
What they probably didn't expect was for him to rock up late every morning. Someone probably looked up trains or someone coming from the same station might have been asked how they always make it on time/do they not see your son on the train and maybe that's how they then discovered the earlier train and felt your son was purposefully choosing to be late and not wanting to get an earlier train.

Did he offer to make up the time elsewhere? Shorter break? Work later?
Depending on the job it might also be necessary to be on time - if a shop opens at 9 for example it's no good someone turning up at 5 past. If you are taking phone calls if the opening times are from 9, again you need someone available to take calls.

I suspect your kid has not been totally honest with you.

Totally agree. And as the employer l would have refused the request for flexible working on the grounds that the start time was operationally necessary and there was nothing stopping him from meeting that commitment other than lack of motivation to get out of bed in time for the train which would get him to work on time 😁

OP this is where people are getting frustrated with your posts. You say 'if an employer is unhappy with the lateness they needed to tell him'.

Well they did. In his contract. And not they don't need to tell someone to be at work on time after they committed to working hours. This isn't the employers responsibility. I think you are missing this part.