Furious at ds work dismissal

Well they clearly weren’t OK with his lateness were they, or they wouldn’t have told him to get the earlier train. What happens in your workplace is irrelevant.

YABU

I think I whether it’s fair depends on the train timings and how much his lateness impacts the business.

if you live somewhere where there is only one train an hour and getting an earlier train means getting to work an hour early every day to sit twiddling your thumbs, that’s unfair. They could have looked at altering the start and finish times slightly so the hours are still done just within a slightly different window.
For example 9:10-5:10 instead of 9-5.

if there’s a train every ten minutes, your son should have taken the initiative to get an earlier one and not be late. There’d be no good reason for lateness really.

but they can end his employment at this point for any reason they want really.

@TheFairyCaravan got to keep discipline in the ranks so to speak.
If one gets it others start to get aggrieved because their not getting it

This. He should have immediately realised he needed to get an earlier train and done so from day one, not a month later ONLY when his employer suggested it.

Hopefully he’s learnt his lesson and will take his next job much more seriously.

Try not to be more than 10 minutes late 😂😂😂

They live among us!

Besides… even if the employer DID say being late was fine, why would he even choose to be late anyway just because they said it was fine when he could have been on time.

Respectfully op, it’s good he learns this lesson now. If you are arguing at home how they are out of order, he won’t learn it.

When he’s said they are ok with it, that probably means they’ve not given him a warning so he’s carrying on with being late.

The annoyance you have colleagues that are late is irrelevant, it’s an immature argument rather than a valid point.

@OneGreyBiscuit Unfortunately, you are directing your fury at the wrong party, his contract would have stated his start time, that is not a suggestion, but it is the time that he is expected to be on the premises and ready to start work. You say that the train which he caught got him into the office a few mins later, add to that the time he would take to be ready, you would be talking about up to an hour lost each week so over a year that would work out to a week or more of work time lost. This will be why his employers have done this.

Tell your son to view this as an upleasant but short, sharp lesson; next time, he needs to factor in his travel time and how he will get to the job before accepting it, or negotiate, in writing, any changes to his contract.

He should have come to work on time? What kind of job is this?

I understand you must both be gutted.

He misunderstood something he was told and needs to think about why that was and learn from it.
Who was 'they' who told him it was okay? Was it a colleague who said not to worry about it - they don't have the authority to agree this. Was it his manager - think about exactly what happened and what was said in that conversation. It sounds as though maybe he was late and they meant okay for that day, did not intend it to be taken as okay for every day.

Also how did he behave when he arrived? Did he go in and crack on straight away, or did he take another 10 mins coat/loo/making a drink before he actually started work? That could also be it - they may have been willing to tolerate a couple of minutes late start but not 15 mins. Start time is not the same as a sensible arrival time to do all that stuff.

Side note for everyone mentioning probation period - this has no standing whatsoever in employment law and is not relevant.

Why wasn’t he getting an earlier train already? This baffles me

He'll still get paid a notice period, or at least for today, which will cover the £17, no?

I think you're furious with the wrong person, tbh.

I get it, my young adult son is sometimes 1 or 2 minutes late to his fairly new job, and also thinks they don't mind. My DH and I however are driving like mad to try to get him there on time and trying to convince him otherwise. (No public transport where we live.)

I think it's a real issue with a lot of this generation.

I had a 19yr old new starter who was consistently late, despite having control of her arrival time because she drove in. Before her disciplinary interview she wrote me a note saying she would "try not to be more than 10 minutes late" in future. She did not pass her probation. It's an attitude.

When I first started work there was a bus that got in at 8.35 or another that got in at 8.55am. I always got the early one to allow for traffic etc. I know I’d have got a bollocking if I’d have turned in late every day and rightly so.

Most employers are reasonable so wouldn’t mind if you were a couple of minutes late every once in a while, but every day is taking the piss.

She didn't actually say that the train was unreliable she just said it was a 40 min journey

some people downright nasty?!?! how presumptuous of you. Seems like it runs in the family.

I agree. I was let go from a job in a high end fashion shop (it was over 35 years ago so I’ll say, it was Mulberry when they were just starting to do clothes) six weeks into the 3 months probation as the manager said I was too ‘studious’ and they needed someone ‘bubbly’. To this day I really hate that descriptor. My face just didn’t fit.

You can get away with a wee bit if you've been with them for years.
The first month nah you've got to be peachy keen and give no cause for complaint.

Him living 40 minutes away is not his employer’s problem. They clearly are not as “okay” with lateness as your son let on!

I really cannot believe you don't see anything wrong with your son's timekeeping, he is bang out of order, he is not pulling his weight and his colleagues will not be happy about it, let alone the bosses.

Did they actually say they were OK with it? Or did he just get in late and assume they were OK with it?

Of course not, she wanted to play the victim on behalf of her son in the hope everyone would be on her side and the encourage her to take things further lol

Just imagine every other employee: been heer 20 years and never late, I have to get up at 6 why can't he?

Best be getting him a job where you work then, he'll fit right in.