Furious at ds work dismissal

Rather than be furious the best thing you can do now is encourage him to see it as a lesson.

Start times are start times. If he wants to change it then he now knows he has to do it properly, not just assume it’s alright.

Hopefully he’ll also have learned that in the first few months you’re building the groundwork and finding your way around how the company works in terms of flexibility and changes.

He applied for a job 40 minutes from home. He knew the start time when he accepted the job, he should not need to be told to be on time. If he wanted to start later he should have negotiated that as part of his contract before accepting the position. I doubt his work thought it was OK for him to be late when an earlier train was an option. He thought he could inconvenience work by being a few minutes late each day rather than inconvenience himself by catching an earlier train.

You thinking he has some kind of case for unfair dismissal because work didn't tell he needed to be on time suggests you have not prepared him for the realities of work or taught him that actions have consequences and he is responsible for his actions. You are doing him a disservice if you endorse the view he has been treated unfairly. You are an adult, refusing to sugar coat reality is not being nasty.

It seems unfair because they told him that were happy to be flexible regarding the few mins and then went back on it without warning.

BUT I will say that this may well just have been a convenient excuse. Employers often decide a probationer is unsuitable but in a more general way (a bit slow/poor attitude/ talks to much/ face doesn't fit/ a bit gobby) but it's easier to pick up on something tangible and less "personal".

In my student days I got sacked from a cafe/bar job - the manager said in a kind, concerned voice that it seemed "too much" for me as I always seemed so tired. I wasn't tired, was never late but strongly suspect it was because of my resting bitch face not being very welcoming to the customers. She couldn't really say that but it dawned on me when i met a former customer in a social context and he said "oh yes i remember you, we all used to call you the miserable barmaid". I practiced smiling harder for my next client facing job and it seemed to pay off.

I wonder then if it’s 5mins it’s become very noticeable and they feel he’s not a team player. 1 min, I can’t imagine most employers noticing.

Did he mention the issue of start time at interview or when he accepted the job? Or was it when he was late turning up?

If the job is quite dependent on people being in on time (eg shift work, customer facing role) then it may be taking a toll they can no longer accept.

I’ve worked in many different places in my life, and I would very much suggest at the start of working in any new job, you get there with time to spare, so you are ready to start at the time stated and not just in the building hanging a coat up. Good impressions are very important, and in the current employment market for younger workers, that first impression lasts!

I was thinking this too. Either he told them he would be late for the first day, which they said is fine, but failed to tell them it will be every day. As far as I can see, the company probably cannot find any logical reason why he would be late every day if there is the option of him catching an earlier train. Maybe he just didn’t want to get out of bed that bit earlier but that’s just sod’s law and what you have to do if you have a job. Nobody else particularly likes getting up early for work either but it’s what we have to do.

Was he working late to make up for the time lost when he was late?

Earlier train from day one?
An employee can be dismissed for any reason, during their probationary period.
Ring ACAS or CAB, if unsure?

I don't get why getting the train enables him to be late? It doesn't sound like it's works on the line or a one off it sounds like time tabling if the train gets in at 5 to 9 and it's a 10 min walk you get an earlier train. How does he not know this?
40 min train is not a long commute it's an average journey it's not special

Surely the only thing relevant to his sacking is:
'he is a few minutes late everyday'.
Lesson learned hopefully.

Nope. If there was an earlier train that would have got him there even an hour before his start time he should have just taken that from the start.

The whole thing about him being ‘a few minutes’ late every day should never have come up. and why was he taking holiday within the first month.

He’s 19, a bit of a rocky start to working life isn’t unusual. The employer has acted within their rights to let him go during the probationary period. Your DS doesn’t need his mother involved except to tell him you hooe has learned something from it.

You say nasty
I say
truthful
it’s what people - including employers and colleagues - will think of this

OP are you sure this is only related to being late every day ? Frankly, if he had to be told to get an earlier train so as to be on time, l’d be wondering if there were expectations of initiative in his work that he was failing to meet.

How much earlier was he gonna arrive each day with the earlier train?

Well its obvious why this young person never worked out for themselves, that if the train only arrives on time a few mins before he starts work….then with late trains being an unfortunate inevitably….that from the first day he should have been taking the earlier train.

Thats very simple travel planning. A skill that he should already have at this age.

However, with a parent that thinks it’s fine to turn up late and is now hollering because he got the sack and is blaming the workplace….he had no hope of ever gaining these skills the easy way….now he’s had to learn the hard way.

You are furious
but
it’s done
he couldn’t get his ass into work on time
mixed messages maybe from the employer
mixed messages from your son maybe ??

just because people at your place of work get away with it, means nothing

move on and use your energy for supporting him to find a new job rather than role modelling what :

externalising responsibility

looks like !

ah Seriously. New start turning up late every day has zero credit it the bank. Did he stay on in the afternoon to make up the time ? Honestly this won't be tolerated anywhere / put it down to a life lesson.

Who told him though? Was it someone in authority that could give permission or just someone he was working with who said it was OK? And critically was it in writing.

I got into trouble for being a few minutes late to Junior School because I had to catch a bus and the buses were an hour apart I could be nearly an hour early and the school gates were locked or 5 minutes late.

It sound like he told them he would be late, rather than actually asking for an adjustment to his start time. He obviously cannot be late every day and they don’t want him as an employee. Part of his job is to be there on time, so he needed to figure that out or negotiate an adjusted start time. He can’t just announce that he will be late forever.

You’re his parent. You should have taught him this. At least he has learned it now. Hope he realises he was in the wrong though, so he doesn’t do the same thing again.

its not remotely an inability to see other circumstances.

It’s just very clear in this instance that the OP’s son was not told it was ok to be late every single day.

It’s blatantly obvious from the way the OP has posted there was no proper discussion, no email trail, no formal change. Just an assumption on his part that the fact it wasn’t an issue the first time meant it wasn’t going to be an issue ever.

Tbf if they'd said it was ok then they wouldn't have just fired him for it would they?

Maybe if he'd discussed it sensibly with his manager and asked if he could come in later and stay later they'd have said yes.

It doesn't seem that he did that

It's a buyers market at the moment for employers, particularly where young people are concerned. There are so many candidates out there, I guess that employers can be really choosy.

I'm really sorry for your son's situation @OneGreyBiscuit . I'm probably really old fashioned but I can't imagine starting a new job and arriving late every day. A 40 minute commute is not exactly exceptional.

It seems a bit unfair if they'd told him they were OK with him being a few minutes late every day.
But there's nothing he can do, other than rerun all the conversations he's had with his employer and think where they might actually have meant something other than what he's assumed. For example, might they have thought he meant that if he was occasionally late, would it be OK? Had there been any hints that they were unhappy with the situation?
How much earlier would he have had to get a train to get to work on time? How crucial was it to the business that he was there on time? Eg office job with lots of other people, not so crucial, but opening a shop or taking over from someone else who would then be late leaving, would be more of an issue. These are all things that he needs to ponder, so that he can learn from the experience.