Furious at ds work dismissal

You being 'absolutely furious' isn't going to help. A discussion about importance of time keeping at work would b better use of your energy. Don't send out the wrong message here by by angry against the employer.

There's another thread where a 22 year old DS has managed to secure himself a £40k job after impressing at interview and having a years work in industry. Perhaps OP's DS can learn from that DS on work ethnic

I can’t believe he wouldn’t have just gotten the earlier train to get to work there on time, definitely a good lesson learned.

It is normal to arrive at work 10-15 minutes early so you can take your coat off, make a cup of tea, say hi to people etc and be sat at your desk ready to start for the hours they're paying you for.

As an employer, I would not tell staff - especially teenagers who are fairly new to the world of work, especially during probation - that it is OK to be late every day. I struggle to imagine that anyone would. You may be able to flex rules when you have been there a while and are valued but not the first few months.

It is annoying when staff are late and you don't know if they will actually be in, it would make you feel that they were unreliable. I wonder if the lateness then bled over to things like being late back from lunch.

The holiday thing I am sure is a red herring.

As a mother if my child told me their employer said it was OK to be late everyday I would be telling them in no uncertain terms that this is not how you make a good impression, that s/he was on probation and had to be working hard and showing willing.

Gotta say I feel for the lad because if the way the mum has kicked off on here is anything to go by she will be making his life hell.

They should have spoken to him before I guess but he should also have known he needed to get an earlier train to be there on time.

It's not like he's been getting the first train of the day and there is no earlier train! If that was the case then maybe he should have asked if working hours could be adjusted or if not that maybe this wasn't the right job for him

Didn’t his employer say that they would be okay with him being late meaning if the earlier train was running late not that he could get the later train and arrive consistently late....not a good look for a new employee demonstrating lack of commitment at not getting up early enough to get to work on time and let’s face it, laziness, apparently accepted by his DM.

TBF though at my DS's office job the rule is if you're late you make up the time. DS stays till sometimes 6pm.

If there was an earlier train to begin with why didn't he get that? If I was looking at a job and public transport was required I would plan to be there early to allow for any delays that may occur on the way. I would also want to be ready to start at my start time, if he's arriving late he then has to get set up and then even later actually starting doing his work, so say he starts at 9 he then arrives at 10 past he's probably not fully set up till like 20 past and thats basically 20 mins late at this point(How late was he arriving) You guys are the ones being unreasonable for thinking it is ok to consistentley be late which is unrelaible and unreasonable!

He needed telling, like a child, to get an earlier train and your asking why is was fired?

I get the bus to work as the cost of petrol and parking would work out over double what I pay for the months ticket. It’s 45 mins sometimes an hour depending on traffic (it’s a 10 minute car journey). I have to leave 1 hour 20 minutes early to get there in time for my shift. After 7pm the buses run every hour. I had a conversation with my boss before starting, asking whether it would be ok to start 15 minutes earlier, so I could leave 15 minutes early in the evening. I still fulfil my hours this way. Surely, he could’ve had some sort of conversation and had the forethought to see that an earlier train would make more sense than a late one. What happens if the train he takes is delayed, or cancelled? Then he’s considerably late not just a couple of minutes.

OP I dont think youre doing your son any favours here. He was getting in late, and while 2nd chances are nice its easier to get rid of someone in their probation and for cause and late is a cause.

It isnt fair to critique your parenting because hes an adult and decided to get the train that gets him in at 1 - 5mins late. If theres an earlier train he should have thought to get that himself. Its his fault. Not yours. Not his employers.

But you are being rude to people lacking sympathy and judging you when you wrote this up on AIBU?

Its unreasonable to see your son be unreliable and entitled. Because it is entitled to think whats 5 mins a shift (25 mins a week 46 working week a year is approx 19hours a year) and his choices had a consequence. Dont make this worse telling him its not his fault, it was. Probation is the easiest opportunity to get rid of an employee not meeting standards and in my experience the best most employees ever behave is probation and hes starting late in his

I don't understand that as a mother you should have pointed this out to him from the start. Being late is not OK. I had work ethic instilled in me from 14. I would certainly have made him get the earlier train. Lateness cannot be tolerated. Maybe they were testing him to see if he had the common sense to right this blatant tardiness.

I don't know why you're assuming it was due to him being a couple of minutes late. It's almost certainly because he was failing in multiple other ways. Maybe too slow, too immature, not a self starter, there are so many ways to fail during a probationary period.

They shouldn't have told him they were ok with him getting the later train and being a few minutes late every day if wasn't true.
Was this a communication error? they thought it would be the odd occasion , he thought every day? Or maybe they thought they would be ok with it but changed their mind? Or the person who said its fine didnt have the authority to say that?
They shouldn't have told it was ok when it wasn't. Thats really wring and annoying..
Ideally he should have just got the earlier train from the start but totally get why he didnt if they told him it was fine.
Taking holiday within the first month is ok if its a prebooked long standing arrangement and he mentioned it as soon as he was offered the job. We've frequently accommodated this at our workplace.
It's frustrating but he has no legal protection as its such early days into employment.
If they made him come in to be dismissed hopefully they will pay today's wagess as he arrived to work.

What do we expect for their DS in later life

I think the issue is he had to be told to get the earlier train.

He should have taken the train that got him to work on time under his own reconnaissance.

Id have likely sacked him too

I'm actually speechless, and I've hired hundreds of people. The contract says when you start work, and you're there on the dot, or earlier - especially in your first job.

DS has been taking the piss and has been called out.

People like this suck the life out of the entire workforce: "Who does he think he is? What makes him so special?"

Maybe he will do better next time.

They definitely can dismiss him like this, unless there is any kind of discrimination that you believe has taken place, it sounds not but if he has a disability that might impact this, or if you believe it is race or sexuality related then this can be followed up.
To be honest, this is probably a hard learnt lesson that you pick an earlier train and be on time or early. You don't really even ask to come in late every day and take their "if you must" answer. Especially at 19 and presumably early on in his career. Instead you try really hard to go above and beyond and impress. It's a hideous job market for that age group right now, and I'd be teaching him how you impress (e.g if you arrive 5 mins late, you're actually ten mins late because I'd expect staff to be settled at their desk, logged on and working hard by start time). Most in finance will work late, in my first graduate job I was doing 8am to 6pm even though hours were 9 till 5.30. In a way it's awful that it's like that, because it isn't clear but contracted hours and start times are minimums not boundaries you can push! I would talk through "OK, so next job, how will you approach it what can we learn" and get him to think about it. During probation they will want to see commitment, enthusiasm, pro activity, quick learning and working well as a team member. I doubt the holiday is the issue, it'll be the attitude of "my train makes me a bit late, is that ok" which is a question I'd generally not be impressed by.

The job vacancy then at the interview, it was obviously put to him that the hours were 8 am to 16.30, except for you, Junior, you can saunter in when you like... 😆

I’m sorry he has lost his job but I think there is more going on here than you have been told.

If the train was reliable enough to make him between 1 and 5 minutes late everytime it was obviously a very reliable unreliable train. Don't know why OP doesnt understand that her baby boy should have turned up for work on time every day especially in his probation period. Why have a childish tantrum because the majority of posters think YABU.

They didn't tell him it was okay to be a few minutes late every day. He's telling you lies, and you're daft enough to believe him. What firm's okay with a new start wandering in late every morning? Think about it, for Heaven's sake...

Hopefully, this experience will stand him in good stead for the future.

It’s become very expensive and risky to recruit people with the new changes in legislation. If there were any red flags, as an employer, previously I’d have given a warning. But with the changes to employee rights, regular lateness would be a red flag and too much risk for our company to carry.

We’ve certainly had to become far more ruthless recently whereas previously we would have been more likely to give a second chance. This may well be the same situation for your son. Also bear in mind that what his manager says is okay, may be different from the perspective of the people reviewing timesheets.