Been sacked for gross misconduct

[RidetheT]

I have been sacked. I made a mistake in work that could have had wide reaching implications for a client.

I hate myself. The mistake was through sheer stupidity and carelessness and rushing to get work done by a deadline.

I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I keep crying. I’m terrified for the future. How am I going to ever work again? Who would trust me? I don’t trust me.

We have about a months savings and then we are going to struggle to pay the bills/ mortgage so my kids are going to lose their home on top of everything.

I just don’t know what to do. My DH keeps telling me he has faith in me and he knows I’ll make it all ok. I don’t know how.

BUT YOU ARE HUMAN OP, NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM MAKING MISTAKES!
Sending you strength

@RidetheT noone gives a monkey on the impact , that’s why they make the big ££££

i m a senior consultant in FS and I’ve made sooooo many mistakes in my career even budget related ones

they sacked you so that the unskilled seniors don’t get uncovered …

good luck with the appeal, be confident assertive get your facts straight and you ll win it … but in parallel I’d look for another job .

They re disgusting shits and they ll try to get you one way or another xx

How do you expect her to afford a solicitor when she can barely afford the roof over her own head?

For her employer to have dismissed her clearly they were damage controlling especially with clients who were clearly very lucrative to the company in terms of profits and the mistake clearly tarnished the company's reputation and risked losing them valuable future business by way of contracts.

Realising that no one owes you a job is part of maturity.

Hi OP I haven’t read the full thread but have read all your responses. Apologies if this has already been covered.

I have over 30 years experience in financial services, been an IFA, support /admin and currently a Paraplanner.

Based on your posts it looks like you were completing health questions in relation to a life or health insurance application or possibly an annuity application as you have said they got less than they should have.

In my experience, health questions should be completed by the client for exactly these reasons. There is a chance of wrong information being given, especially if they have complex or more than one medical condition. If the client completed a paper application and you were inputting this online with a provider, the client should have received a copy of the application and health information to confirm what was input is correct. This would be done before the policy was issued to allow time for any corrections to be made.

All policies also have a cancellation periods. It’s not clear from your post what the timeline is but did this not get picked up until after the cancellation period? Was there no indication that that the amount was not as expected? Although you admit you made a mistake, it’s seems there should have been at least 2 points where the mistake could be corrected.

You are definitely right to appeal, it seems you have been very harshly treated.

I am glad that you have taken the step of emailing your employer. What they have done sounds incredibly harsh and it is definitely worth following up on.

I think, like others have said, you are being quite hard on yourself. Be kind to yourself, it was a mistake. We all make them.

Do you have house insurance? Usually there is access to a legal helpline. If you have it, use it for advice. ACAS can advise too. If you can manage it,some solicitors do half an hour free advice and you only pay if you go over. Gather as much knowledge as you can, just to be sure that your employers have followed the process in it's entirety. Please don't just accept your fate. Make sure that you are being treated fairly.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

Apply for jobseekers. See if you entitled to universal credit. See if you can take a mortgage break to ease things slightly. Apply for anything and everything. If need be get a temp job until you find the right job.

.

I work in the same industry OP.
we have four eye checks for things like this, it’s astounding your previous employer doesn’t have these sorts of checks.
I would be seeking advice on this

This sounds like an incorrectly completed application for life or critical illness insurance for an individual, who has then claimed, only to find the application was wrong at submission. There's not really "contracts" in small local IFA practices.

Ahh I want to give you a big hug.

We all make mistakes at some point OP, don’t be too hard on yourself.

Don’t let a mistake define you, either try and appeal like others have said or just walk away and find something else.

It’s not the end of the world, it may feel this way for you right now, but it’s really not,

Keep your head up, the customer was paid compensation and no lasting damage to anyone

. (Don’t let this set back damage you & your mental health) be kind so yourself everything wiii be just fine ❤️

I’m so glad to hear this.

You might have fucked up, but it does not sound like you got anywhere near the bar for gross negligence - usually that implies at least a fairly gobsmacking degree of recklessness if not deliberate destructiveness or dishonestly. You were rushing and made a honest mistake with big consequences.

I would certainly appeal because I think your firm is likely throwing you to the lions to save its relationship with the client - rather than say, yep, an employee fucked up but we didn’t have a review system so it’s our fault too.

Don’t let them get away with that - as if you want to stay in the same field life will be much easier with a straight dismissal.

Push back hard, the chances are they won’t want the attention that a tribunal would bring - they were just relying on you being a good girl who would let them batter you.

I've nothing to add op but hope you are ok and as many others have said we all make mistakes and things will work out ok. I hope you have some support.

I could not agree with this more.

The company is trying to retain the client by 'harming themselves through brutal immediate action' in sacking you.

They're hoping that this will signal that they are prepared to pay to fix the issue.
They hope that in doing so, the client will not look further at their processes.

But in fact, they don't take a hit at all - you do.

The company's processes is the problem - not you. Humans make mistakes when they are under pressure - it's the company's job to have analysed this dynamic and put guardrails in place.

You can absolutely argue at a tribunal that the pressure led to the mistake, and the company could have predicted this.

So did you fill in an application form for a client a while and they then made a claim and it got rejected for non or incorrect disclosure? If this is the case then I'd suggest processes were wrong. Clients should be signing off all medical information before applications are sent.

I'd suggest you speak to acas and see what they say but also ask your employer to agree a reference. If it was the scenario I outlined above then it's not clear cut to me and hopefully you can agree a reference.

IFA admin has a lot of transferable skills. You could try and get a role at a provider or fund manager, or one of the industry software firms. Also, the admin skills you have will transfer to other industries.

I’m so sorry, that’s such a tough outcome for a genuine error. I’m really rooting for you to get your job back, or something better. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t made a silly mistake whilst rushing at some point in time, I certainly have.

Sorry, but that's doormat-esque talk in this context.

Your employer does owe their employees their legal rights and entitlements as an employee.

While we don't have the full facts, they are certainly suggestive of reasonable claims for wrongful dismissal and unfair dismissal. Nobody should take that on the chin.

If either or both of those claims can be made out then I think we're looking at a more serious mistake on behalf of the business than the OP's initial mistake, and each of the business and the OP would deserve whatever consequences may come from that.

My employment lawyer didn’t bill me until I had received my settlement. It wasn’t a “no win no fee” lawyer so I would have had to pay the £3k regardless but employment lawyers know that if you’ve just been sacked, you are hardly cash rich at that point and so it’s common to be billed once the case is closed.

The employment lawyer will be able to tell you the odds of achieving a successful settlement quite quickly as they also don’t want to waste their time and try and chase you for their fees if unsuccessful.

I received 9 months pay of which £30k tax free on top of my 3 months notice period. I was more than happy to pay out £3k in legal fees for that. The fees were actually higher but my settlement included my ex-employer paying half my legal fees.

My cousin was fired for gross misconduct. She challenged it, negotiated to leave with a good reference, took some agency work at a lower level, then built back up again and is in a senior position

You can also represent yourself at employment tribunal. I did. I had an employment lawyer to start with but he got so close to my ex employers they asked him to represent them. So I told him to piss off and I did it myself. Glad to hear that there are some good lawyers out there because he was an idiot.

Haven’t read everything but as someone who works in HR I am surprised it’s GM. And from not knowing about an appeal then they have failed to follow process and an employment tribunal would have them on process! Also if first mistake in 10 years and no review process feels like you have been made a scapegoat! Feel free to inbox me.

Great advice ❤️ I’m sorry to hear about your Sister xx

When you say sanctioned, do you mean she may only get a percentage of her payments or do you mean she will get nothing at all?

At this point in the discussion OP, I want to highlight some resources which may be useful to you.

Trussell Trust - provide food parcels for households going through financial/income difficulty.

Shelter - Help people to find accommodation when they are or at risk of being homeless.

Citizens' Advice - Provides a range of advice and connections to support. Their website also has useful information for someone experiencing hardship.

Universal Credit - A state payment for those who are out of employment. A work coach may also help you to regain employment.

Bus fare cap scheme. Many operators in the country have a capped fare scheme at £3.

Freecycle - Offers books, toys and DVDs for free.

I appreciate that this must be a difficult time for you. Hopefully, things will improve.

Hi OP,
I've read your posts.
It doesn't sound like gross misconduct to me. Gross misconduct is taking the company credit card to the casino. It sounds like an error. An ordinary human mistake.

Do your systems have a secondary check? Like when my insurance comes through I am asked to check that the details are correct? Was you client asked to check the paperwork and ensure their details were correct. If so and they didn't bother then some liability rests with them.

I hope things work out for you.