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.

I own a Financial Services company and from what you have said I wouldn't class this as gross misconduct. Yes, it's far from ideal but in similar situations we have had, we have paid out to the client, tried to see why it went wrong and put in place policies or practises to ensure we minimise a repeat of it happening again. Unless there are other issues at play here I would suggest a call to ACAS. Good luck

Pretty sure she can't get UC if she's been sacked for gross misconduct, same as if she'd quit.

I know someone for whom something similar happened and she was fired for gross misconduct. It wasn’t so much that the company wanted to lose her, but the insurance company expected it.
She soon got an admin type role as assistant manager in a busy doctors surgery, close to home.
Two years later, her original company offered her, her role back and she took it as it paid more. There was never any bad feeling from colleagues or bosses, just a welcome back.

These things do happen OP.
The heavy burden of guilt shouldn’t be all yours at all. That’s why companies have insurance …because human error is expected to happen from time to time.
Ask for references from those you trust to be helpful.

You have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders and my heart goes out to you, trying to keep all the balls in the air for everybody in your family.

The shock will wear off and then you can clear your head a bit and go for whatever you can to be able to pay your mortgage.
If you were asked in interviews about reason for leaving, would you feel comfortable saying that you had been there ten years in the same role and it was time for a change?

Wishing you the best of luck. I’m sure it will work out for you.

This, but also an agreed reference.

Oh come on, you've made one small mistake, albeit a costly one, but it was a genuine easily done mistake. In my mind that's not grossly negligent. My advice would be to contact your bank re your mortgage and see if you can take a break for a month or two.
Don't say why you left to any potential new employers. You were there for 10 years so clearly valued. Just say that they were rejigging the company or that you fancied a change. Go to a financial job consultancy.
Good luck. Don't be too harsh on yourself or lose confidence. Honestly mistakes like this are easily made.

OP please, please get some legal advice. From my limited HR knowledge, I fail to understand how this could be considered gross misconduct when it wasn't a deliberate mistake. If the risk is high enough that someone can be immediately dismissed for it then it's high enough for there to be proper processes in place e.g. were you supposed to have a second pair of eyes sign off on this but you chose to submit without this?

My first question is: was it Actuallg gross misconduct? Did you have a fair chance? A voice? Did you have advice/representation?

Yes you can. It would be paid initially and then it would be sent to a decision maker. The worst outcome is if they find against you they don't pay you, it would be generally a 13 week sanction and someone in that situation could claim hardship benefits during that time.

OP this is exactly why it is imperative that you do not lay down and let them do this to you. You're being far, far too reasonable. I know you want to crawl into a hole and hide but please let all of our noise show you that this is not all on you. You made a human error. They will have insurance to cover both this and the legal risk that you will submit a claim for unfair dismissal. It will be far less stress than wondering how you're going to find the money to cover this period while you're out of work. Especially if you have to retrain. Have a cry and then pull your socks up.

For context, I have recently cost my employer (well client but employer is paying out) just under £1m because of a mistake.

I haven’t even had a disciplinary meeting about it as it was a genuine mistake and u could show I has followed all of the processes that should stop a mistake like this occurring. Everyone at my employer would be astounded if losing my job has come up as a potential outcome at any point (unless I’d gone against process or tried to hide my mistake).I’ve had nothing but supper in dealing with the situation.

It’s highly unlikely what you’ve done constitutes gross misconduct. It’s fine that you don’t want to fight your ex employer ln this, but pleas don’t let it knock your confidence or undermine your abilities. Humans make mistakes, companies should design processes to catch these or mitigate the implications of this.

I would also confidently use it as an example in an interview of where I made a mistake and what I learned from it.

I say limited HR knowledge but I'm level 7 CIPD qualified. Get yourself to an employment lawyer asap. Your house insurance may even cover it. Speak to your bank about a mortgage grace period too and they may also be able to put you in touch with legal support as it's in their interest that you can pay your mortgage. Good luck!

I don't think you should have been sacked either. Presumably the error occurred a while back and it was only when the policy was claimed on that the error was discovered? That is what Indemnity Insurance is for. I am assuming they had to pay the excess and that their premiums will be higher for a few years. I work in law and there have been a few claims over the years but not one person was sacked for human error. It's not like you did it on purpose. They don't sound a very nice company to work for unless there is a huge back story and it was the last straw.

Also, don’t let feelings of guilt and shame drive you to slink away and put you off challenging whether gross misconduct is a proportionate response.

You seem extremely passive - why are you simply accepting this? And did you not get legal advice on this. Did you really try and get through the disciplinary without any kind of legal representation.

you need to toughen up and fight for your rights!

I think your employer is at fault here. If human error can lead to serious financial consequences you need to have at least two eyes on information being submitted every time. Relying on one person never getting anything wrong in over 10 years seems a very risky system.

You also say you are in a support role - that means it should be your direct superior who is accountable, not you. Of course it is entirely unusual for the more junior employee to be expected to carry the can for a major error but it's not fair and I suspect not legal.

Is it perhaps the case that because you've never made a mistake before, your boss just left you to it and didn't check? Because that's their error, not yours.

To be dismissed for gross misconduct for a completely understandable mistake / human error (you had two clients with very similar information and just mixed them up for one data point) after 10 years sounds really, really unfair and like someone else more senior is ass covering and hoping to offload the blame onto you.

It may be you can't fight the dismissal, and perhaps you won't want to as it sounds they have been far from understanding and don't have processes in place to protect in regard to normal levels of human error, but I think you should fight the 'gross misconduct'. You didn't intend to do this, it was just a very understandable mistake that could happen to anyone.

Please stop beating yourself up about this. People make mistakes.

You made a mistake. Anyone can make a mistake. From what your described it could very easily happen. You haven't done anything wrong in the past, no previous warnings etc? There should have been an investigation, you should have been suspended with pay whilst that was ongoing. Safeguards to prevent errors should have been in place to protect both the organisation and the clients interests. Honestly i would be seeking a good solicitor for wrongful Dismissal. At the very least you could negotiate severance / redundancy and maybe your reference.
You been treated like a criminal here, after all the money you made this employer, a simple error and your dismissed like dirt. Not right. You need to get angry and start fighting back.

Humans make errors. That is normal and to be expected.

Being required to (potentially) compensate some of those errors is the financial risk businesses take (and accept). A dismissal due to gross misconduct based on your description sounds incredibly harsh and drastic. Especially for someone who has worked there for 10 years!

I wouldn’t just accept that, tbh…

I work in a similar role for a large firm of financial advisors. Mistakes like this happen. We have lots of policies that aim to prevent things like this but ultimately we are all still human and sometimes errors are made.

I can't imagine anyone at any of the financial services firms I've worked for being sacked for something along these lines if it was a one off mistake? It would have to have been done deliberately and with multiple instances of these sort of mistakes occurring.

This seems very harsh to me and I'm sorry it's happened to you.

I suspect it wasn’t gross misconduct op!!
Contact acas and seek their advice.

Then - give yourself a nice day or afternoon!! Do not beat yourself up.
Then the next day, refresh your CV and start looking for a new role. You will get one. The fact you are so upset over this shows you are a good employee and worthwhile having!
I reckon your ex-employer has made a big mistake. People who hold such a lot of regret and stress over a mistake are the good ones that you don’t want to let go!!!

best of luck to you. Be kinder to yourself!
xox

Sorry to hear this. I work in the HR field and most people dismissed for GM will still manage to get something else. It may not be exactly what you want but I’m sure it will work out Ok. Would your work agree a neutral reference or are they bound by regulatory obligations to give more details?

If people aren't in unions then the only option they have is an employment lawyer or a friend to be in a meeting as a witness. I had an ex employer who didn't recognise unions - I wasn't being sacked but they tried to terminate my contract (redundancy) but didn't follow proper procedure. I wasn't last employed.

I got advice from ACAS but the meeting was so horrendous (they wouldn't allow me anyone in). The next time we met I insisted that my mum was there as I really didn't want to go through that twice.

The sensible thing to do for anyone in that situation is to have a union rep in - or get advice from ACAS but potentially when someone is going through a situation like this they could be very stressed and not know where to turn.

I'd be asking for a copy of the firms grievance and disciplinary policies to start with - because it's someone's right to appeal a dismissal.

I wasn’t in a union and didn’t want anyone else I know in real life to know. Only DH knows what’s happened and as lovely as he is in that kind of setting he wouldn’t have coped well. I thought owning up to my mistake and accepting the consequences was the right thing to do

Yes, I'm surprised to learn that a mistake (i.e. something unintentional/accidental) should constitute gross misconduct. However I'm not an employment lawyer.

It sounds like a really tough situation, but try not to catastrophise. This too shall pass. (I usually hate trite homilies, but you won't feel this bad this time next year.)

I'm not sure about not disclosing that you were fired when you go for other jobs - they will state that you were dismissed in any reference they are asked for. It could potentially hinder you if it looks like you're trying to hide it. I would say you don't need to specifically state it on any application - in my line of work sometimes will put things like 'happy to discuss at interview' if the reason for leaving last employment is asked rather than outright state it on an application. That could be an option especially if you challenge the dismissal.

This.

If it isn’t classified as a high risk area (with additional supervision) I genuinely struggle to understand how this mistake would be enough to justify a dismissal due to gross misconduct (based on negligence).