Work trying to bully me into cancelling holiday

[worridmum]

Sorry if this is the wrong place but this section has the most traffic and hoping for someone to help me.

Long story short is a booked my annaul leave in january in line with company policy and it was approved. After the approval I booked an expesive holiday to the USA for 3 weeks to see my parents as my father is in poor health and would like to see him before he deterates futher (long term problem with no possiblity of a cure sadly).

Now the crux of the problem last week my work colleuge is now wanting to start her metinity leave 2 months early than planned and now because our department is small one of us must be in the building for the department to run (I dont want to give too much details here as its very specislt field of work and dont want to out myself) and the meritity cover cannot start 2 months early than planned so my boss is putting large amounts of pressure to cancel my holiday and treating gross misconduct when I refused to cancel it as my manager blunty said when I asked is the company going to compestate for my finacel loss (non-refundable flights / hotel deposits etc) and she basically said tough luck the company WILL NOT pay for the loss of this money (roughly £3000) and I should just absorb this loss and consider it one of those things, which I replied no I am not willing to lose not only my last possible chance of seeing my Father before he passes away but also that amount of money which is a large amount for me.

Which is the reason she is quoting gross misconduct as I am refusing to cancel my holiday with only 2 weeks notice and that I am expected to eat the fiancal loss as well as prescous time with my father and my question is twofold

I am unreasonable to refuse to NOT cancel my holiday no matter that it will causes massive problems for the company and the second are they legally allowed to breech their own policies relating to booked holidays to be able to say my holiday will be treated as unauthrised absance and thus a gross misconduct offence even though I have all the documents saying it was authorised etc and finally if they are allowed to cancel my holiday at such short notice can force them to pay for my lost money so I am not out of pocket (travel insurnce will not pay out as it is not covered by their terms)

I am sorry for the long post and if it is in the wrong area and for any spelling or grammer mistakes as I have dylexia and no spell checker on this device.

SueDNim thanks for the warning thankfully my company does not have a social media policy other than if I bad mouth and name the company using my offical twitter or linked account

I read my companys policy in depth before I posted and as long as I dont name anyone in the company or the company name itself I am in the clear in line with the Terms and condsitions I signed when I first started to work their

OMG thank goodness you got advice here and have copies of all those emails - they have completely shot themselves in the foot!!!!

I'm sure your lawyer will deal with this case easily and you will end up with an out of court settlement (sorry no legal experience but they have been so stupid).

I know no ££££ will make up for what they have put you through. I hope you have a lovely time with your extended family.

Forgot to say ... whatever happens, do NOT let them know you have copies of the emails; let them believe the evidence has gone

What's needed here is for them to go right on digging themselves a hole to maximise your payout

Have you told them that you have copies of the emails that mysteriously disappeared?

Ignore them - engage solicitors, go on holiday, enjoy your Dad and look forward to a new job in the near future.

X posted - I agree don't tell them you have the emails, I just wondered if they knew. I guess not!

I truly think they did not realise I was backing up the emails as the email that told me to leave was also deleted and It is the one they where saying they had no record of. I dont know were I would be without all you guys support I certinally wouldnt of backed up the emails without your advice and thank god I did

You have a wonderful case for the employment tribunal. Get a good lawyer who specialises in employment law. Your lawyer will be delighted with all the evidence you saved before they deleted it (and I'm betting they will be too stupid to have kept a copy for themselves).Don't forget the point about the change of maternity leave without giving proper notice etc.

My bet is you will get a handsome payout for either unjust dismissal or constructive dismissal. Which, whilst not solving immediate issues may be soothing somewhat.

They have to give you a reference at least stating how long you worked there. I don't think they can give you a bad reference due to this massive fuck up on their behalf.

I've just attended a CV workshop at WorkFest. I was told in the CV masterclass that you don't have to provide references from your employer - you could use sympathetic colleagues (may not be any around), ex-colleagues, people you have done business with/worked with outside of your company. Perhaps you can think of some good contact/connections you know and contact them to ask if they will provide you with a verbal and/or written references. Think laterally.

Where are you located? I know a great Employment Law Barrister on the South coast who could probably recommend a good lawyer down that way or in London.

They've been so stupid it's beyond belief. Relax as far as you can. Let your solicitor deal with it. They've done you a massive favour tbh it seems likely that from now on it'll be a miserable place to work with a suspiciously high turnover of staff.

I have checked my house insurnce it sadly does not have legal repersention for employement problems other than If i was injured.

Does anyone have a ball park figure of what my costs would be in persuing this ? I do know I need is £2000 to go to the tribual

my guess is the suspenstion will lead to dismal
Even if, after seeking advice, they realise they have been unbelievably stupid and can't fire you, you would probably have a case for constructive dismissal if you didn't want to return to work after your suspension. But get proper advice on that.

do not tell them you have the emails.

But do try and get a camera into the office so you can be a "fly on the wall" when they find out you do have them!! (joke)

You're really switched on, they really don't know what's going to hit them.

You may find that a solicitor will go for a no win no fee deal, as they have stuffed up so magnificently.

Op what a bunch of nasty bullies. Yes please do take it further, as they cannot treat you like that and others.

Sorry to hear this.

regarding a reference.

Not companies now only give a basic disclosure reference.

name dates employed and position.

not reason for leaving

they will not give any other details on it.

but make sure you put

hr
Company name

not line managet

Tribunal should be free.

If Scotland.

Have you been suspended.

gross misconduct.

Refusing to cancel a holiday.

Really.

The blame for this is also on your colleague.

Delete her off Facebook etc

Best of luck OP. They have really shot themselves in the foot. Ugh, I worked with a boss like that. Pressure came on her, she couldn't handle it, and was so unreasonable, as a result.
So now when the colleague goes on leave, they are truly up the creek, because of what they have done to you!
It's a very tough situation for you. Please go on your holiday, enjoy the time as best you can. Possibly consider deleting the thread, in order not to 'show your hand', as this case will definitely need to go further.

All the very best.

www.hillhofstetter.com/awards-of-costs-in-the-employment-tribunal/

Even if you couldn't get a no-win-no-fee deal, you should be able to recover costs - see link above. Obviously you'll want to take advice on how watertight your case is, though there really doesn't seem any doubt ... that's what lawyers are for

I would strongly suggest that you go to your GP and have how stressed this has made you noted on your medical records. Then if this does go to tribunal you have evidence of "injury to feelings".

I've been open mouthed reading how they have behaved.

Thank you everyone about everything and espically with regaurds to the references I was panicing about those as with most jobs references a key for getting jobs at the moment its so great to hear about basic disclosure references.

I was having nightmares about a bad reference that would follow me whenever i tried to get a job or to have a massive 5 year gap on my CV but thank you all from the bottom of my heart

How great for you that you work for a company who does everything by email rather than actually talking to each other.

As you have been suspended without pay for an unknown length of time (?) it maybe an idea to ask them for a reference - and watch them fuck that right up too!!!

How long are you ment to hang around on this payless suspension? Hang in there - let them continue to email you. Keep working that poker face.

you could have thread moved to the secret place where it won't come up on any searches etc if you are worried about disclosure.

Did you get a chance to delete your history/cookies etc on your work computer?

www.totaljobs.com/Contents/Editorial/References.html

Make sure you write down EVERYTHING you remember from the meeting today while it is still fresh.

How about taking a print of this thread so you have a basic time line of what has happened? Then you can filter in the emails and notes.

That way you can hand the bones to your solicitor.

I bet your colleague does not take her maternity leave early