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.

OP Their behaviour including that of your colleaugue expecting you to take the hit of losing 3 grand is appalling and disgusting as well as illegal.

Try to enjoy your holiday and let the solicitor take care of things. Its great that you have those e mails backed up.

FUCKING APPALLING. They are going to come out of this looking like the greedy entitled idiots that they are.

I never used mumsnet on work computers thankfully I have remote access powers to my emails as with everyone in my department incase we needed to work from home / deal with an emergny.

Already done magoria I made the notes stright after the meeting so I could remeber them exactly.

I just realised could I be in breach of data protection act my making copies of emails? for evidence in tribuanals?

Unbeleivable that the colleaugue also said to the OP that she should take the hit of losing the 3 grand.

Entitled much?

Thank goodness you backed up that last email so if they do accuse you of going AWOL you can shove it up their arses! Best of luck and try not to let it cast a shadow over your holiday (easier said than done)

I'm sure MN law experts will be helping you fight your corner but best wishes from me.

What are the lawyers saying OP? I should imagine you are going to be in for a handsome payout from this company when you go to tribunal.

You may be able to negotiate a reference as part of a settlement. Compromise agreements often have an approved reference that they have to provide. Mention your concern to your counsel. And ask whether, if it gets to that point, you can include your reference in the negotiation. Good luck. I'm sorry you're in this situation.

It's like the company have read 'how to dismiss staff for dummies' and then decided that today is 'opposite day' and let's just make shit up as we go along!

Can you write everthing you remember from the meeting .Shame you couldn't have taped it .Not that you can use it but it might have helped you write everything down .Best of luck .May the power of mumsnet be with you .

Check your contract. If it does not mention that suspension without pay is an option then they have to pay you.

Suspension is a neutral act while they investigate. It should only be used for serious issues.

Google Acas disciplinary and grievance code. It is the bare minimum your employer needs to follow, failure to follow this means an uplift in any compensation you may be awarded at tribunal.

Go to CAB they are really good and will be able to help.

my advice is to enjoy your holiday. If your contract does not allow for unpaid suspension then send a letter before action quoting employment law illegal witholding of wages the day after, I would maybe email on the day requesting payment.

Do not contact them by phone. You need a paper trail so emails and post by recorded delivery. If you have to hand deliver anything get it signed for.

Wakeup - I did record meetings from a company that made me redundant.

When we turned up at the tribunal their lawyer said that the recordings were inadmissible.

The tribunal chair just looked at them and said "this is not a court, it is MY tribunal, and I maake those decisions. I considr the tapes relevant"

I got an offer the next week

Sorry for the digression OP. Sorry they are putting you through this. I remember the stress I went through at the time.

It sounds like you have a fantastic case.

"they have not suspended me without pay "

should that be "not" or "now"?

the emails are addressed to you, therefore they are yours and you're not in breach of DPA by retaining them. If you're suspended for a non-specified amount of time without pay, you'll clearly need to find an alternative job at some point and you may well have a case for constructive dismissal if you're forced to resign. Your solicitor will be able to advise properly though! Good luck!! On a slight tangent, I assume your colleague is far along enough in her pregnancy to be able to go on ML? Bringing it forward 2 months is quite a lot. ML can't normally start until 11 weeks before EDD. Ironic really if they've gone through all this and then she couldn't actually go on leave...

sorry yes piglet it should be now silly typo on my part my bad

Unbelievable. Why are some people such utter bastards?

Glad you got copies of everything, take em to the cleaners!

The meeting I was abushed by the 2 senior members of the company and the new owner as well as my collegue / boss and basically to sum up the meeting was that they WHERE going to procced with a GROSS misconduct as apprently I was blackmailing the company by asking to be not made out of pocket after they asked what the problem was etc and they have not suspended me without pay until they have investigated the whole incederdent and than demanded I go home by email abut an hour after the meeting (I backed this up as well).

Was your pregnant colleague, included in the "ambushing"?. If so, why? & what the hell does your problem have to do with her?

Open to the floor:-
Is there a rule/law about breaking boss-worker confidentality?

she was included because she was also a department head like me and so apprently she should of been there as it would of effected the entire section of the company or that is the reason they gave me for her presence there.

I said ambush as I was made to belive it was just going to be a informal meeting between me and my boss and her boss not the majority of senior management it was hellish I was made to feel like I was in the wrong and was wasting everyones time etc

Sorry It was not included in update post didnt want to make it bigger than already was.

NSF thanks for that .Handy to know.I could be wrong I thought you could tape it for your own records but not use it in court.So obviously tribunal s are different .I so wish OP had taped it

Do they know the situation with your dad?

Not that it would be ok behaviour if they didn't but it just makes it soooo much worse.

WD that's quite ok here have some , & some loats of

It was indeed an ambush and can be added to the list of ways they treated you badly/unfairly and majorly cocked this up!

My boss knows It was the first reason I gave why I was unwilling to cancel my annaul leave.

thanks Steam my DH has bought me my fav bottle of red wine ;) I promise I am only have 1 small glass for medical reasons

*purposes not reasons sorry

In any disciplinary hearing your company is obliged to provide you with formal notification of said hearing, a time scale and possible outcomes, and to also notify of your right to have someone you pick to be with you, be it a colleague or lawyer.

No one should have been in the meeting apart from the member of staff or management tasked with HR functions (if they don't have an HR person) and your line manager.

They are totally rubbish.

Take them to the cleaners. They will now be two staff down and it will be entirely their own fault for acting like utter dicks. Get the solicitor onto the case tomorrow. And do enjoy your trip as much as possible - you deserve it.

Unbelievable! Stay strong, OP!