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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that sacking the Chancellor's media adviser is illegal (just one more reason to despise this Government)

127 replies

Livingtothefull · 31/08/2019 09:30

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sajid-javid-dominic-cummings-fires-special-adviser-johnson-brexit-sonia-khan-a9085056.html

I am a line manager and mere mortals like us have to handle a dismissal in an appropriate way:
Invite the individual to a meeting in line with company policy;
Let them know beforehand that dismissal is a possible outcome (though never a foregone conclusion);
Allow them a companion to the meeting;
Let the individual have his/her say and consider this before reaching decision;
If we dismiss, explain the grounds for the dismissal (conduct, capability or whatever);
Allow them the right to appeal the dismissal.

It looks as though none of this was done here; apparently the Government is arrogant and high handed enough to think the law and good practice don't apply to them only the rest of us.

If she has more than 2 years service she has a lot of rights, and may choose to take this to an employment tribunal; in which case she will probably win. And guess whose money will have to be used to compensate her?

OP posts:
Ligresa · 31/08/2019 12:21

Cummings is very intelligent. No deal has to be at least on the table.

The country voted to leave. All this anger would be justified if we had voted to stay and the government were still determined to leave.

Alsohuman · 31/08/2019 12:24

Cummings is a psychopath. The country didn’t vote to leave, 37% of the electorate did. HTH.

Ligresa · 31/08/2019 12:28

There was a vote and the outcome was leave. I agree it was a shit outcome, but that is what it is. If erstwhile Remainers didn't bother to vote then this is on them tbh.

Alsohuman · 31/08/2019 12:33

@Ligresa, then stop saying the country voted to leave when it patently didn’t.

Ligresa · 31/08/2019 12:36

Ok. There was a vote. The outcome was leave. Everyone over 18 had a chance to vote.

VladmirsPoutine · 31/08/2019 12:36

Ligresa No deal i.e. risking the lives of thousands has to be on the table? WTF! Do you understand that. No deal could potentially lead to entire businesses being wiped out and death in certain circumstances c.f. cancer isotopes. How can risking actual lives be part of a negotiating strategy? That's psychopathy, not genius strategy.

pennypineapple · 31/08/2019 12:41

Not every mother has a partner

Well yes of course. And not every father has a partner either.

Sorry, appreciate it's massively off topic but it seriously annoys me when people reinforce these stereotypes that a mother may choose to work if she wants but obviously only if it doesn't disrupt her primary responsibility of being default parent. Stating that 7.55am meetings discriminate against working mothers (but not fathers or indeed anyone else with caring responsibilities) sends the message loud and clear that sorting childcare is the woman's responsibility.

I'll shut up now as I realise this has nothing to do with the thread.

LatteLove · 31/08/2019 12:47

It may have been an unfair dismissal, it may not. As you said it depends on a number of factors not least of which her length of service. Assuming she was actually an employee in the first place and not a “consultant” or similar. Or they may have given her an exit package and a settlement agreement. Even if she was unfairly dismissed sadly these kind of things happen all the time. If all someone has is a bog standard ordinary unfair dismissal claim the compensation isn’t ridiculously high as most people will get another job and UD awards are capped. Different story if there are things like discrimination and whistleblowing though.

LatteLove · 31/08/2019 12:52

At a weekly gathering of special advisers in Downing Street on Friday evening, Mr Cummings was queried on Ms Khan’s dismissal and pay rates for officials. According to several individuals in the room, he responded, “if you don’t like how I run things, there’s the door”, adding that critics could “fk off”

Charming

Original poster
Livingtothefull · 31/08/2019 12:55

The Tories have amply shown how cavalier they are about human lives....it comes as no surprised that they are relaxed about a no-deal Brexit even if people die as a result of it as seems likely.

Nor does it come as a surprise that they treat their own employees poorly as well.

The referendum was advisory only. Our elected representatives are supposed to act in the interests of the country as a whole, rather than slavishly go ahead with something which they know is hugely damaging to and may break up the country (even if a majority had voted for it rather than a minority of the electorate).

That is why hanging was abolished even though the majority may still want it, and why legislation protecting vulnerable minorities was introduced regardless of what members of the public thought.

OP posts:
DioneTheDiabolist · 31/08/2019 12:56

The Tories have amply shown how cavalier they are about human lives....it comes as no surprised that they are relaxed about a no-deal Brexit even if people die as a result of it as seems likely.

Also see: Austerity and Universal Credit.Angry

Ringdonna · 31/08/2019 13:00

People have died as a direct result of Tory policy and their actions - so no I don't have a lot of time for anyone who has knowingly supported this.

What bollocks

Narikk333 · 31/08/2019 13:01

Totally agree - no matter what you think about her political leanings, I find it more than just coincidence that there are so many women who have been fired. This government is just a nasty an old boys’ club.

Ringdonna · 31/08/2019 13:01

Long may the Tories be in power.

OP posts:
Ligresa · 31/08/2019 13:05

This government is just a nasty an old boys’ club

Unlike Labour i suppose! That's just a unionised left wing boys club

Lougle · 31/08/2019 13:12

Regardless of whether she's done the thing that they say she's done, being escorted from the premises is standard practice. My Dad worked in quality assurance in engineering. Whenever he was made redundant (often, in the 1980s), he was given 30 minutes to clear his desk and escorted from the premises. That's because he had the power to jeopardise ongoing projects if he wanted to. This politician could do damage, so she was escorted.

Original poster
Livingtothefull · 31/08/2019 13:13

What makes you think I am a Labour supporter? Not saying for a moment that Labour don't have their issues...but the Tories have been in power for almost a decade so the mess we are in now is entirely at their door.

The situation we are in threatens the future of all of us and this Government is to blame. We should all be on the same side...yet here we are arguing with each other. I suspect that is exactly what the current leaders intended. Divide and rule eh?

OP posts:
LatteLove · 31/08/2019 13:13

I completely agree with you @Livingtothefull.

Autumnintheair · 31/08/2019 13:19

Imagine a scenario where we voted to stay but parliament progressed with leaving, in small increments, tweaking laws here and there to get us out.

Imagine!!

I think leavers have been more than patient with three years of twaddle.

Re the sacking it depends whether she did leak or not.

This is critical time for UK and leaks are bad

Original poster
Livingtothefull · 31/08/2019 13:21

When I say 'we should all be on the same side' I am not saying that everyone should be anti-Brexit like me. But here we are arguing about Brexit when we should be discussing what kind of country we want to be going forward. Nobody seems to have a clue about that.

It is just me but I know I don't want to be part of a country in which austerity harms and kills people. I am sure that many agree. I also don't want to be part of a country whose government sets an example of how to treat an employee like shit.

OP posts:
SilverySurfer · 31/08/2019 13:28

OK she is a long time Tory so not a good person

The above is so ignorant that it's pointless responding to the rest.

I hope the Labour Party pay you well for pedalling this drivel.

Autumnintheair · 31/08/2019 13:36

It depends what employee did. If she was wrongly sacked she needs to pursue that. Everyone knows what Cummings is like to her advtantge.

The stakes are too high at present for anymore messing around.

Alsohuman · 31/08/2019 13:42

Or even peddling it @SilverySurfer.

The excuse that if Khan could do something damaging if she remained on the premises is farcical. We live in an age where someone can do damage with their inside knowledge from their bedroom. The police escort from Downing Street was ordered purely to humiliate her and for no other reason.

She appears to have been fired because she had dinner with and called a friend. If there was any evidence she’d leaked, that bastard Cummings would have put it out there.

Xenia · 31/08/2019 14:17

Lots of companies sack employees or make them redundant and escort them straight from the bilding to ensure no trade secrets are taken with them .

As for BJ not being elected same with Gordon Brown surely - took over fron Blair. That is our system. they are prime ministers, not presidents and they can change without an election. The system works fine.