Sacked with immediate effect?

[Sherloidbaisherloid]

Does anyone have any experience of employment law/rights? Close friend went to work today to be told she was being dismissed with immediate effect as her performance wasn’t what it should be. Can an employer do this? I don’t know if there have been previous meetings or warnings. She says no but surely there must have been? She hasn’t been allowed to even work a notice period. She is really stressing out so I said I would post on here to see if anyone has any advice? Thank you

No rights if she's been there under 2 years

How long has she been there?

Just to add she should be paid her notice.

How long has she worked there?

As PP said, it sounds like she's been there less than 2 years and there is nothing to be done as long as they are paying notice as per her contract.

What type of contract does she have? And how long has she worked there?

If she had been there less than two years then she has no rights and they absolutely can do this.

She needs to call ACAS and be honest with them

But no rights, but they have to pay her notice as per her contract

Tell her to call Acas who are actually qualified to advise her on employment law. It's free.

I'd suggest getting this moved to the employment board where there are people who know what they are talking about.

It is wrong to say you don't have rights in the first two years and the OP's friend needs clued-up, rather than clueless, advice.

What does her contract say?

Acas

ACAS are primarily a call centre. Their qualifications are reading from a website. But aside from that,

How long has she worked there? Is she being paid for her notice period?
Does she feel there could be a discriminatory reason behind her dismissal?

Is she in a union?

Conduct or misconduct? She needs to appeal what sector does she work in?

ACAS were brilliant when DH found himself sacked without notice but he'd been there 15 years and was accused of gross misconduct. He did very nicely out of it in the end but it was a very traumatic time.

If she's been dismissed without notice on performance, it does sound like she's been there less than 2 years but as PP said she should still be paid her notice.

Are you sure it wasn't gross misconduct. It is extremely unusual to be sack with immediate effect even with a probation.
In any job I've worked in they usually give the required warning.
Does she work on finance?

If she’s been dismissed immediately it’d have to be gross misconduct which doesn’t usually come under poor performance that’s usually a conduct issue. Unless she’s had warnings but I think she’d still be given notice.

Best thing to do, call ACAS & file an appeal ASAP

How long has she worked there?

Who knows why she has been sacked? Could be a number of reasons which may have nothing to do with her performance and, as others have said, not a lot she can do if she has been employed for under two years. Not a lot ACAS can do I think. Happened to someone I know. She managed to get them to accept her immediate resignation and they allowed her to leave immediately and gave her a week’s pay. This meant she did not have a dismissal on her record, something she was worried about as she knew she was not underperforming and not incompetent. No point fighting it. A relative of a close friend was then taken on within days to do her job. Probably engineered in advance. Friend quickly took on temporary work to fill in a gap until she could start a job she had already applied for. And she did not have to give the employer who treated her so unfairly as a referee. It sucks but it happens. Tell your friend not to stress and lose sleep worrying what she did wrong. It was probably nothing to do with her performance.

She needs proper advice from people who are suitably qualified and experienced in this area.

As others have said the question is conduct or misconduct? Obviously you may well not have the full facts from her as she may be only telling you part of the situation.

If she is in a union then she needs to contact them. If not, ACAS will be able to advise.

She says no but surely there must have been?

But why would she lie to you if she wants you to post on here?

You might want to get this moved to the employment law section OP. There are some circumstances when employers can get away with an instant dismissal without following a process, though for poor performance it would only be if under 2 year's service, not a whiff of discrimination possibilities and normally with pay in lieu of notice.

Please join a trade union in future so you and your friend can access advice and legal representation when you need it

tuc.org.uk/join-union

Without knowing anymore about the situation, i.e., what her job is, length of service, where in the country (Scotland is different from England) etc. no one will be able to answer this question. We're all just assuming.
I'm a Union rep and this sounds VERY strange to me, however, with no details we can't say whether or not this is legal.