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

Amummyatlast, you're not 100% correct. It IS unfair dismissal and the reason can be e.g. vcitimisation.

Considering we are getting a watered down version of what has happened through a third party and no one is privy to the actual sacking nor contract, you yourself are not 100% correct either.

In many cases it is lawful to sack someone with immediate effect, even after the 2 year mark, everyone is basing their opinion on a third party 'hypothetical' situation that is a clouded interpretation of a one sided conversation.

I think you have misread what your solicitor said or they may have explained in more simplistic terms than it really is. You cannot claim unfair dismissal for victimisation (it’s a claim under the Equality Act 2010, assuming you are using victimisation in the legal sense of the word) and you cannot claim unfair dismissal purely for not following a fair procedure if you have under two years service. (You also said wrongful dismissal, rather than unfair dismissal, and they are two different claims.) You can sometimes claim wrongful dismissal for breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence, which can include behaviour such as victimisation (in the non-legal sense of the word), but it can be a high bar to meet.

There are lots of reasons when you can claim unfair dismissal for when you have under two years’ service, but failure to follow a fair procedure is not one of them.

I’m sure you’re right about this happening because she’s about to clock up the two years that will give security of employment. The same happened to my brother when he was working in a branch of a chain of bookshops. It was particularly hurtful because they’d spent almost two years praising him up, giving him lots of responsibility and calling him in for special events; then all of a sudden he was allegedly underperforming and had to leave. He discovered that the manager had a track record of doing this as people were coming up to the two year employment point.

Get her to check how close she is - it's 103 weeks as they add a weeks statutory notice.

Sorry if you think I am patronising, but the Employment Rights Act 1996 (where the right to claim unfair dismissal comes from) simply does not list victimisation as a reason for claiming unfair dismissal. I suspect your case was more nuanced than you think. But it’s not to helpful for the OP to state things that are incorrect. We don’t have the full facts, but at most it sounds like her friend is only entitled to her notice period and any accrued leave.

A good point Noeuf.

@hamstersaremyfriends

Victimisation has a very precise meaning in law and it does not relate to standard unfair dismissal. It relates to whistleblowing and discrimination claims.

I’m an employment solicitor and there are some very inaccurate replies on here! The employment board may be better for you op.

How close to 2 years? She could round up.

Any discrim angle? Race, sex, disability etc? Part time worker discrim?

Do a subject access request?

Awards for this sort of thing are so uncommon and relatively poor that her first step should be seeking a new source of income before spending time chasing what might end up in nothing.

Actually, I have dealt extensively with ACAS and can assure you that their Caseworkers do not just "read from a website", and have negotiated many thousand of pounds in compensation from lazy and incompetent firms and HR departments

I got this same text on sunday without any notice.
My manager just didnt want me there.
They can if you work from agencies.
Or have been working there for less than 2 years.
Mostly if you're not permanent.

Not unless it's gross negligence or there are previous warnings

Mentioning her "performance" - was that measured against something. Are they right that it wasn't at target?

Speak to ACAS but prioritise getting a new job probably.

I’d been working at a big tech company for almost a year. Came in one day, worked as normal, was called into my manager’s office at 5pm and told to leave with immediate effect. No reason given, no previous warnings.

I spoke to an employment lawyer who told me it was perfectly legal because I’d been there less than two years.

It was a horrible humiliating upsetting experience at the time.

In some jobs they won’t let you work a notice period due to the damage a disgruntled employee could do. This even works with redundancy to.

Without knowing the facts no one can tell you where your friend stands call acas

Agency workers after 12 weeks with the same company are entitled to the same rights as if hired by the employer direct..holiday pay, annual leave, sick pay, warnings, notice etc.. I know this personally as my partner used to work for agencies and he had these rights given. He had to ask for them though, agencies are in no rush to pay you as a full blown employee as he found out!

I disagree that ACAS is just a call centre, I’ve contacted them myself and got very clear, precise advice as to what to do. Definitely worth getting in touch with them

I am no Expert so she should get advice. 1) A lot depends on what's been going on honestly. 2) was there a probation period, did she pass that? Genrly speaking there are conditions in which employers can terminate employment at any time . The 2 year rule is not fixed. There are reasons why termination may be wrong even with less then 2 years service. E.g Gender discrimination. A lot also depends on her Contract. A normal process would be 3 warnings and your out 2 verbal 1 written. So really she needs to be honest and consider why the company may feel her preformance was so bad it looks like they issued a summery dismissal. No worthwile company would do this without consulting their advisors. Final did they give her a chance to appeal? If not may be send an appeal to companies head of HR also ask them what the appeal process is etc.

This sounds like gross misconduct. An Employer finds it very difficult to hire the right staff and it costs them a considerable amount of time and money to advertise and interview prospective employees. They do not terminate staff without reason but she is certainly entitled to her wages for the notice period...

Thank you so much to everyone who took time to reply. I’ve forwarded on all your advice, she is going to prioritise finding a new job as she’s been there less than 2 years. She’s just feeling really upset and I think she’s pretty embarrassed. She says it’s came out the blue and she was doing well as far as she was aware

I believe as a business you can get caught out if you’re judged to have chosen not to follow a fair process to avoid a person reaching 2 years service. Probably not likely she was that close to 2 years but just a thought.

Go to Citizens Advice, but you have only 3 months to contest it.

Ask your friend to check if she gets legal advice with any of her insurance policies. If so, use them. ACAS and citizens advise are options. With less than 2 years service, yes they can let you go with no course for action unless you can demonstrate you lost your job as a result of a protected characteristic.