Partner sacked without notice, fair?

[Gooooo]

He's been there just under 2 years, I think a week under 2 years, unfortunately.
It's a zero hours contract he's on but he did have a contract which stated if he wanted holidays/to resign etc. He needed to give notice.
He's also way past his probation period.
Anyway he's been told today he's fired. Understandably he's gutted, what I want to know is are they allowed to fire with immediate effect?
There was no gross misconduct, they were just unhappy with his performance.
We've got bills to pay as has everybody and my salary isn't that high.
They expect notice from employees but doesn't seem to work both ways .

You heard of statutory notice?

liok, you’re correct in that we haven’t seen the contract, but it’s bonkers to just say there’s nothing that can be done when, in all probability, there is.

Well, there may be. Not “is”

No, they don’t. An employee is only entitled to be considered permanent after four years continuous service.

Strictly speaking, legally neither employee nor employer are required to give notice on a zero hours contract. Unless there is something specifically written into the contract of employment, as the OP seems to be saying there is in her DP’s case.

No, he does not have a statutory notice period of 2 weeks. He has not been there 2 years, so his statutory notice period is 1 week. And that is if he is an employee. As he is on a zero-hours contract, he may well be a worker, in which case there is no statutory notice period at all.

coldspringtime

I am wondering if folks don’t understand what zero hours means, it means they don’t need to even let you work one hour.

I'm wondering why “folks”” post stuff they clearly have no understanding off and post it as fact!

it isn’t about his contract hours, it’s about his legal contract regardless of contracted hours.

Employment lawyer here. He would have been entitled to one weeks notice. If adding one week on to his leaving date takes him past 104 weeks service, his employment is protected against unfair dismissal.
Zero hours is irrelevant here, the 'effective date of termination' is the key date, which can be extended by the statutory notice period where notice is not given.

Why do posters insist on being horrible?? You don't know that!!! I'm HR in a massive organisation and daily I see people being treated like shit (including me!)

Zero hours contracts are an abomination but that close to 2 years' service, I'd be asking whether his annual leave took his service over the 2 years.

That is as maybe, but legal protections still kick in at the 2 year mark!

Listen @Gooooo , there's always so much shite posted on threads like this by people who 'think' they know what they are talking about but in actual fact, don't.

This is my bread and butter but I know nothing is ever straightforward and different employers act differently. You need to know the legalities here, so ACAS are your best bet. I don't know (as I haven't had time to RTFT) whether he is in a union because if he is, he needs to contact them to advocate for him.

So many employers are utter cunts! Sorry this has happened.

@Gooooo my OH is currently going through this, absolutely no first, formal, final or written warnings and his company have just announced that they are letting him go. He has too work 2 months notice but still annoying as he had no idea.

we were all prepared to fight it with my dad’s support as he is a union rep however there is a section in my OH’s contract which states service under 2 years can be terminated without following the disciplinary procedure if there is evidence of poor performance. The only performance indicator was a review in October which had more objectives than his last review but only minimal silly things like better notes on the system.

My OH was very upset when on Friday his CEO had a company wide meeting where he announced a restructure of the companies and the way the digital development teams worked. I have never hated a CEO in my life.

Because it’s zero hours yet they can do this but

1 - Very unusual if it’s for poor performance normally there is a process including performance improvement plans etc and it never should be a shock

2 - the notice period does matter because even if they give 0 hours of you have under 2 years tenure at a company you don’t really get any protection k, if his notice takes him over 2 years then go hit up ACAS providing that you have the full truth

Not disputing that at all, but that’s a different issue. Employers are under no obligation to offer a permanent contract of employment because a temporary one has ended.

Employers are under no obligation to offer formal disciplinary procedures before terminating if the employee hasn’t been there for two years. Good employers do follow best practice though - not doing so can come back and bite them as an employee doesn’t require the statutory two years service if there is a case for automatically unfair dismissal, discrimination or breach of contract.

If the company is shitty enough to offer zero hours contracts, it could well be that this is the first time they've mentioned it - companies willing to exploit workers by literally giving them no hours some weeks will also use any excuse to let people go.

I'd ask your DP if they've been warned before, but if he says no then I wouldn't assume he's lying.
I've been there before - sacked with no notice, I was paid my notice period but I had absolutely no idea my performance was an issue (which it wasn't, but there we go).

Unfortunately this doesn’t even need to be written into a contract of employment. With less than two years service any employer can dismiss without following their own disciplinary procedures. In most instances the advice would be to accept it and concentrate on job search, but there can be repercussions. Make sure there is nothing to suggest that your OH has been discriminated against, as per the Equality Act 2010 - certain things are classed as ‘protected characteristics’ and employees have protection for these from day one. Wrongful dismissal can still be claimed for without two years service - basically breach of contract, for example not being given the statutory notice period stated in the contract. There’s also something called automatic unfair dismissal and that covers things like being dismissed for requesting flexible working hours, jury service, health and safety issues, statutory rights, etc.

More information here https://www.acas.org.uk/dismissals/unfair-dismissal

I'm afraid companies like that will cite 'performance issues' as a reason even if they haven't muttered a word about it before. It's a claim which in many jobs is just too subjective so it's hard to argue against. Their absolutely is no place for zero hours contracts and the sooner it is outlawed the better.

Those saying there must be a reason obviously have no experience of zero hours contracts.
Amazon warehouses for example ime automatically lay you off for three months after you have worked there a year. Then if they are happy with your work they take you back.

Blimey, really?

I'm not naive, and know that a lot of employers cull anyone they're not 100% happy with at the 103-week mark, and some really shit employers sack all their replaceable workers as the two year mark comes up, but I've not heard of Amazon going quite that far (not disbelieving you, just shocked).

The reason is of course that employers worry about the number of people who go on long term sick as soon as they have their two years and threaten ETribs as soon as they experience something they don't like. Companies lose thousands on this. Good staff will usually always be in work.
To be clear I'm not underestimating the impact on the OP. It happened to me and it's horrible.

I'm so sorry OP.

He has the same right to notice as the notice they need from him to quit. Speak to ACAS they will advise on exactly what he needs to do.

He needs to sign on immediately and sort out UC claim in place of CTC and WTC assuming neither of those are available to you.

Good luck x

Not really understanding this because employers can easily terminate people for long term sick if it’s’ not genuine, as long as they follow the law. And you can’t demand an employment tribunal unless you have a clearly defined case.

If nothing is defined in his employment contract he won’t be entitled to notice if he’s had less than two years service. It does seem as though there’s something defined in writing from what the OP says but zero hours contracts are tricky.

If it’s a zero hours contract and he’s been working full time regularly and it has become expected then he could have a claim.

He should definitely call ACAS.