AIBU to think this is bullying and unfair dismissal

[okurmyeahalright]

Hi all,

I started a new job in early December, in an industry I have 11 years experience in at senior levels, but in a different sector.
the first month has been great, as expected to be a new start in a company. Note the company is very small, 8 people in total and all other staff members are immediate family.
the person training me went off on annual leave a couple of weeks ago and everything from then on has just come tumbling down and I'm left feeling so angry at how I've been treated. I am a respectful and educated 30 year old woman and single mum, without a single blemish on my career history to date.

i started being ignored. I'd walk in, in the morning and just say 'morning' and nobody would acknowledge me. Then (as I'm still in training) came eye rolls and grunts. I ask questions and make sure I'm doing the right thing and I get grunted at or told 'do what you want to do.' I've had no support whatsoever. They handed me a training manual in a binder folder and that was that.

there was a specific task I had been allocated and there were 2 separate ways of doing it. I checked with management that I could do it either way and they confirmed. I completed the task successfully and got shouted at across the office saying I'm wrong. I have been told to 'shut up' when everyone else was talking about their personal lives, the person opposite me asked what I'm having for dinner. Was told to shut up.
I've been mocked at and spoken to badly about things I haven't yet been taught about. When I try to tell them I haven't been taught I got shut down. This diminished my confidence completely and I started to doubt my work. Which resulted in more questions and more eye rolls.

it's largely a phone based role, there are no scripts and I've been left to my own devises. My calls have been listened to for the first month as I'm in training, all good. I was told I wasn't answering the phone correctly 2 days ago (after being on the phones since early December) and instead of saying '(company name XX speaking how can I help' I was told I need to say 'hello / good morning' beforehand. All fine! It would've helped if I got told this earlier on when I was getting live listened to but anyway all fine. So my next calls I say 'hello (company name) XX speaking how can I help' I get yelled at again and get told I have to say good morning. That by me saying hello is giving the clients an attitude they didn't ask for.

I start writing references down where other staff just say 'hello Jane speaking' as at this point I thought I was being singled out to keep a record. No one else is held up to this standard. Everyone has the same role, there is no 'hierarchy' so to speak, we all do the same job.

I have been shouted at and yelled at. This morning was the worst of all, being called names under their breath, speaking about me to each other. They are all family and it's a tiny company, no HR or anything like that. I was told to go outside for a word and at this point I put my Apple Watch on record. I was shouted at, I asked if I could speak I was told no, I asked if I could explain myself I was told no, to get out and never come back. I walk back in the office shaking on the brink of tears and get my things. One of the slightly nicer employees reminds me to pick up my medication and not forget it. She gets told to sush. It gets announced in front of the whole office 'XX IS LEAVING AND NEVER COMING BACK' no privacy or decency whatsoever. I feel so humiliated.

I have never ever experienced anything like this. I am hard working and at no point were any concerns raised to me, at all. A couple of 'FYI we do it this way' type things but that was it.

I have been made to feel so fucking small. I'm a single mum, Ive spent the last 5 years working through chemotherapy to stay afloat and thought now I'm better to go for a new career and a new challenge.

I have only been there for a couple of months, do I legally have any leg to stand on? They would also openly discuss and make comments about my medical conditions between each other. They sold me the dream in the interview. It is the most bizarre company I've ever come across.

I have the recording on my Apple Watch and I've listened to it back and I'm so angry at how they've treated me. I genuinely don't know what's gone wrong. They said they will pay me for my hours worked.

is there anything I need to be doing now, or could be doing legally?

thanks all if you've read this far.

fucking devastated and barely surviving at the moment as it is. It's brought back so many emotions and memories of me being bullied during my school years.

just feel like a fucking failure.

You need to be very careful with the recording. Do not on any account post it online or tell them you have it.

I think you need permission to record in a workplace, so they would then use that against you. It also means that you couldn't use it as evidence, I suspect. Someone who knows more about the legalities would be able to say.

I can’t even believe things like this happen! Sorry you went through this OP. I hope you find something else quickly. I think ACAS or CAB are your best bet in terms of dismissal, I think you have to have been working there so long to be honest but worth checking. You’re better out of that environment even if you’re worried at the moment.

I know it’s an awful time for you OP at the moment and you have my upmost sympathy. I promise you, you’ve had a lucky escape! I don’t know the ins and outs of unfair dismissal as you can be terminated for basically nothing at the early stages of your employment. I worked so where similar and I have vowed never to work for a small family run business again.

It's not unusual for people to be dismissed and asked to leave the premises immediately. It often happens if the person being dismissed has access to confidential information, that might be useful to competitors, or they could potentially cause other problems while working a notice period if they are unhappy about being dismissed. I've seen it happen in quite big companies, Fred goes to a 'meeting' and just doesn't come back.

But it sounds like you are better off out of there. I'm surprised you weren't already looking for another job.

I suggest you use P45 from your previous company and do a self-assessment taxt return for the financial year 2025-2026 so you are not out of kilter with your taxes (I am not an accountant, btw so I am not quite sure how a few weeks of pay would play out. However, self-assessement tax returns are dead easy, you can do one in in April and forget all about it)

I would cover the period of a few weeks as you wish - long dream holiday (in a country you have definitely visited so no chance of being caught out during the interview) or sick relative (not too sick to demand long-term committment)

Exactly this. Family run companies to me are always something to be wary of. Even if it’s a large company if the management is all family often they have no management training and nepotism is rife.

My nephew recently got his first job after Uni in a family owned business. They promised him the earth including financing further qualifications and progression within the company. Three weeks in told, by the owner, he was doing really well, they were really pleased with him. A week later he walks in told it’s not really working out and he can either leave voluntarily or be sacked. No clear reason given just not working out.

They then told a friend of his who’d started the previous week that he hadn’t been reaching his targets which was a complete lie as he was never given any. Two weeks later same thing happened to the friend. We think that they’d over stretched themselves and there were financially difficulties.

When nephew asked owner for further clarification he just got told the ‘not working out’ followed by ‘this happens more often than you think’. No in normal companies it really doesn’t.

I checked and the owner had joined his family run company for 30 years straight from school so no experience of the real world.

It wasn't in the work place, they took me outside. Literally.

So many people warned me against it and now sadly I agree with you, I left corporate life to go there, looks like I'll be heading back! Hopefully something will come of the interviews I've managed to get 2 booked for next week.

This sounds awful and you are much better out of it. Glad you are speaking to ACAS.
As an aside, with your conditions, would it be worth exploring if you are entitled to pip. It is based on the impact your conditions have on your daily life, rather than the condition itself but if you have something like incurable cancer, you maybe automatically entitled. Whilst it doesn't negate thneed to work, knowing you have a little bit more income might help.

Glad to know you've spoken to ACAS and are applying for jobs. At least they now know about what goes on in that company. It's interesting they mentioned potential whistleblowing - which is one of the reasons classed as automatically unfair dismissal and doesn't require a qualifying period of employment. If you have further problems you can ring ACAS again.

Good luck for your interviews and try not to over worry about the few weeks not accounted for on your applications. To keep it in perspective, what's important is your larger record of employment and experience so keep focus and put your energy into preparing for that.

They might not even ask about a small gap but assume you took an opportune break between jobs. In case they do mention it have something ready to say in general terms, e.g. that you explored other options / sectors but nothing suitable emerged / nothing worked out (even dipped your toe in / which proved to be a false start / a dead end / achieved nothing) which clarified for you the way forward being more suitable options such as the present opportunity / sector / company.

Depends on how much interest they show and how specific they are in asking about it. If you don't want to play it by ear, you could ask a career adviser or consultant for suggestions on how best to account for it. There may be some career / job interview techniques websites that cover this sort of thing.