Furious at ds work dismissal

[OneGreyBiscuit]

This is more has my 19 year old ds employers been unreasonable. He's just been sacked for being unreliable. For context - he accepted a new job about a month ago. He informed them of where he lives which is about a forty minute train journey away. He is a few minutes late everyday because of the trains and they said they were ok with it. He's just come off holiday (which he informed them of) and went back today. He was sent an email before today telling him to get an earlier train so he's on time. Fair enough, so he did and would've continued doing. At 9 he was called into a meeting to tell him his contracts been terminated for unreliability. He was only informed of getting an earlier train from today, so how can they dismiss him like this? If he continued to get the later train and continued being late then I'd understand but they've not even given him a chance. I'm absolutely furious. And to add insult to injury he still had to pay for his waste of time and money train fare this morning.

It's up to the employee to negotiate an adjusted start time to match public transport time tables. You can't just turn up late and shrug as if your helpless to do anything to resolve the problem. If he works a 5 day week is 5 minutes late every day he is being paid for an hour and 40 minutes every month where he's actually not working. Accounting for holidays that's about 18 hours, or 1.5ish days leave each year.

He told you...

Of course he did. And you believed him and didn't challenge him on it.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if he has taken a week’s annual leave within his first month, there is also a possibility that the unaccrued annual leave will be deducted from his final salary.

I think the lesson here is that DS needs to make sure he understands the terms and conditions of his job in future. Fortunately, he is young, so if he pulls his socks up, he can look back on this as a life lesson and laugh one day. Today has been a hard lesson, but let’s hope it’s a useful one.

So take an earlier train!!!! might help keep the bloody job FFS!

Doesn't mean it was true ...

Teenagers say a lot of things are 'ok' when they're actually not.

And being late every single day because he didn't want to get up and take an earlier train ( and that is what this is ) isn't a good look.

Yet another thread where the OP doesn’t get the expected answers, so throws a hissy fit……..!

On time for work is generally 10 minutes early, ready to start. Coming in after the start time is considerably late. He should have been on the earlier train.

The train being delayed wasn’t the issue though. It was that the train he was taking every day was never going to get him to work on time. As an employer, l wouldn’t give an employee an adjustment for that if the problem is that he just can’t get out of bed in time for an earlier train. Which is what the problem seems to be here.

But your son has been pulled up on it. He should have caught an earlier train from his first day then he would still have a job.

Get him a job where you work if it is such a doss with no negative consequences for taking the piss and turning up late every day.

If this is your attitude OP I suspect you're part of the problem.

He is a grown adult, why would he need to be told by his employer to get an earlier train if he is consistently late?
It's fucking obvious.

As somebody else said, things are different in every different workplace.

For example, where my DH works everybody has to clock in before their start time and clock out after their finish time. The same applies to work breaks as well.

If you're late then it is recorded and if you're late enough times then there will be a warning and performance management.

Lateness really pisses people off.

I would say to you sincerely - you are at a parenting crossroads here. Either you use it s as a teachable moment about a) the importance of punctuality and b) that the workplace doesn’t always rely on one person’s opinion or you decide it is all the employer’s fault and leave him less employable.

The idea he couldn’t be expected to arrive at work on time because of a 40 minute commute is crazy. Everyone who commutes into London has an hour’s commute as standard…

I think there has probably been some miscommunication between your DS and his employer.

Ok to being a little late was probably referring to the odd occasion, not every day, and if there was an earlier train to take them he should have taken it.

We are not talking about late due to a delayed train here (which they probably thought he meant) but he was late deliberately when he could have been on time.

This too. It’s very possible that the employer was honouring existing holiday commitments and DS hadn’t yet accrued the paid leave to cover it. As you say it’s a hard lesson to learn, but at this stage a useful one for improving his motivation.

At 19, why did he have to wait to be told by his employer to get an earlier train? That was on him from the start. It’s concerning that you can’t see that. Why would anyone employ someone who is late every day when there are scores of people who will arrive on time without being babied to do so?

He’s lucky he could get a job at all, in this climate.

They may have thought he meant he’d occasionally be late if the train was delayed, which is the case for most commuters. People are expected to get a train that gets them to work on time or a bit earlier than their start time. From your post I’m assuming he’s fairly junior (sorry if that’s not the case). They may have seen lateness as evidence of a bad attitude and felt it was better to cut their losses and find a more motivated person from the many others that would have applied.

Hsng on, what is this about informing them about his holiday? It doesn't work like ths (unless zero hours). You REQUEST holiday!

Not if the holiday was booked at interview. You inform them at the interview

No when you start a new job you let them know about any pre booked holidays. Besides she probably just means that they knew he had holiday, he hadn’t disappeared. No need to try and pick apart the wording on that one.

If they genuinely didn’t mind him being a few minutes late maybe they are just looking for a reason to let him go? Maybe he wasn’t that great at his job once he arrived?
If he was outstanding at his job it’s unlikely they would have let him go for being a few minutes late especially if they had previously said it was ok. They would have given him a warning first and wanted to give him a chance to change. I think it’s likely either he wasn’t great at his job or they don’t need that position anymore.
I do think it’s pretty poor that he was consistently late when an earlier train was available - it sends a message that the job is secondary to his convenience- in today’s job market I don’t think I’d be wanting to send that message whilst new to the role.

While it might seem harsh, you cannot be late every day. Either he misunderstood what was said or the person who said it was OK was not actually in charge.

If there was a train he could get to get him in on time, then he should have been getting that one. You always give yourself some leeway time for travel delays when arriving at work.

There are probably 100+ people eagerly waiting in the wings for a job & who would eagerly arrive at work early.

Arriving late is rude & shows a lack of enthusism (not taking into account train delays)

A lesson of life

Whether they’ve been unfair depends on what he was actually told, versus what he believed he had been told. From the OP, it seems likely he was told that it was OK to be late occasionally if there were problems with the train services. I can’t imagine any employer being OK with an employee who was late every day simply because their preferred train time didn’t get them in on time.

I was going to ask about the holiday.wether it was one he pre warned then about, or if he he'd asked for the time since starting and maybe work had said no, but he went anyway?

In probation you need to impress. He should have got the earlier train from the start. Very bad attitude to be late for work every day. What time did the train depart that he was getting. And what time did the earlier train depart.