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.

She didn't actually say that the train was unreliable she just said it was a 40 min journey

some people downright nasty?!?! how presumptuous of you. Seems like it runs in the family.

I had a 19yr old new starter who was consistently late, despite having control of her arrival time because she drove in. Before her disciplinary interview she wrote me a note saying she would "try not to be more than 10 minutes late" in future. She did not pass her probation. It's an attitude.

He'll still get paid a notice period, or at least for today, which will cover the £17, no?

I think you're furious with the wrong person, tbh.

I get it, my young adult son is sometimes 1 or 2 minutes late to his fairly new job, and also thinks they don't mind. My DH and I however are driving like mad to try to get him there on time and trying to convince him otherwise. (No public transport where we live.)

I think it's a real issue with a lot of this generation.

Why wasn’t he getting an earlier train already? This baffles me

I understand you must both be gutted.

He misunderstood something he was told and needs to think about why that was and learn from it.
Who was 'they' who told him it was okay? Was it a colleague who said not to worry about it - they don't have the authority to agree this. Was it his manager - think about exactly what happened and what was said in that conversation. It sounds as though maybe he was late and they meant okay for that day, did not intend it to be taken as okay for every day.

Also how did he behave when he arrived? Did he go in and crack on straight away, or did he take another 10 mins coat/loo/making a drink before he actually started work? That could also be it - they may have been willing to tolerate a couple of minutes late start but not 15 mins. Start time is not the same as a sensible arrival time to do all that stuff.

Side note for everyone mentioning probation period - this has no standing whatsoever in employment law and is not relevant.

He should have come to work on time? What kind of job is this?

@OneGreyBiscuit Unfortunately, you are directing your fury at the wrong party, his contract would have stated his start time, that is not a suggestion, but it is the time that he is expected to be on the premises and ready to start work. You say that the train which he caught got him into the office a few mins later, add to that the time he would take to be ready, you would be talking about up to an hour lost each week so over a year that would work out to a week or more of work time lost. This will be why his employers have done this.

Tell your son to view this as an upleasant but short, sharp lesson; next time, he needs to factor in his travel time and how he will get to the job before accepting it, or negotiate, in writing, any changes to his contract.

Respectfully op, it’s good he learns this lesson now. If you are arguing at home how they are out of order, he won’t learn it.

When he’s said they are ok with it, that probably means they’ve not given him a warning so he’s carrying on with being late.

The annoyance you have colleagues that are late is irrelevant, it’s an immature argument rather than a valid point.

Besides… even if the employer DID say being late was fine, why would he even choose to be late anyway just because they said it was fine when he could have been on time.

Try not to be more than 10 minutes late 😂😂😂

They live among us!

This. He should have immediately realised he needed to get an earlier train and done so from day one, not a month later ONLY when his employer suggested it.

Hopefully he’s learnt his lesson and will take his next job much more seriously.

@TheFairyCaravan got to keep discipline in the ranks so to speak.
If one gets it others start to get aggrieved because their not getting it

I think I whether it’s fair depends on the train timings and how much his lateness impacts the business.

if you live somewhere where there is only one train an hour and getting an earlier train means getting to work an hour early every day to sit twiddling your thumbs, that’s unfair. They could have looked at altering the start and finish times slightly so the hours are still done just within a slightly different window.
For example 9:10-5:10 instead of 9-5.

if there’s a train every ten minutes, your son should have taken the initiative to get an earlier one and not be late. There’d be no good reason for lateness really.

but they can end his employment at this point for any reason they want really.

Well they clearly weren’t OK with his lateness were they, or they wouldn’t have told him to get the earlier train. What happens in your workplace is irrelevant.

YABU

I've only skim read but this doesn't seem to have been addressed:
He's just come off holiday (which he informed them of)

Did he get the holiday signed off by a manager or did he just take it?

Once you’re at the point that your employer has mentioned they are unhappy with your timekeeping, you are already in a bad, bad place. They’ve probably already been thinking about it for a while. The onus is NOT on the employer to remind the employee about punctuality, it should be a given.

A painful lesson for your son but one hopefully he won’t forget.

He should have requested flexible working to start at say 9.10 to 5.10 (this is what I did to enable me to do the school run before work and avoid breakfast club costs for 3 dc but still have a good job. Lesson learned, onwards to the next thing.

Or possibly they meant they were OK with it that day, or on days when there’s an issue with the service, and he’s taken that to mean every day. I think the fact that they emailed him on his first day back to ask him to get an earlier train is significant - possibly they were waiting for him to do this on his own initiative and his failure to do so is reflected by the same lack of initiative in other areas of his work

I would question whether or not your DS was telling the truth about them being ok with him being late and whether it was actually 1-5 minutes or longer. I know a few lads who would lie about both of those things to get a few extra minutes in bed. 🙈

Was he a "few minutes late' getting to the airport for his flight? It drives me bonkers when one of mine strolls in at 9.06 each morning. If she got the earlier bus she'd be here at 8.40am. But no, she doesn't want to waste 20 mins sat at her desk doing nothing.

What employer is okay with someone being late every day. He told you porky pies because they probably said that they were okay on the day not EVERY day.

OP, you son was in the wrong, hasn't been working there for long and you are angry at the wrong person. He is unreliable - he can't even be asked to be at work on time in a new job. YABU.

I doubt if they were okay with it, that doesn't make sense. Presumably his colleagues were arriving on time, so bending the rules for him would cause issues and resentment. Arriving a few minutes late, would have been more than that once he allows time to get ready to start work. Depending on the role, walking through the door 5-10 minutes before his start time is being there on time. He's 19, punctuality is his responsibility. It shouldn't have needed someone to tell him to get an earlier train - he really should have worked that out for himself. There's no point in being furious on his behalf, because it gives the wrong message - that he has done nothing wrong and has been treated unfairly, which just isn't the case. It's a lesson learned, and I doubt he'll make the same mistake again. Hope he finds a new job soon.

So he’s one month into a new job, has already had a holiday and is late into work every single day? I’m surprised he wasn’t let go sooner.

sorry but this