DD unfairly dismissed.. What are her rights?

[Busybeegirl71]

My DD has been in her job for almost 2 years. 3 weeks ago one of the colleagues had a leaving do on the premises where they were all offered drinks at the end of the shift as a goodbye gesture. She and a couple of others was ''given' a couple of drinks and after thought no more about it. Last week out of the blue the area manager brought her and the others into the office and suspending them on full pay with the accusation of theft and gross misconduct! It turns out the assistant manager had not paid for the said drinks that night completely astounding my DD and the others. He has taken the rap for it all and admitted the others inc my daughter were unaware the drinks weren't paid for. He has been sacked today. They all had a hearing and dd and others and didn't sack them. A few hours later they got a phone call to say they had been sacked for gross misconduct! She is mortified and devastated! Does anyone have any advice as we are going to help her appeal as this is clearly unjust and unfair!

Sorry she was sacked for theft and gross misconduct!

She needs to respond in writing to her letter of dismissal saying she wishes to lodge an appeal. She needs to make it clear that she had no idea the drinks weren't paid for by the assistant manager. However she needs to respond to the actual grounds of dismissal. For example, the theft allegation she can deal with by stating it was her understanding that the drinks had been purchased by the assistant manager and offered freely. However, is there perhaps a "no drinking on duty/on the premises" rule?

As long as she was employed before 6 April 2012 she only needs one year's service to qualify to bring an unfair dismissal claim. However hopefully she will be reinstated on appeal.

If she does claim unfair dismissal she will need to complete and return the form within three months of the date of dismissal.

Wow Olga thank you very much! There is some valuable information you have given us! She is unaware of any no drinking on premises or while on duty , tho she had finished her shift anyway. She is Definetly going to the tribunal with this as she has a very strong case for unfair dismissal. As the assistant manager was behind the bar " authorising and distributing the drinks" my daughter had no reason to question the authority of a senior member of staff, and believing the drinks were being paid for. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my post with some great advice, it's much appreciated.. I will let you know of the outcome in the future.. :)

Start with your daughter's contract of employment and any employee handbook/terms and conditions which set out the disciplinary process which should be followed. If the employer appears to have breached their own procedures that is also a ground for appeal she needs to point out - it will be useful if you did end up in an ET.

I would strongly advise that along with criticising the decision as being unduly harsh your daughter makes it clear that she genuinely did not realise there was anything wrong with accepting the invitation to drinks from her line manager and would never knowingly accepted any "stolen" drinks offered to her. She needs to point out her (hopefully) unblemished disciplinary record and examples of hard work/achievements/loyalty etc.

You need to be aware that in considering whether someone has been unfairly dismissed, an ET looks at whether the decision to dismiss falls within what is called the "band of reasonable responses". That can range from a slap on the wrist through to verbal warnings, written warnings, demotion and dismissal. The tribunal will consider all the evidence and decide whether dismissal was a reasonable option in all the circumstances.

For a claim to be successful, a tribunal has to decide that dismissal was a response no reasonable employer would have made - so it is not as straightforward as "fair" or "unfair". If they decide that dismissal was an option, then they cannot overturn the employer's decision.

This explains the point of law quite well:

www.got-the-boot.com/law/law-06.htm

In the circumstances you have outlined, if your daughter has a clear disciplinary record, yes I would say you had a good chance of showing that no reasonable employer would have chosen to dismiss. However, hopefully it won't need to go that far.

Rather than overtly threatening to take the matter forward to an ET, I would advise a strong but subtle approach in your letter of appeal. You will have more chance of success if you allow the employer the chance to review their decision to dismiss without it being a complete and embarrassing climbdown.

You will find the ACAS site a mine of useful information to help you with the appeal and your rights:

www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1390

If you do end up having to make a claim to an ET, do read up on it first:

www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/ResolvingWorkplaceDisputes/Employmenttribunals/DG_10028122

Good luck!