Suspended from work for gross misconduct

[Sam1993]

Hi all, I need some advice ASAP as I am really stressing out here
In a nutshell, I’ve recently been suspended from work for gross misconduct (call avoidance) however I’m also 17 weeks pregnant... I know it was ridiculously silly of me to become so complacent at work but due to ill health I really did just let it all get on top of me. It’s no excuse but I genuinely had no idea how far it had gone until I was called in for a meeting to be told I’m being suspended!
I’ve got an interview this week to see facts/figures so I’ll know better then, but if anyone can please advise in the meantime I’d thoroughly appreciate it x

In your position I would grovel and keep my fingers crossed. No judgement from me, jobs, especially the mindnumbing ones, are tough when you’re in the best frame of mind let alone otherwise.

You must be aware of how much time you spent avoiding calls?

Are we talking minutes or hours?

If 'everyone else has been pulled up for the same thing' I suspect they're not going to sack their entire workforce.

Usually resigning first would sound like the easier option but being 17 weeks pregnant I’d be shocked if anyone even offers me another job and even if I do get one I won’t be entitled to maternity pay if I even pass the probationary period so either way I will be stuck until a good while after the baby is born

It seems wrong to escalate this to gross misconduct without warning or looking into what's wrong if this is out of character.

I am very surprised that you’ve not had a warning before. I would have expected your manager to have given you a verbal warning detailing the problem, what they expected, and a timeframe in which to improve. I’d also expect them to have confirmed the escalation from that; to jump straight in with gross misconduct seems a bit harsh.

As PP suggested, please get copies of company policies, including disciplinary procedures.

There is a possibility your manager has not followed the procedures, which leaves you in a better position; perhaps a warning instead.

And please encourage your colleagues to report every fault; it will help you all, and maybe encourage IT to fix it. I can tell you that if IT don’t know there’s a problem, they can’t fix it!

If they insist on sacking you, push to resign. They should hopefully accept that. Good luck

Some very judgmental posts on this thread.

Suggest you look at Staff Handbook to see what constitutes 'gross misconduct' - as mentioned above, this is generally reserved for the most shocking examples of employee behaviour.

Find out what the exact status of the 'interview' next week is - ie is it a formal disciplinary meeting, and have you been advised you can take someone with you? Or is it a meeting.

Has your employer put in writing what the allegations are against y ou and the purpose of the interview?

Can you see an employment solicitor, armed with the letter from your employer (assuming there is one) and your staff handbook?

How long have you been working at this particular employer?

Please just Ignore all the pointless advice from non legal experts on this thread.
Most of it is unhelpful to you and could harm your position.
Do not admit anything at this stage but you must contact ACAS or similar organisation for advice from an employment law specialist.
Admitting you're in the wrong and requesting a second chance is far more likely to lead to being sacked so isn't a sensible course of action.

It’s basically an interview inviting me and my union rep to have their evidence put forward to me and gives me a chance to explain my side to them... I just have no idea what I could say or do that could help my case. I’ve been working here for almost 2 years (this June) and to be completely honest I don’t need anyone to be kicking me whilst I’m already down I know what I have done wrong and I am paying the consequences for it trust me. I just wanna want to try do what I can to save my job.

OP, what is your side of things though?

If this meeting is to put across your side of events what are you going to say?

Is it just a few minutes here and there or have you spent extended periods not taking calls?

What were you doing in that time?

Can you provide rationale for why this happened?

Speak to your union rep.

This sounds like a performance issue that needs retraining / correction.

Gross misconduct relates to conduct/behaviour and it has to be pretty serious to class it as gross misconduct.

Suspension sounds over the top for this and is usually a last resort where the person remaining in work could cause more damage or interfere with an ongoing investigation.

Prior to meeting they must give you all the evidence/facts they are using against you. I’d challenge that they haven’t raised it with you before or given you support/training.

If you have less than 2 years service it’s tricky as you can’t claim unfair dismissal and it doesn’t sound like it’s pregnancy discrimination.

we outbound dial to customers, the customer will pick up however because no one is talking from my end the customer will terminate the call.

A long, long time ago I was a team leader in an outbound call centre. A large part of that I did was to manage software making the calls to keep the calls where someone responds but nobody in the call centre talks to a minimum. OFCOM come down really heavy on call centres who give customers the silent treatment and quite right too - we all know how serious it is.

OP, your pregnancy is not a get out of jail free card. Your employer has to follow the correct disciplinary procedures and it sounds as they are doing so by suspending you. The next step would be to have a meeting where you'll be allowed to fight your corner. If you do not have a good reason why you didn't have your headset on, or why you weren't at your desk when you should be, and didn't tell anyone that you were having problems with the software, then what are they expected to do?

If they are doing everyone for gross misconduct you should take a collective grievance, that's outrageous.
This meeting will be to establish whether there is a case for investigation, if so they may downgrade the charge, now or later. Argue for misconduct, return to work and a warning
If it's just you, make sure you have read the disciplinary procedure and have a union rep. You can join union today, and they will get meeting postponed to prepare. If there is no union for your workplace or industry try unite. Or you can a friend, but get one who has been in a union or in hr for another company. managers never know what to do and often break procedure. Get copy of any satisfactory appraisal you have had. If suspension remains in force they may still find no case or lesser charge later. Good luck.

OP, it sounds very high handed if they have just invited you and a union rep to hear the charges, and this is the first you know about it. I would expect at least a warning and / or charges to be communicated to you. I am no expert at employment in call centres, but I am not sure how all you have said amount to gross misconduct.

If I were you I would seek out the union reps beforehand and try to have a meeting with them before you have to go in.

As you have been there less than two years it doesn't look good to be honest as you cannot claim unfair dismissal unless you can prove they have discriminated against you.

Be guided by your trade union rep, but I probably wouldn't say "I have been complacent" I would be far more inclined to say it's health reasons.

In all honesty it could go either way. In your favour you are pregnant so they won't want to risk a discrimination claim, but against you may be the facts, plus your short service.

I would imagine they will have recordings of all the calls. They probably get a "short call" report which will flag up any incoming or outgoing call that is less than about ten seconds.

As helpful as most people are being, I can’t help but feel others are being very selective in what they read from my previous posts. I have not once tried to hide behind my pregnancy or use it as a get out of jail free card - I have been very honest about what reasons I may have had for what's happened and I’ve not accused my employers of being unfair either, but at the end of the day my main concern is keeping my job and that’s the only reason I’ve come on here asking for help or advice from anyone who will know better or who’s had experience in these situations before. I don’t know what evidence they have, I don’t know what to expect in this meeting and I don’t know what to say to defend myself well enough to keep my job and that’s my main priority.

Do they know you are pregnant? If you have been there under 2 years you haven't got alot of rights but most employers will be wary of dismissing a pregnant woman because you are still protected from discrimination due to pregnancy even with less than 2 years employment.

OP you've not made it at all clear what has happened?

How often were you avoiding calls?

What were you doing in that time?

The fact that you are approaching 2 years makes it more likely that they will be looking to get rid.
Are you sure you have never been picked up for short calls or not being available? Surely team leader gives constant feedback?

I would not admit that you have become complacent.
Tell them you have struggled for the past few months for the reasons you describe above.
Health, technical issue and not being as quick on the ball as you would had hoped but you thought you were keeping up.

1. Look at your contract, what are you expected to do - have you breached the terms.

2. Ask them if this is such an issue and they know you have been struggling why they didn't bring it to your attention.

3. Look at your figures and then ask to see all the teams figures (this may not go in your favour)

4. Mention your past record

5. Ask them if they are doing this because you are pregnant?
   Say you feel they are treating you unfairly as this is very heavy handed and no one else is being treated like this.

They want you out and don't want to pay any money.
Go and see a lawyer.

Op, how many people have been pulled up for this?

Do you have a rough feeling for how many calls you've been avoiding?

I would ask the union rep if you're entitled to the documentation before hand. I would not recommend arguing complacency or ill health making you unable to do uour job at this stage. I would go with technical issues or something else not your fault. However it depends on how much you've done this.

I'm sorry to say but if they have moved to gross misconduct it would seem they feel they have a significant case of deliberate non performance and potentially even bringing the company into disrepute if the customers know it's them calling then you don't speak. I would assume from the gross misconduct label they are moving for dismissal. So you need to see if you can get the facts and figures of the scale of it and create your defence.

Hope things work out for you OP

I'm not an expert but to me this smells. As others have mentioned, slacking off or making mistakes isn't gross misconduct. I think it's plausible the company want to get rid of you to avoid paying maternity pay. Unfortunately it sounds like you've given them a good excuse.

I work in an inbound call centre. Call avoidance is a gross offence and is grounds for instant dismissal. However if there are concerns but no proof, they usually suspend pending a meeting with hr and your line manager. Has this been arranged?

As others have mentioned, slacking off or making mistakes isn't gross misconduct

It certainly can be, it depends on the scale of it. For example if she is missing every one in ten calls, it would be difficult to comprehend this as gross misconduct. If she is answering one in every ten I don't see how it can be anything else. So shades of grey in there.

In addition if she is doing it enough, she moves her employer from cold caller to nuisance caller, where the call and no one says anything. Done enough, that is always going to be game over. So again it's about scale.

If you are not allowed the evidence beforehand you should take it and request another meeting to discuss it.