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

(PS in my department we never, ever advise someone to resign. That is not a call we can make. Only you can make that call on balancing the facts).

I understand. Thank you everyone for your time and help. I’ll just have to see how it goes and what will be, will be, I guess.

From your posts you have been negligent and it is gross misconduct.

If you have been suspended it will be due to you being seen as a risk to the business. In regards to outbound calling OFCOM are very strict in drop call rates therefore if you are knowingly removing your headset and allowing calls to dial without you being here to answer this could potentially inflate the drop call rate beyond ofcoms acceptable rate which I believe is under 1%.

If I was chairing a gross misconduct disciplinary hearing I would push back your mitigation as it is your accountability to ensure you are well enough for work. Your employer manages your time out of the business not the reason behind your illness. If you have been given a phased return this is a reasonable adjustment so you can reaclimitise yourself back to your environment.

Good luck op.

I don’t think there is any need to keep sticking the boot in.

I’ve been in contact centre management , thankfully no longer outbound for over 20 years but have seen many cases of calm avoidance .
Making silent calls to customers so they hang up is most definitely gross misconduct for everyone doubting it on the thread . It can cause distress at worst to some people to receive silent calls , brand damage , at best it pisses people off . Plus you’re getting paid for not doing your job , therefore accepting money by fraudulent means .
That said , I’d really see what evidence they have and go from there.
From the situation you describe you’ve had a lot of issues so what I’d want to know is how it was flagged , have they done the same kind of investigations equally on other people or was it about finding an issue for you .
Who found the silent calls and how ? They’re pretty easy to find on quite a lot of people of a manager goes burrowing for them if you get my drift to catch our people who they don’t like or aren’t doing well for other reasons . That shouldn’t happen.
Can they prove that you are silent or that you just don’t know there’s a call there due to system issues ? If there are known system issues even though you’re not reporting them it doesn’t matter that much - you can say the systems are so poor it’s accekted nothing’s done . You can’t say the same for headsets though .
I’d not try the mitigation needed a breather etc at this point as sounds like you’ve had a lot of support - would consult the union for sure .
Not sure if it’s a corporate or smaller business as that also tends to make a difference in how they proceed with cases . If you’ve no other warnings you may get a final written unless it’s prolific .

*sorry for appalling spelling and grammar , contact lenses out 😬

After almost 18 months there you 'forgot' to change your code?

Sorry op, but when you do call centre work day in, day out for nearly 18 months you can do that stuff in your sleep. It's repetitive. The headset removal is another one - it's fundamental, you don't forget it.

I last worked in a call centre in 2003... I can STILL recite the spiel word for word.

I think you keep saying complacent because you know you've been doing stuff, you just didn't think you'd get caught. Noone 'forgets' the basics!

Plus six months of call avoidance in 22 is a HUGE amount of time.

You took the risk and got caught.

Hi there, wow you've had a tough time haven't you.

I thought you were supposed to be given all the investigative work that they had collected prior to the interview so you could prep your defense? I would check with your rep or maybe speak to ACAS.

Try not stress with regards to maternity leave if the worst happens, if you can find an interim job government maternity allowance isn't really that different to statuary mat pay through your employer (unless they are generous and pay more than legally required).

I would just be honest and remorseful and if they are decent people, they'll give you a warning and leave it at that xx

Being lazy at your job is still gross misconduct. Even if you didn't 'mean it' as such.

I worked in, managed departments and employed people to work in call centres.

You were being paid for work you didn't do and did not perform your job role as required.

Though why it got to gross misconduct before performance review I'm not sure but sounds like maybe it escalated rapidly for them to get to that point so quickly.

OP I think you might well already be entitled to maternity allowance. Check out the calculator online but I would guess so. In which case, unless your employer is offering you extra to SMP you probably won’t be much worse off. You could also take it at the earliest date then look for a job after the baby.

Hope it works out with your job. Sounds like you’ve had a lot on your plate personally. I sympathise. I don’t know anything about call centres so they may we’ll be justified in sacking you as others have suggested but that doesn’t make it a terrible crime. You haven’t hurt anyone. At worst, you’ve caused issues for your employer and irritated some people. You aren’t a brain surgeon who botched a job whilst drunk. So ignore the vitriol. Best of luck.

It sounds like a horrible job both for you and for the people receiving your calls. Personally it pisses me off mightily to get a spam call whether I'm at work or at home, but I'm usually polite. I bet some people aren't. Could you find a better job?

I’ve just had a thought.

I think if you dismiss a pregnant employee for gross misconduct, in some circumstances you still need to pay them statutory maternity pay.

I can’t remember the specifics of this off the top of my head OP but please look into that.

I do not understand why you are coming on here for advice, when you state you have a union rep.

I am a case officer for a banking union, and we are best placed to give advice. We know the employer, we know the offence. and we know the likely outcomes.

Call dropping or avoidance is a Gross misconduct offence, and suspension is the normal route. At your investigatory meeting you will be asked for your side of events, and any evidence will be put to you. Notes of the meeting will also be taken.

After the meeting you will receive a written invitation to a disciplinary hearing (unless they decide there is no case to answer) with copies of all documentation that will be used during the hearing.

At this point you will need to discuss with your union as to how to proceed.

It may be, if the case is serious, that resignation would be the best option, if the Business would allow you to leave with a clean reference. If not. then it may be better go through with the hearing.

If you are dismissed you have a right of appeal, although appeals are hard to win.

A reputable Business is unlikely to take the fact you are pregnant, or approaching two years employment into account when carrying out the disciplinary, however, I could imagine that a 'less scrupulous' employer may do.

You pay your union subs.......make use of them!!!

A reputable Business is unlikely to take the fact you are pregnant, or approaching two years employment into account when carrying out the disciplinary, however, I could imagine that a 'less scrupulous' employer may do.

I agree that a decent employer (obviously) wouldn’t let the fact that an employee is pregnant influence a decision to dismiss. However, dismissing before the two year mark to avoid performance management is absolutely commonplace. It has nothing to do with an employer being unscrupulous. It is pretty much the whole point of the qualifying period.

Hmmm. I worked in a call centre for a company that calls its catalogue a directory.

I finished there in 2003. I'm assuming the tech is waaaaaay better now. However in 2003 we had regular reviews of our call stats this was a short meeting with the team leader. I honestly can't recall if they were weekly or monthly but no less frequent than that.

On the console phone thing you could sign in and then select; available, call work (to do a task required but after the call ended to the customer so to stop the next call coming through, then something that meant go to the loo, might have been called personal, break (20 minutes morning and afternoon and an hour at lunch time) anyway you get the idea. It was really difficult to slack off - chat to your mate in the loo for 10 minutes - on your call stats, come back late from lunch - on your call stats - signed in for ages as 'call work' - whet were you doing????

I've honestly never worked anywhere so oppressive as a call centre but anyway....I failed to see how the op couldn't have known in 2018 that her call stats were a huge issue.

I recall people being sacked for call stats being diabolical so I know it happens.

Op based on my experience it's not looking good. Best thing you can do is resign and look for another job temping for now.

Don’t resign without checking that point about your SMP entitlement OP. If you resign they won’t have to pay it to you.

I think if you dismiss a pregnant employee for gross misconduct, in some circumstances you still need to pay them statutory maternity pay.

Only if she’s employed during the 25th week of pregnancy (or notice period includes it). So probably not in this case.

Is it not that they need to be employed for 26 weeks..? Happy to be corrected on that. I’ll look it up later I need to do the nursery run just now

It's both - you need to have been employed for 26 weeks and still be employed in the 15th week before due date (ie week 25), not either/or

OP what is your sick pay like?

OP it does sound like you are making excuses, however I want to focus on your health problems. I'm guessing that you may have been prescribed an anti-depressant like citalopram when you were ill? Whatever medication you were on, you should never just stop taking it because you feel okay. AD's need to be tapered off with your GP's supervision and at a minimum you should continue treatment for at least 6 months. You were off work for 2 months with stress, which means it was quite serious.

I get depression and when I am unwell I don't want to talk to anyone in person or over the 'phone, in fact I turn my 'phone off or switch to silent and also disable voicemail. I think you are still depressed.

I missed 6 weeks medication once and my doctor was really alarmed as he said that he had seen people become like zombies when they suddenly stop taking citalopram. I thought he was being a tad dramatic, but on reflection I had become a bit zombyish, everything from my speech to my walk had slowed down and I found it hard to concentrate and focus.

I think you should see your doctor again as this stress isn't good for you or your baby. Please also get in touch with your Union rep prior to your meeting.

OP I'm not sure if you're coming back, and this won't be the advice that's the most honest and decent thing to do, but I think regardless of circumstances you need to look after yourself. If it looks like your time at the company is up anyway, I'd consider going off sick until you reach your qualifying week, providing you'd get decent sick pay. Won't help in that it will prolong the whole process and they might see right through it but I'd do that and then look for another job once on maternity and hand my notice in and not go back once I'm ready to go back to work.

That wouldn’t stop a dismissal. Not likely to manage 9+ weeks off sick without action being taken.

If she can't attend a hearing how can they dismiss her?