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

If she can't attend the meeting, we would reschedule once then hold the meeting in her absence.
OP- you need to deal with this through your union rep. They will be best placed to give relevant advice.
What you have done is gross misconduct. They are right to suspend as your actions demonstrate you are a risk to the business. Not only with regard to the silent calls to customers and the impact of that on customers and the business, but your actions will be screwing up calls stats used to measure performance levels of you as an individual and the business.
The behaviours you describe such as leaving your headset on the desk with calls running whilst undertaking other activities or having a breather, forgetting to log into relevant codes, not noting system downtime are absolute basics of a call centre role and the mind boggles that you weren't aware that this may be an issue.
Your run of illnesses and pregnancy are a separate issue. Being ill/pregnant doesn't stop you logging into the correct codes or leaving your headset on the desk to have a breather. If you are finding it hard to cope you would have a code to log into (personal break where I work). We may then be able to support a higher level of this but all the time needs to be accounted for properly and this is basics as anyone who has worked in a call centre would know.
So as to how to move forward. If there are numerous colleagues in the same boat, suspended for the same behaviours, I would consider whether this is a culture thing that has led you to believe it is acceptable behaviour? Have no team managers picked this up with others before now? Are there any historic cases and how were they dealt with as they have to demonstrate consistency? Your union rep should be able to help with this. Are your stats not reviewed regularly and if so how was this not picked up? If they weren't reviewed, why not? This should have been addressed long ago by a manager and the fact they haven't addressed it, means they have inadvertently created a culture where it has become acceptable. Illustrated by the fact that many of your colleagues also believed it was acceptable.
As a PP has mentioned how it came to light is also key. They cannot be seen to have gone digging for info against you. I would expect them to have recent evidence. If you then say it's only the last 6 months I've done this, they will go back and check from earlier dates. If you knew not to do it 6 months ago why do you think it's ok now? I wouldn't go down that road.
I would get union advice quickly, I don't think it's a cut and dried case, I think you gave a chance based on the fact that so many of you have done it and no one has addressed it earlier. Hope that made sense. It's very late!

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

If she can't attend the meeting, we would reschedule once then hold the meeting in her absence.

As Justgive has said, the meeting would usually be rearranged once and then held in their absence if they did not attend. It’s common for employees to go off sick at the first sign of trouble, but ultimately it doesn’t make much of a difference. It might delay things by a week, but it doesn’t change the outcome.

Maybe don’t give out employment law advice if you don’t know what you’re talking about?

Hows it going OP? Have you had the terms of reference yet?

I’ve had my investigative meeting, just waiting on the outcome. I have no idea how it’s looking but have prepared myself for the worst.

What did they say?

Did they provide the stats? Could you provide a defence? 💐

Hey OP. I worked in HR for an inbound call centre for 4 years, happy to chat if you want to PM me?

Hi all, I did provide a defence where I just followed the advice of my union rep; they didn’t provide me with any stats but they allow me to listen to a few calls where one call was for a duration of 4 seconds and the other was for 8 seconds, both were silent before the customer hung up...I’m so drained by this whole process I just want it over with one way or another to be honest

Any update, OP? How you feeeling?

Hi thank you for asking, no update as of yet so still nervously waiting

It seems strange to me that they provided no stats, just evidence of two calls. Did your union rep not challenge this? So far the entire case rests on two calls being missed.

Fingers crossed for a positive outcome for you, hope they don't keep you in limbo much longer.

Can’t provide stars for silent calls - just listen to calls under x seconds . Only two played but to dismiss on two very difficult you’d have to demonstrate habitual rather than accidental.

To be honest my union rep didn’t say anything at all during my meeting, but my meeting was the last one so I think any questions or disputes he may have had would have been raised in previous meetings - there were 7/8 of us altogether and from what I know all the meetings went more or less the same. Hoping for a result this week at the very least it’s dragged on for ages now!

You need to be very very sorry.

You need to make the point that you weren't aware how bad it was and if you had been given say a verbal warning earlier you could have changed your behaviour eg logging system issues, system resets and generally making sure you were more attentive.

Grovel!!

Request a final written warning instead of dismissal and offer to set measurable targets for frequent review to prove you've got your shit together. Eg x % of calls taken.

Grovel some more.

Good luck

Oh sorry I read 80% of thread but missed the update that you'd had the meeting

Hi. Have you had an update yet. Fingers crossed for you.

Hi still no update! It’s been about 5 weeks now (I think, I’m starting to lose count).

Wow, 5 weeks. It doesn’t seem fair to keep you hanging that long regardless of the circumstances.

So I just received an update, investigations have been completed and the investigator advised they need to contact Employee Relations regarding a few points and will have an outcome for me by Monday. I have no idea how to take that?

What was the outcome OP?

It’s been progressed to a disciplinary hearing

OP, sorry you're in this situation - I'm going through similar atm too so I really understand how you're feeling. Just to say, my union rep was unable to attend the investigatory meeting with me, but suggested I attend anyway (I did) as apparently, they aren't allowed to speak at all in it: it's basically moral support.

For the disciplinary, you should make sure your rep is with you as they can- apparently - interject. They should also make sure that you see their evidence against you in advance. (At least, this is what my union have told me)

Good luck

How are you OP?

Two colleagues were disciplined for this and received written warnings
Hope you are ok OP