Sacking employee for one off error?

[14thDoctor]

How easy is it to do this? Employee has made a one off error that has cost business a huge amount of money. Otherwise their work is consistently at a good quality.

They have apologised but pointed out when the error was made they were new to the specific area of business and therefore having their work checked by another employee. It was not picked up on by the senior person checking.

They do however have the technical knowledge where it would be expected they would not make such a huge programming mistake. (Obviously so does the senior).

He isn’t in the union.

I'd be surprised if it's gross misconduct but can't really say for certain. There are lots of possible outcomes from a disciplinary. Did the invitation to the disciplinary include any papers like an investigation report or similar? It should really outline possible outcomes but lots of companies handle these things poorly.

If he is unlikely to make this or similar mistakes again and has track record of being good employee who doesn't make mistakes they would be mad to sack him. Recruiting and training someone else is a a lot of work, they would only do this if employee not learning or working well.

Occasional mistakes happen as long as lessons learned it should be ok. And senior is bigger issue for missing it.

If his work was being checked, that's two people who made a mistake. Anyone can have an off day and do something wrong. Apparently two people had an off day in this case. It makes me wonder how obvious the mistake was if two people missed it. They clearly thought he might make a mistake if they had a senior checking his work. That process was in place to stop it happening.

I'd be surprised if they decided one mistake was worthy of firing him, even if it was costly.

He can take a colleague with him instead. He has a right to be accompanied.

Something similar happened to my DC. There was an investigation. They weren't sacked but procedures were tightened up.

I am unsure. He isn’t telling me much. I freaked out when he told me the size of the mistake (a few hundred thousand at least). Now he’s being quite cagey.

Given that sum of money, I'd be very cautious. He needs to go straight to an employment law specialist (not Acas who are little more than useless).

2 people didn't check it, both equally responsible for that. Isn't the loss covered by the companies insurance.

I fully agree. He is very “it will be ok”. Not sure how he thinks that. Head in sand.

Is he new to the company, or just to that piece of work?

He.can speak with ACAS if he is not in a union. The best way might be apologise, accept his part, agree to further support or training, not blame the 2nd checker. He may never know if the other person involved is facing disciplinary. Was there an initial investigation with the two of them to try and determine what happened.

It’s one thing to write ( or change ) the code, but what about any testing ?
Was that DH’s responsibility too OP?

I agree with this. An employment lawyer would be a good investment.

If it was in the early days and someone senior was checking his work, it’s on them or their crap process. It’s easier to blame the ‘little guy’ so the senior employ doesn’t get shot.

Also, if you have home insurance, check you have legal cover, because if it goes to shit you’ll be able to use the legal cover for employment issues.

I fear it could be this attitude, more than the actual error and consequent monetary loss, that might lead to his downfall...

Surely the employer has insurance that will cover the losses?

Given that sum of money, I'd be very cautious. He needs to go straight to an employment law specialist (not Acas who are little more than useless).

I would wait until after the disciplinary personally, it may be fine. If the outcome is dismissal I would definitely see a lawyer at that point.

New to the type of work. Not new to the company or the role.

Yes the loss will be covered by insurance I believe.

This is very much DH view I think. Worry when there is something concrete to worry about.

If the process was set up that he had to have that work checked by a senior due to being new to that particular task then I'd be more worried if I was the senior employee about disciplinary tbh.

If they want to get rid of him because they're worried in case the same thing happens again, they may offer him a settlement agreement to leave, rather than sacking him (although it amounts to the same thing but he'll get a pay off).

Employers often do this for commercial reasons - cheaper than fighting an unfair dismissal claim in the Employment Tribunal.

This. And the fact the checker didn't spot it. Where I work the checker would be equally as responsible.