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Original poster

Unfair dismissal? Embarrassing situation

104 replies

Sunnytimes21 · 02/04/2024 11:41

Hi, posting on behalf of my adult daughter. She has been text by her boss advising she no longer has a job. She's been there about a year on a zero hour contract but works about 30 hours a week. The text body said he had gone through her cardigan pocket on her week off and found a wrapped used tampon. He said she was 'tragic' and he hoped she'd learn from her mistake, but he doubts it and that she no longer has a job there. I admit, it's not ideal because she works in a kitchen.
She's since been contacted by her former colleagues, who are all aware of this, as he has told everyone.
I've advised her to go to citizens advice as to me, mistakes are made, but there is no need to shame her, sack her and call her names. She's distraught. What do you think?

OP posts:
GideonSmideon · 02/04/2024 11:44

It must have been rancid. I'd imagine the rest of the staff were aware of a smell and told what it was. I can't see she has any come back in a food related environment.

OneMoreTime23 · 02/04/2024 11:45

You can’t claim unfair dismissal with less than 2 years service unless it’s related to a protected characteristic.

I don’t think you could argue sex discrimination when it seems she left something unsanitary hanging around when she was off. He probably had to investigate where the terrible smell was coming from.

OneMoreTime23 · 02/04/2024 11:46

If he hadn’t ended her employment he could have just not given her any hours ever again and she would have no comeback.

sounds like there may have been other issues previously?

Sparklfairy · 02/04/2024 11:47

While he was unprofessional calling her 'tragic' etc, she worked in a kitchen ffs wtf was she thinking?! that's absolutely disgusting.

WhereAreWeNow · 02/04/2024 11:49

Unfortunately I don't think she has any recourse because she'd been there for such a short time and it was a zero hour contract.

Why did she have a used tampon in her pocket and why on earth was he going through her pockets though?!

Original poster
Sunnytimes21 · 02/04/2024 11:51

She was a friends house before she went to work and there was nowhere to dispose of it, so she wrapped it and meant to dispose of it somewhere suitable, but forgot.

OP posts:
GrazingSheep · 02/04/2024 11:52

Are there no bins in her friend’s house?

PickledPurplePickle · 02/04/2024 11:52

This is disgusting and probably smelt awful

She's lucky that the employer didn't end up with a health and safety issue because of it in this type of environment

She needs to move on

OneFrenchEgg · 02/04/2024 11:55

There's no need to shame on her people. Op, I would let it go really. People I work places are often very unprofessional and share all sorts. She needs to look forward not back. Can she register as a temp? She doesn't need to put this job down.

Original poster
Sunnytimes21 · 02/04/2024 12:05

I guess I'm jumping to her defense because she's my daughter and she just forgot about it. Maybe she didn't want to put it in her friends kitchen bin? I'm not sure to be honest. I just felt that his response could have been much more tactile.

OP posts:
MinervaMcGonagallsCat · 02/04/2024 12:07

Sunnytimes21 · 02/04/2024 11:41

Hi, posting on behalf of my adult daughter. She has been text by her boss advising she no longer has a job. She's been there about a year on a zero hour contract but works about 30 hours a week. The text body said he had gone through her cardigan pocket on her week off and found a wrapped used tampon. He said she was 'tragic' and he hoped she'd learn from her mistake, but he doubts it and that she no longer has a job there. I admit, it's not ideal because she works in a kitchen.
She's since been contacted by her former colleagues, who are all aware of this, as he has told everyone.
I've advised her to go to citizens advice as to me, mistakes are made, but there is no need to shame her, sack her and call her names. She's distraught. What do you think?

Get in touch with ACAS. She will get a much faster response with ACAS than CAB and if she wants to take this further then its ACAS she needs to deal with anyway. The number is 0300 123 1100

In my opinion going through her clothes, sacking her because of a tampon, and sharing this information is sexual harassment, discrimination.

Whilst she has less than 2 years service sexual harassment/discrimination does qualify for unfair dismissal.

tomorrowisanotherdate · 02/04/2024 12:07

who would leave a used tampon in their pocket? That sounds really unlikely

whowhatwerewhy · 02/04/2024 12:09

I can see why he went through her pocket, the smell would of been bad . However he shouldn't have discussed why she had been let go with other staff .

Sparklfairy · 02/04/2024 12:12

Maybe she didn't want to put it in her friends kitchen bin?

Maybe she didn't. But her boss didn't want it in the kitchen at work. And neither would the customers. There will have been an outside waste bin in a kitchen like that, so if she 'forgot', she's paid the price and learned her lesson.

She left it hanging in her cardigan on her week off fgs. There's isn't anything else to do. It's a basic hygiene issue.

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 02/04/2024 12:15

Ordinarily you'd expect that no one goes through your pockets. But if it's her week off and it's been in there several days I imagine it was smelling horrendous and they needed to find the problem.

Calling someone 'tragic' isn't professional. But it's not a health hazard, which leaving a used tampon in a food premises would be. It would attract flies, and they would lay eggs.

She'd probably have had a pocket full of maggots if it hadn't been discovered. You can't have that in a food production area. That's why she's been sacked, not because it's a tampon. If it had been a used wound dressing that had been removed and left to smell and fester it would be the same.

BestieNo1 · 02/04/2024 12:29

@Sunnytimes21 and @MinervaMcGonagallsCat posting to show my support.
Tampons are purely absorbers of uterine blood.
The boss needs to grow up and get some life experience. Has he ever gone out with a girl?
It was an accident not a murder ffs. It's a storm in a teacup. She needs to get away from a DHead boss so it was a lucky break!! 🤣🤣🤣

ManchesterBeatrice · 02/04/2024 12:55

She shouldn't have left it there but we all get caught short.

He sounds very immature, but she doesn't have a case.

She should move on.

WarshipRocinante · 02/04/2024 12:58

If this was anywhere else, maybe you could argue it but in a kitchen? The smell must have been getting bad and it’s an issue of hygiene.

But he is on sticky ground going through her stuff and firing her for a tampon… men would never had that issue so it could be discrimination. Sex is a protected characteristic so the two year rule doesn’t apply. But its iffy because health and hygiene are important in the food services industry.

OneMoreTime23 · 02/04/2024 13:17

BestieNo1 · 02/04/2024 12:29

@Sunnytimes21 and @MinervaMcGonagallsCat posting to show my support.
Tampons are purely absorbers of uterine blood.
The boss needs to grow up and get some life experience. Has he ever gone out with a girl?
It was an accident not a murder ffs. It's a storm in a teacup. She needs to get away from a DHead boss so it was a lucky break!! 🤣🤣🤣

First aiders use them for nose bleeds.

OneMoreTime23 · 02/04/2024 13:19

WarshipRocinante · 02/04/2024 12:58

If this was anywhere else, maybe you could argue it but in a kitchen? The smell must have been getting bad and it’s an issue of hygiene.

But he is on sticky ground going through her stuff and firing her for a tampon… men would never had that issue so it could be discrimination. Sex is a protected characteristic so the two year rule doesn’t apply. But its iffy because health and hygiene are important in the food services industry.

A man who found a used tampon and put it in his pocket before leaving for a week would likely have exactly the same outcome.

ReevaRae · 02/04/2024 13:38

I can see why he went through her pocket. Was it specifically her cardigan, or staff uniform?

If the matter then he really hasn't gone through he belongings but even if so, a bloody, old, used tampon in a kitchen would smell horrific and is such a health hazard. I'm sure her friends had a suitable bin in her house and if she didn't want to deposit in a friends bin as she was embarrassed, then where was her embarrassment of leaving it festering in a pocket for all and sundry to smell?

She needs to move on from it. I don't think you have grounds to defend her really. It's disgusting.

He didn't need to say she was tragic, no. But it is disgusting. He probably had to find the source of the smell to get to the bottom of the problem. And I don't blame him for that. Putting his hand into a pocket and having old tampon blood over his hands was pretty tragic to him, too.

housethatbuiltme · 02/04/2024 13:45

Used tampon don't smell for a week for the record... they dry out really quickly, they are designed too.

People acting like bodily decomp was happening, its just dry blood on cotton that is designed and chemically treated for that purpose. Its not any more risky than having a blood stained plaster or bandage in her pocked.

A bio hazard technically yes as any body fluids could be but pretty mild as its wrapped in her private belongings not actually contacting anything. Not like she left it out on the stove or food prep areas. No one was touching it etc...

You can think its 'gross' all you like (I wouldn't put one in my pocket personally) but its really not the insane issue some are making out. People would be amazed the actual things that pose real risk (stuff they likely never think of) over stuff that just has social stigma.

Devilshands · 02/04/2024 14:29

Not ideal because she works in a kitchen.

Christ, OP. It's not 'not ideal' it's bloody disgusting. That is beyond unhygienic. It's something I might expect from a 12 year old who's only just started her periods...not an adult.

TBH his response whilst not great (tragic isn't the word I'd have used) seems proportionate. I've known people in the food industry be sacked for less - including ones I have sacked. Not a single one of them managed to successfully get anywhere with an unfair dismissal claim. Hygiene is the number one thing in that industry.

nonumbersinthisname · 02/04/2024 14:59

Old tampons don’t smell. My bathroom bin can take a week to fill up and need changing and the wrapped up tampons in there don’t cause any problems.

Was the cardigan hanging up in the kitchen or in a separate staff area? Because I’d have thought having outside clothes stored in a food preparation area was more of an issue than what’s in the pockets.

Original poster
Sunnytimes21 · 02/04/2024 15:02

Thanks for all of the advise and opinions. It sounds like the grounds for dismissal were warranted, fair enough. She got to work, and she forgot, we are all but humans. The tampon was wrapped up and not on show, or leaking anywhere, nor could it grow legs and make its way into Mrs Smith's Lobster Thermidor. My daughter phoned me and sobbed when she admitted why she'd lost her job. She's getting messages from former colleagues about it. She's absolutely ashamed. I really do think her former boss could have handled it very differently, sack her yes but don't shout about it from the rooftops and call her tragic.

OP posts: