Please help me with unfair disciplinary action

[Nezuko22]

Hi,

I have an appeal meeting on Monday against a disciplinary that was given to me last week. I have written dow a rebuttal because I'm quite an emotional person and I will be less likely to cry if I'm reading it off of a bit of paper.

The gross misconduct I've been accused of is false, and they have jumped straight to final written warning despite this being my first "offence".

The disciplinary was also sprung on me, there was no warning, no invite detailing the nature of the meeting, no chance to prepare my defence and no chance to bring a representative. I have been on the ACAS website and this appears to be unlawful. I also note that the appeals meeting is being conducted by the same manager who conducted the disciplinary. I was not offered the chance to appeal, I had to ask for it.

How would you play this? I truly believe this to be a personal vendetta agaisnt me and they are looking for a way to force me out of the company. I am going ot leave, but I am not going to tell them this until I have a job offer in my hand from somewhere else.

The emotional distress this has caused me has been unreal. My anxiety has been so bad I have spent most of the week shaking as I have to sit directly next to the manager who did the disciplinary. I had not eaten in 3 days and am at risk of my hair falling out due to stress related alopecia.

I'm going to call ACAS on Monday morning before the appeal for some extra advice but was wondering if any of you lovely ladies had some words of advice.

No. She needs a professional, who is on her side.

I work in HR, and think your appeal should include the following:

You were not given 5 days notice of meeting. (Formal meetings always need 5 days notice)

You were not given the opportunity to bring a representative to the meeting. (If it is a formal meeting, you have been been given the chance)

The appeal should not be conducted by the same manager who did the disciplinary. (They might argue that they did this because it is a small company, but if it is a large company, they should have offered someone else to do it)

You were not provided with an outcome letter from the disciplinary mentioning with details about making an appeal. (This is where appeal details are usually given ).

If you still don't get your way, you need to complain again but with a tribunal

I have written down what I’m going to say tomorrow. I’m not going in all guns blazing I’m just going to get my side of the story across and highlight the inaccuracy in the disciplinary findings and also highlight where the process has been wrong according to the company handbook. I just want things to simmer down so I can try and get on and keep my head down and get this bloody mortgage done so I can leave. 8 week notice period though 🥲🥲🥲

And you know that for sure....

I used ACAS for my son many years ago, the were very good, follow the advice they give. It may be difficult as you have to go through the company procedure [it goes against you later if you don't] even if it is flawed. You can ask for the minutes of the meeting afterwards. if you have a decent mobile you can record the meeting as a ref later, I did this in a hostile situation recently and even in clothing the audio was very good.

I had the same when I was 17 and had no idea about my rights or anything. Was told i hadnt cleaned the sink properly when asked to and had sat down to hang stock in the stock room (all of the people who worked in the stock room did this). Formal written warning! Boils my blood to think.about how unfairly treated I was now. Left within a few days as I couldn't bear to look at them again! Never had any issues since. Definitely a them problem.

This was not the case for my son, ACAS will still help, my case was over 10 years ago. You do get less of a payment if there is one as its under 2 years employment. They told me having unfair dismissal on your cv is not good for reemployment, you need to bare that in mind in your planning. Any new employer will be contacting this company for a reference, normally ACAS do a deal where if contacted the only information given is you were employed between these dates doing x type job.

I did just that. But it was decades ago.

Yes, I agree. I had not realised she had fewer than 2 years' service when I wrote that post.

Are you asking me a question?

This ^

Really OP, you're wasting your time. You need to find a new job

They can get rid of you any time up to 2 years for any reason they like (apart from as above)

If they'd be happy for you to go without sacking you, they might be prepared to put you on garden leave

I don't think you have much of a chance since you have been there less than two years. But I agree it sounds like a tactic to get rid of you with a made up accusation. I agree with going off sick, and not going to the meeting. Are you in a Trade Union.

This happened to me and the so called tribunal happened in a solicitors I was suspended prior to it .They cannot call an instant tribunal you have to have notice and be informed in writing. Ok have u been off sick if so did u have a back to work interview to see if you were fit to to continue with your duties? If not and I didn’t they have failed to provide you with duty of care and will be at fault. If they provide statements regarding any misconduct, request dates times and exact details it is unlikely they will be prepared. Have you had regular performance reviews? If not they are at fault again. Go to your doctor and get help for stress and signed off, is not a sign of weakness and will help show that their actions have made you ill .Prepare your defence in a statement keep it private until tribunal give it to them just before you go in. You must have someone with you at the tribunal a colleague who won’t be compromised ideally but you can request for anyone to be there. Finally it is not the end of the world make it clear that this is non precedented. It doesn’t matter how long you have been there you have the right to work protection laws. I ended up with my job back which I turned down 2 months pay and the assurance of a good reference. However there are always ways to explain why your previous job did not work out Don’t worry the threat of a solicitor can also work . Good Luck don’t let the bastards get you down, They have shown that they don’t have a clue about correct procedures show them that you do ‘

As another HR worker......did you miss she has less than 2 years of service? In which case all of this is (unfortunately) irrelevant and she has no case for a tribunal unless she can prove any dismissal or disciplinary was due to a protected characteristic.

If you have a contract it does not matter how long you have been there. You have rights as soon as you are employed unless on a probation period, 2 Years is for redundancy I thought. Eight weeks notice! Please see my post also

You do not have full employment rights until you have worked there for 2 years

Im thinking maybe I should just bin it off and focus on my job search.

I am sorry for the situation you're in. Always join the union.

If you need extra time, go off sick and cite 'management behaviours'. You sound as if you're in no fit state to be dealing with this anyway and you can, I imagine, get an emergency appointment with your GP. If not, present at your nearest A&E department tomorrow morning.

I had this and their behaviour made me really ill. Terribly ill. Taking time away helped me to rationalise their appalling behaviour but it took therapy and drugs. Eventually, I got a payoff, which gave me more time to decide what I should do next.

The irony was that my manager was the Anti-Bullying Officer.