Should my 16 year old have been sacked?

[mrsbeetobe]

Hi, my son lives with his dad and stepmum and sees me occasionally, for various reasons that is agreed by me (just in case this thread becomes about this). His dad keeps me in the loop with everything and the step mum does if he’s working away. Today he’s messaged to say my 16 year old has been sacked from his part time kitchen porter job at a local restaurant.

Back in October there was a message in their works group chat to say that they were extending their 25% discount at the restaurant to family, as long as employees were either on shift or with the family member. Today he went to the restaurant with his dad and stepmum, sister and grandad.

He said that when the bill came, his dad said oh my son works here and has a staff discount. The staff member was a bit surprised so my son showed the text from the group and the girl accepted it and said ok (he thinks she is new to the restaurant as she didn’t know about this offer).

They paid their bill which was reduced to £150 because of the discount. When he got back to his house he had a text to say him and his family were cheeky and he was no longer needed. The boss blamed the fact that my son hadn’t worked in 3 weeks due to exams, yet last week had put his availability on the group chat, as requested, for this week and the next 2 weeks.

The boss also stated that on Tuesday they had sacked a few people for not stating their availability (but kept my son in the group chat and did not sack him, presumably because he had given his availability for the next 3 weeks).

They said today that they are putting an 8 hours worked limit on the staff discount, something not said in the first message about staff discounts. They had a go at my son for including non immediate family (assuming that means grandparents?) but they could have refused this at the till at the restaurant rather than sack him?

Since the sacking his dad has gone to pay the difference as he’s cross, and the staff were gobsmacked when he told them why he had returned.

Is it because he’s a casual worker etc? I think this is really unfair?

Assuming he’s worked there fewer than two years, he can’t claim unfair dismissal.

I would chalk this up to experience and try to find another job.

Yeah this is really out if order of the restaurant, the manager sounds like an idiot.

I doubt there’s much he can do unfortunately if he was on an ad hoc contract but that’s an awful way to treat people.

Sucks but if he was on 0 hours they can get rid of him for whatever they want to. To be honest if he’d not worked in that long I’d be feeling a bit cheeky about taking the discount!

My brother works in hospitality, they technically have a friends and family discount if they’re on shift. We went in one Christmas Eve and didn’t get the discount, but didn’t make a big deal of it.

Dreadful. Well done dad going and paying the discount back. Who wants something given with such ill will. Who wants to work for such a poor employer (I’m sure it is quite a good job for a young person too so it’s quite disappointing)

Hell would freeze over before I gave them any more of my hard-earned!

It’s dreadful treatment. I’m a petty betty so I would be getting every family member to write a terrible review stating the facts. I would be spamming their social media posts etc. I do this anyway with massive profit making companies that choose to pay the minimum they’re allowed to get away with. It’s strangely satisfying.

Thanks all. My son said that his (ex) boss messaged to say that they’re not a corporate business to kind of explain how this is somehow valid. His step sister has over 20,000 followers on one of her socials and he said she wants to post about it but I wanted to just check that this is rubbish management and treatment. I’ve just had a quick call with his step mum, she works in HR and recruitment and said she’s never seen anything like this. Casual workers and 0 hour contracts can be dismissed so I’ve learned this evening, but as she said, there’s no excuse for the bad treatment! They could have told his dad at the till oh sorry he’s not worked enough over the last month to qualify (although this should have been stated in the terms of the discount) and then they would have just paid the full bill. Nobody would have been sacked, and I’ve been there a few times after dropping off my son but they’ve now lost a family full of customers for the sake of 30/40£!

I did forget to ask her, is it normal that my son has never signed anything? Eg it’s all been by mouth so no contract not even an agreement of 0 hours? HR sent his CV in after seeing an advert, they told him he got the job. No form of hours explained

Yes, very normal in small businesses.

Just be very careful to post anything on social media- you could be sued for libel if what is posted isn’t okay. It isn’t worth it.

Your son may have been treated unprofessionally but can be let go anytime and the employer didn't do anything wrong there.

One of life’s lessons - let it go. Sound alike they were looking for a reason and this is a coincidence abiut the discount:

I don’t agree. They tried to get £50 of free food. They were pushing the boundaries of what’s reasonable and I don’t blame the boss for getting the hump.

As a general principle, if you are going to use vouchers or any kind of special offer or deal, it’s a good idea to mention this when you make the booking so that you can confirm at that point that it is all in order.

just an idea to avoid such awkward moments.