Disciplinary whilst pregnant

[EJT91]

HELP!!

I received and email yesterday inviting me to a disciplinary hearing for gross misconduct. The letter states they have received an allegation (?!) that I am working for another company whilst contracted to them. There was no evidence attached for what was found in the investigation and the letter also states that if the allegations are upheld then I will receive a warning. It might be worth noting that I am 25 weeks pregnant. I haven’t slept a wink worrying about this or eaten. The only thing I can think is that my tax code has changed. My partner has innocently
put me on the payroll for his company to start transferring money to me to help while I am on maternity leave. This has changed my tax code. I do the invoicing on a Sunday afternoon after he leaves for work and it has absolutely no affect on my contracted job and is a completely separate role and industry to the one I am employed to do by them. I feel like this particular director has been gunning for me since I announced my
pregnancy. I am the first female in my role to have a baby and she hates the fact I am no longer able to fulfil my entire role, due to health and safety reasons as set out by occupational health. so it feels
like this is very much a targeted attack on me. I didn’t let them know about my extra income as it’s just a couple of hours a week, outside my working hours, so I didn’t realise I needed to advise them. I’m obviously going to apologise and explain I wasn’t aware etc, but has anyone got any advice? I feel sick to my stomach. I’ve never been in trouble with work before and have an excellent record. I’m barely off sick, even through pregnancy. I’m going to ask for evidence to be sent over to me today so I can prepare my case. I have a work contract for my “side role” which states my working hours and also the day I’m
contracted to work, so they will see it doesn’t clash with my main role. Any advice for going in for this would be great. I have major anxiety and as I’ve said, I’ve not really slept all night worrying they will sack me and I won’t get my maternity pay 😞

Would only apply if the OP was a driver/pilot/boat captain as everyone else can opt to of WTD

@EJT91 definitely let them know it has only been 4 hours a week on a Sunday, no conflict of interest or impact on main role then at the end say something like ‘thanks for drawing it to my attention, many here are in the same boat and hadn’t noticed our contracts say we must let you know. Presumably everyone will be called in for a disciplinary, although a conversation would have done - or perhaps you could send a reminder email and remove this meeting from my hitherto exemplary record’ please let us know how it goes!

There are currently 5 of us pregnant at work at the moment (we all sat on the same chair 😂) and I’m the only one in my role and also the only female

There are 4 pregnant males where you work?!

You can’t opt out of rest breaks. And you can’t opt out of the duty of care employers have.

You can opt out of the 48h weekly average, but I think you're still meant to comply with breaks and rest periods?

If I were you I would claim my husband made a mistake and this is the first you’ve heard of it. He had this clever idea but didn’t consult you. Have you actually received any money from his business yet?

And then she can take them to an employment tribunal and win if they didn’t fire others for the same reasons

It sounds like that your contractual obligation is to let them know about a second role, not an outright ban on it. Is that right? Because that makes quite a difference. If your contract forbids taking any other form of employment then you are clearly in breach and it's a breach that can't be corrected after the fact. If you are simply required to notify them then it's still technically a breach but one where the condition can be retrospectively "perfected" by dealing with the notification.

Even in the latter position your employer may be able to justify giving you a formal warning (because technical breach). You mention that the actual clause is worded confusingly and that might assist you in arguing that it would not have been clear to a reasonable person exactly what the obligations were.

You suspect that this is part of a set up to manage you out because of your pregnancy. You are right to have sought advice from PTS. Have you also tried ACAS?

I think it is relevant that others with paid roles outside the workplace have not been disciplined. This may be evidence of pregnancy related discrimination if it's comparable, which you can raise, but you need to tread carefully. For example, does the condition refer specifically to other employment? It sounds like rugby coaching, babysitting etc would be a self employed enterprise with no employer involved. If so your employer could say those scenarios are not comparable/not in breach. If the wording is wider (ie relates to any other paid work or even unpaid work) then you have a better argument.

If your colleagues' other roles haven't triggered a tax change because they are unofficial/cash in hand, employer may claim to be unaware of them even if advertised and you may have difficulty challenging that unless you can prove actual knowledge. Otherwise manager can just say they will look into that going forward but that does not change your own disciplinary process already in motion.

They've already indicated that the outcome is likely to be a formal warning and you might not be able to avoid that. You won't lose your job but it's a strike on your record which may go against you in future particularly if you don't stay squeaky clean.

Please get some further advice, from an employment lawyer if necessary. What PTS advised sounds a bit "woolly".

Disclaimer: I'm a solicitor but not an Employment specialist.

There is so much disinformation on this thread and jealousy.

What you have done any entirely sensible couple would do. It’s completely normal for family businesses to hire and pay family members.

I would just go in state the facts very simply. Yes your partners company has started paying you. You have been doing his accounts now for many years and didn’t realise it was an issue.

Don’t get drawn into stupid questions / discussions like are on here.

They want to play detective tax man; you say if you write down the query I will ask the accountant. That definitely has nothing to do with them.

They want to ask about SMP and other maternity stuff; say you don’t know sorry. Again please can you write down the query so you can speak to the accountant.
(Ps this doesn’t affect your maternity rights at your current role - SMP is a separate allowance PER job)

It’s not a shield. She is however protected under employment law and if they aren’t disciplining others in the same way then it is discriminatory.

Have you read your contract to see if it's OK?

Good god there are some arseholes on this thread!

Any disciplinary action by an employer needs careful management let alone for gross misconduct. Evidence, properly run procedures etc - particularly when the employee is pregnant.

Sounds super stressful. Keep extensive notes, if you have a union involve them, make sure to bring someone to any meetings with the right to be accompanied, and talk to Acas helpline at any point if you need advice.

Yes it’s untrue. Honestly no idea what’s going on in this thread.

It's a good idea to read things to see if they answer questions, isn't it?

Only in terms of his own contract with OP

Also ACAS will not offer legal advice they are a neutral third party.
An employment solicitor will be able to help you.

Agreed there is potentially a case there

Not if they don’t know about it.

Yes this confused me and I the chair thing so I chose to ignore it

It's a tedious office joke that if several women get pregnant in the office, there must've been a magic chair to blame, that they all sat on at one point...

People are just making shit up I think

Again completely wrong. SMP and Kit days are entirely different allowances PER job.

You can have 10 jobs and get ten SMP payments and 10 X 10 Kit days.

Nothing is dodgy about what OP is doing.

They really are. Not fair on OP when she’s panicked already.

🙄 thanks

You zsked every single employee if they had a second job and did they declare it seriously they all said no so your options are keep playing the pregnancy/victim cqrd while throwing the rest of your employees under the bus reading your posts it just seems the thing you would do to save your skin