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 😞

Misread the OP.

This isn’t quite right

maternityaction.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/More-than-one-job.pdf

If they are doing the same with every other employee! Thats the point of pregnancy discrimination. They often aren’t!

Couple of things stand out for me. They’ve invited you to a disciplinary for gross misconduct, but are saying if the allegations are proven it is a warning.

I wouldn’t say working for another employer is gross misconduct. And usually if something is gross misconduct then it can lead to summary dismissal. So their wording doesn’t seem right, and it doesn’t look as though they are looking to dismiss

If they are inviting you to a disciplinary, they really should conduct a fair investigation first, so if they haven’t invited you to a meeting ahead of the hearing to discuss, then this potentially is a flaw in the procedure

If other people have been working elsewhere and haven’t declared it, because disciplinary action should be confidential to the person, you can’t know that no one else has been disciplined.

I think you will have to hold your hands up as you’ve said and say you didn’t realise but you now know so you’re rectifying things. But I would be asking them exactly what their policy is because a lot of places will allow secondary employment as long as there’s been a discussion and it’s established that the other job won’t interfere. Eg both roles combined won’t take you over the 48 hours or won’t be a conflict of interest so if it is all in the open then you may want to ask what their stance is re the other role. But as pp’s have said it will potentially have to stop when you’re on maternity

And yes if others have indeed had other jobs and have not been spoken to or taken through to a disciplinary then it may be discrimination so it is something to look into

was more for me to earn extra money because I earn so little

No it wasn't....it was on the advice of your partners accountant....to reduce his tax bill 😂

Perhaps your company an also want to establish that they are responsible for paying your maternity pay given that you have two jobs, perhaps it should be the other one? As they know nothing about it they have no idea.

They may well do an internal audit to check the status of other employees and second jobs. But it doesn't stop the process against the OP.

It's in her contract, which she signed and accepted. They are within their rights to take action. It may not be dismissal but it may be a formal warning. They are following HR protocol.

Also to add, if a change in tax code triggered this then they do have a change of circumstances that lead to the investigation which they can claim. This further diminishes the pregnancy discrimination claim.

This 🤣.

Come on OP, no one is going to buy this story.

Being pregnant is irrelevant.

Not true.

OP - get this moved to Work and people who actually know about HR processes and employment law can help you.

Your husband paying you from the business to build up savings is dodgy as fuck.
He’s trying to reduce his tax bill.
He should only be paying you what he would pay an admin person to do this work.
supporting you financially while you’re on maternity leave should be done from taxed income.

*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. *

Innocently?

Hi OP,

If you are employed at 25 weeks your employer is obliged to pay you SMP, even if they fire you (seems unlikely in this scenario). They are not obliged to pay you any occupational maternity pay, however.

It may not stop the process but if they don’t investigate every other employee and discipline them in the exact same way then there is discrimination.

Why is that so hard for you to understand?

Pregnancy and maternity discrimination is rife.

Surely the whole point of this clause is so that your 1st employer knows that the second job is not detrimental to them. So, if you tell them what the job is they can advise you that there is no conflict of interest, that you won't bring them into disrepute etc. Or, if they feel it is, you get that in writing and can make a choice on what do do. At present your employer isn't aware of the nature of the job, so can't make the decision.

I hadn’t realised until now that it states in my contract I need to let them know.

maybe the other people you work with followed the correct procedure and let the employer know before they took up a second job. Does your contract say you cannot have a second job or just that you must let them know?

I think you need union and legal advice here. If you've breached the terms of your contract through your boyfriend's attempted tax fiddle, then the right thing to do would seem to be to hold your hands up, apologise and try to make things right, but that might not be the sensible approach for you personally in your legal situation, so you need expert advice for your circumstances.

Thank you. I know these people haven’t been disciplined or declared their job to the company because I’ve asked them. I won’t be throwing anyone specific under the bus but what I will say at the end of my hearing is that it would be nice to know that everyone with a second job within the company will be treated the same as me. And I will leave it at that. It’s common knowledge who has a second job and who doesn’t.

If you have 2 jobs you can potentially get maternity pay from both jobs and have maternity leaves at different times. You have to meet the eligibility criteria for both jobs

Why would you have asked colleagues if you didn’t know you needed to declare your second job?

Your employer has a of care to ensure that you aren’t working excessive hours (or breaching the Working Time Directive) so needs to know about second jobs.

Hard to understand why your partner’s accountant has advised this for the sake of £30 a week/£1500 a year.

The company car issue depends on whether it’s a contractual right or not. you’ll only be able to keep it during mat leave if it’s contractual, which would be unusual.

Actually, legally, the fact that other people are doing it and haven't been disciplined is extremely relevant.In this case it could be considered a discriminatory practice, if two colleagues with similar work history have partaken in the same misconduct but only the one with a protected characteristic is punished. It could also be inconsistent.

Both types of unfair disciplinary action are covered by legislation and case law.

I wouldn't. I would let Pregnant Then Screwed deal with genuine pregnancy discrimination cases rather than people who are legitimately subject to a disciplinary hearing due to their own admitted breach kf employment contract.

Goodness, have read all your posts on this thread and I really hope your job doesn't demand any degree of literacy.

Enough with the "pregnancy card." "Playing the card" is as reliable a twat indicator as "I'm not_, but........".

It's not hard to understand, so there's no need to be so aggressive.

But you're on to a losing argument and potentially giving misleading advice. I've been through this many times as senior HR and gone through multiple tribunals with legal support. I can tell you how we would put the case together and come out successfully the other side. This is not a difficult case for the employer to win if it is accepted to go to a tribunal.

Best thing OP can do is what she is doing, which is put her hands up and be honest with them. Hopefully she will just get a written warning.

OP you are in the wrong place to be seeking advice.

Ignore most of the nonsense on here speak to an employment solicitor and whatever you do, do not go into that meeting alone.

Op, try to seperate things out. Things like they are gunning for me I’m pregnant etc are completely irrelevant and need to be handled separately if you think you have a case.

your contract states you can’t take a second job without notifying them. You have breached contract and taken a second job without notifying them. It is not relevant what it is or if it impacts. What’s relevant is you have taken a second job, you have a contract of employment and even your tax code has changed.

explain you didn’t remember what was in your contract, what the role is. But they do have you bang to rights, hopefully it is just a warning.

good luck