DH has been called to a disciplinary enquiry 10 days after starting a trial position!

[Numberfour]

DH started a new job as assistant manager at branch X of the company on 6 April this year. About 3 weeks ago he was asked if he was ready to take on a branch manager position of branch Y and he said he was up for the challenge.

He is on a 6 month probation period and on top of this, he was told that he had a 2 week trial in the new position.

All has been fine fine fine except that DH is finding it very busy and stressful.

Today he was to hear if his branch manager position was to be made permanent. Instead, he is emailed a letter calling him to a disciplinary hearing on Thursday. He thought it was a joke because NOTHING has gone wrong, other than he did not obtain a quote for a particular troublesome client and quickly as they would have liked.

His area manager is as shocked as he is.

So, my question is: how much detail are you allowed to obtain before the hearing? The letter to him sets out 3 areas of supposed concern and DH says that NONE of those areas were problematic. Can he get further particulars about these allegations?

My second question is: why would they call for a disciplinary enquiry when he is still in the probation period? Why not just tell him to go?

Thirdly, he had no training for the new position - does this give him a chance of being successful.

From my experience of disciplinary enquiries, the minds of senior management are pretty much made up anyway and the idea is to get rid of the person concerned.

This doesn't sound right at all. Is there a union at your DH's work, even if he isn't a member, and I doubt he would be due to the short time he has been there, I think they would be very interested in the circumstances surrounding this, if there are any further meetings, which I sincerely hope there are not your DH should not attend these unless accompanied either by a union member or someone else to take notes.

I would suggest your DH sends this man an email confirming the outcome of the meeting. However it seems very unclear what this man is expecting in the 28 days and perhaps DH should ask for clarification of this as well.

It sucks and absolutely the best thing my DH did was to leave that company. His boss that had it in for him was new so didn't know company policy so had instructed DH to do a lot of things that were wrong, neither he nor DH knew any better because neither of them had company experience and DH was left to carry the can. Has worked out brilliantly though, he loves contracting and the feeling of not being tied down, although he ended up staying 2 years in his last contract. Your DH will get through this with your support.

Dh has just told me that the area manager was taking notes - national sales manager had raised the disciplinary hearing . sorry..... being drip fed the story by DH over a well deserved pizza.

It's really good that your DH is feeling confident and standing up for himself. IMO he's right to start looking elsewhere, the company sound absolutely barking mad. He should also document all these weird things, like being sent the old T&Cs, not being given evidence before the tribunal etc - in case he ends up staying there and then they go funny again in future.

This sales manager who is desperate for the branch to get sales seems to think if they get the right person, sales will rocket in the first day. Does any business ever work like that?

I guess he now knows why the previous manager only lasted 3 months....

Hope things go better for you both.

Your DH has worked for the company for over 12 months though - it's just in this role that he's only been on the job for a short while.

So doesn't that mean he has a right to a claim for unfair dismissal?

First appointment with a lawyer is usually free of charge - it'd be worth visiting one if things don't go well.

Good luck x

Hi, MoonMagic. DH only started at the company on 6 April 2010. And then started the promotion post on 28 June. So he had not been there for 12 months.