My DH has been given notice today, at the end of the day that he will have a disciplinary hearing in 3 days time for unauthorised absence.
Can anyone help?
In May of this year, we were offered a free holiday. It was a one week break paid for by a charity, that was being held on a specific week. They were willing to make modifications to the premises to make it safe for my DD1 with SN, and provide her with 1:1 during the club each morning. An amazing opportunity for us as a family.
My DH put in his holiday request, and it was turned down because one other employee of my DH's 'function' in the company was booked off. Fair enough, he got there first, but it was sad because we can't access normal holidays due to DD1.
So, my DH asked for those leave days to be used on 4 other days (he works a 4-day week). He requested the 12th & 13th of August, and 10th & 11th of September. He was told this was OK, and typed the dates in his calendar of his mobile phone. The company do not give confirmation slips or any other written proof of holiday.
The week that DH was denied holiday for, he was asked to work a 5th day. His contract states that if he works a 5-day week on one week, he is to be compensated with an additional day off the following week, determined by his manager. (He has a Flexible Working Agreement because of DD1's disability). My DH agreed to work the extra day, and asked what day he would be given the following week. His manager infered that he was off on the Thursday and Friday anyway, so it would have to be the Tuesday. This resulted in a 1 day week, as he doesn't work on a Wednesday anyway.
His manager even joked that he himself was off that week so it didn't matter to him what happened.
On Thursday 12th August, his mangager's manager called, and asked DH why he wasn't at work. He told him he had leave. He phoned some time later, to say that he had no record of the leave request, although he did have one for September, and there was nothing in the diary. DH told him that his manager had been fully aware, and that it was all booked at the same time in May.
On returning to work, DH was called into an informal meeting, during which he pointed out all of the above. His manager now claims that he refused the leave for August 12th & 13th. However, there is no evidence of the original request at all.
They can't show that they refused the request, and DH can't show they accepted it (because they don't give written confirmation). The only 'evidence' is that DH had put it on his phone calendar. They said that they would need to consider whether to take disciplinary action. DH pointed out that a) his impeccable work record makes it quite unlikely that he would take unauthorised leave b) on the week he was refused leave he even accomodated their request for working an additional day c) His manager inferred that DH would be off on the Thursday and Friday anyway.
Today, at the end of the day, he got a letter informing him that he is to attend a disciplinary meeting 'at the end of your duties'. This implies that the meeting would be additional to his work hours.
It also says 'please be aware that the potential outcome of this meeting may vary from a warning through to dismissal if the incident is deemed serious enough'.
So on to the questions, and thank you if you have got this far:
- Can they expect DH to attend a hearing outside of work time?
- Can they give 3 days notice?
- In the absence of firm evidence, can they discipline him?
Further background - they dislike DH's FWA, and are putting pressure on him to return to a 5 day week (they 'inherited' DH's contract when they bought the company from his former employer), with them having said that they might have to look at his job role.
Two weeks ago, he was asked to do additional hours and said that he couldn't, and despite having adjusted his hours, worked an additional day and worked overtime on another day, the manager's manager said that the FWA was 'working all one way at the moment' and he would have to 'see what could be done this end to rectify it'. DH at that time felt threatened that he would lose his job.
His van which he performs his duties in is being sold tomorrow. It is not being replaced. The general conclusion is that there will be x vans, and x +1 drivers 
It doesn't look good, does it? 