DH has been dismissed after 15 years of exemplary service

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He made a mistake. A small mistake in the actual action, but with massive consequences for the company. It has cost a lot of money.

The company have had an investigation, followed by a disciplinary hearing after which he was dismissed without notice.

He had worked for the company for 15 years, working his way up from the shop floor, to a fairly senior position. His appraisals have always been good and he has won a number of awards for "excellence". He did something stupid, which has had a huge knock on effect, but he didn't do it deliberately, got no personal gain from it and had previously been a valued employee. He felt this worked against him in the hearing as he "should have known better"

During the investigation, he wasn't suspended, because they couldn't run the job without him, his immediate management didn't want to lose him and the decision came as a shock to them too.

Approx 1 week after his mistake, someone was appointed to do final checks which would have prevented this mistake (not as a result of his error, the position had been vacant previously) so, in some ways the company was at fault for not having filled that job, or made arrangements for it to be covered.

Does anyone know if he might have grounds for appeal and if so, the best way to go about it?

i know nothing about employment law, but it sure sounds like it.

ring ACAS

You don't need grounds for an appeal you can do so even if your case if hopeless.

The first stage is to lodge an appeal anyway as any tribunal will want to see that you took reasonable steps yourself.

Can we ask what it is? That may have a bearing on the advice given.

He was in charge of the repair of a valuable piece of machinery (millions), although didn't carry out the work himself. A small defect wasn't spotted, but because the machinery runs at high speed, running it with the defect caused a huge amount of damage, which the company had to repair at a cost of c. $500k. It also puts a new contract with the same customer in jeopardy, value c. $300m

Whilst the numbers seem enormous, it is a small proportion of the work he was responsible for annually.

no idea but I think this sort of thing goes along with being senior - the buck has to stop somewhere.

Def lodge an appeal and ring ACAS and find a good solicitor. Check your house insurance to see if you have any legal cover.

I know didldidi, he's never tried to claim he wasn't responsible. His immediate boss told him not to expect a bonus or pay rise this year which he was fully accepting of, but he does feel the decision to dismiss him was harsh.

All through the investigation he was made to feel that it was just a process to make sure it didn't happen again and he was working 18 hour days to put it right!

i think your dh should definitely appeal. you might find that someone in management has promised the customer that the person responsible will be fired - you mention $ so i'm guessing that the customer might be US. my dh was subject to a disciplinary some years ago - basically because his boss had promised their boss that heads would roll as a result of something that had happened (not dh's fault). dh appealed - there were so many procedural errors in the way the company had handled the situation that it was going to be a lengthy argument - so they offered a compromise agreement. after being blamed for everything there was no way he wanted to stay and this way he left with a good payoff and a negotiated reference.

your dh's case may not be the same but i think it would be worth a try.

oh - and the point about the US reference in my last post is that employment law/rights are very different there and the concept of not being able to fire someone if they've not done anything to warrant it is quite alien to some Americans.

ok, yes he should put in an appeal. Regardless of what happens there is nothing to lose and a lot to gain. It is possible, but in reality unlikely that an appeal may be sucessful. This is because most companies don't reverse their decisions on appeal, but it does happen. It may however succed, he should make the points you make here, length of service, small mistake, lack of cover on the final checks, fact he accepts he made the mistake immediately, and that it something done at speed etc. All of which should count in his favour. Also if the contract was not lost he should stress that and why he believes this kind of mistake will never happen again.

However be aware that in order to dismiss the company could use the value of the contract etc against him, and argue that either there is no trust and confidence left given the potential consequences of the mistake and once that's gone that's gone. Even if it seems harsh. Also if the customer says they need to fire someone given the mistake, then they need to fire someone and again even if that's harsh then it can be used to justify the decision. The company only have to make a decision a reasonable employer would make, and ther is quite a range of what may be considered reasonable. They don't have to be on the generous end of that spectrum, or even in the middle, they just have to be in the range. From what you've said here I think they may be and certainly if i was advising a client who wanted to dismiss I would advise that they did have grounds but that it was their choice whether to dismiss or give a warning provided they had taken all factors including the mitigating ones especially the length of service into account. I can't comment on the procedure though.

If however the appeal is unsucessful, then it may be worht trying to push for a compromise agreement particularly if the manager feels the decision is harsh. Some companies will do this, especially if they are being pushed by a customer, and your DH has nothing to lose by asking. If he is going to try and do this I would recommned thta he gets some rl advice. You may wish to check if your home insurance etc would cover such advise, otherwise try a solicitor or the cab

Do you live/work near Derby?

You might want to ask MNHQ to remove some of the detail on this in case the press are snooping if I'm right.

Why what's happened in Derby?!

That's not us and very unlikely to be any press interest in this.

Company and customer both American, so that's interesting Mrs Woble. Thank you.

DH has already spoken to the Union, who are to send him a pack on what goes in his letter of appeal. He will also speak to ACAS in the morning.

Ah, Derby is where Rolls Royce jet engines are being made :)

I would think that being dismissed with no notice and no warnings is excessive in this case.

Your DHs employer was partly to blame for not running proper checks. The fact that they had a vacant post for the person to do these checks proves that the checking process had been accepted by them as necessary.

It may have been reasonable for them to give your DH a written warning but immediate dismissal would seem unreasonable to me.

US owned companies often pull this kind of thing as in the US it is perfectly legal to just sack someone on the spot without a good reason. They need to be made aware that your DH is subject to UK employment law and their behaviour is not legal.

Consult your home insurance to see if you have family legal cover (often includes a free helpline) and get the ball rolling on putting in an appeal.

Thank you everyone. DH has now received an advice pack from the Union with a template for his appeal letter which he has written.

However, the union has had no actual input and he's had no legal advice. We do have legal cover on our house insurance and they have confirmed that this would be covered, so at what stage does a lawyer need to get involved? What should he be expecting from the union? Presumably if we use an independent solicitor, the union will have no involvement. Which is likely to be the best option?

If the legal cover includes a free helpline, use it to get some advice on how to conduct the appeal. Solicitor would not get involved until appeal is turned down.

Not sure what role the union should play - would need to speak to them. AFAIK most will give some free legal advice but not sure whether they would go as far as taking on an unfair dismissal case for you.

TBH I have heard that unions can be pretty hopeless and that the legal insurance is likely to be your best bet.