Help! Disciplinary meeting tomorrow and anomaly scan

[Barahmen]

I've namechanged as I'm thoroughly ashamed. I'm asking for genuine help to deal with my situation.

I am currently 21 weeks pregnant. The company I work for don't have a HR department due to cost cutting, so the GM is acting on their behalf.

I was suspended yesterday pending investigation for gross misconduct.
The investigation has nothing to do with my pregnancy.
My anomaly scan is due tomorrow on the day of the disciplinary meeting. I'm stressed as it is, I can't eat, I can't sleep.

What will happen if I don't attend this meeting? I really don't think I can.

I can't help with the main problem - you've already got some very knowledgable people about, but if it helps a little, you may still qualify for maternity allowance. It actually says you may be able to claim if you've recently stopped working. If you've worked for the same company for 12 years, you should meet the 26/66 weeks worked

Yes, I definitely qualify for ma.

The problem is I know my employers are ruthless. They don't care about their staff, not those with families not those employed from the beginning. They replaced the md with someone who is on par with the coalition govt. It's all about profit and maximising it.
They have already skimmed off the highest paid employees.

I can only hope for comprimise but am not counting on it.

Is there potentially an unfair dismissal case here? Is what you've allegedly done usual treated as gross misconduct? Does it say so in your contract? Could your pregnancy have a bearing on their decision to investigate?

What they're doing seems grossly unfair and I wonder if they're pushing the boundaries a bit to get rid of you.

Definitely nothing to do with my pregnancy.

However I do believe they tried to schedule the meetings so I wouldn't get paid whilst on suspension. I believe they just wanted rid of me.
I have no proof of that either, but the fact that they only gave me a days notice and that wasn't even enough time to recieve the letter of notification or prepare.

They can't fairly dismiss you on Wednesday unless you have less than two years' service (or less than a year in some situations) in which case it still wouldn't be a fair dismissal but you are unlikely to be able to bring a claim of unfair dismissal. If they have told you that this is an investigatory meeting then the purpose of the meeting is to establish facts so that they can then decide whether to commence disciplinary proceedings. If they decide to commence disciplinary proceedings you are entitled to sufficient notice to prepare plus written notice of the allegations and sight of all the evidence they will be relying upon. In all likelihood you therefore have at least another week.

If the allegations against you amount to gross misconduct then they might dismiss you without notice but if its just misconduct then you will be entitled to notice.

You sound resigned to the fact that you're going?

Thanks for that Virgil I wasn't aware of the misconduct and gross misconduct notice. That is interesting.

Yes, I am resigned to the fact that I'm going. Tbh I would rather go. I've been put in a position where I'd be forced to work along side the GM and the MD. I'd find that very difficult after allegations even though it would only be for a couple of months.

If there isn't enough evidence to support dismissal I will resign. It isn't worth the stress this is causing me and my unborn. (I am a natural depressive by nature)

This has coincided with the company having to find me a different role to my normal work after a risk assessment. I guess I could claim unfair dismissal at a pinch. Perhaps?
Unfortunately I'm not a member of a union.
I contemplated joining one but it might be too late.

Dh is happy to have me at home and I can spend more time with DD before she starts school.

Don't resign, ask to speak with them about a compromise agreement. they may be willing to make a payment to you in return for you going. you might as well get something out of it, particularly with your baby on the way.

SMP applies if they employ you @ 15 weeks before EWC - i.e. when you are 25 weeks pregnant. Thats only four weeks away?

I am not sure what your notice period is, but be mindful that if they want rid of you you hold the cards, and they are unlikely to be clearly aware of the detail behind maternity dates/pay, unless you draw their attention to it.

I would strongly recommend you offer (well, push as hard as you can) to work your notice period, or just long enough to get to the 25 weeks point and if they don't want to let you they put you on Gardening Leave for the period.

You could always use the pregnancy here and point out you will clearly be unable to find a new role this side of baby arrival and question their timing of the process - for example, the law states reasonable notice for a disciplinary investigation, 24 hours is not reasonable (48 hours is generally accepted).

If you need to go down this route then set your 'concerns' out in writing. Most employment tribunals are apparently won or lost on process and procedure details (not whether or not it was truly unfair or not) so they might be scared into just paying you off.

If you accept PILON (Pay in Lieu of Notice) then I suspect you might lose the SMP as your 'end date' would be (now) rather than (@ 25 weeks preg), so if this is offered please try and 'take it away to think about' and get some proper advice.

I would suggest advice from legal or ACAS/CAB

Disclaimer! I am not qualified these comments are just my thoughts/understanding

I believe that this has been brought about because they don't want to pay me for maternity leave and accrued holiday.

They are trying to do everything in order not to unessasarily pay.

Since the start of the shake up it has been made clear that this is all about money. They've taken in legal ways from the staff. Ie cutting breaks to bare minimum and charging staff for "perks".

Oh well! Wish me luck for tomorrow. I'll let you know what my fate is.

Good luck tomorrow.

Good Luck tomorrow!
Fingers crossed you get to a satisfactory solution.

Wishing you lts of luck, you have had some great advice, stay strong!

Thank you for your support everyone.

Good Luck

Meeting lasted only 5 minutes.

I was informed that I could bring another member of staff or union rep to the next meeting. I had nothing to say. I await another week.

I wish I could just be put out of this misery. Why prolong? I understand procedure but this?

They could just dismiss without notice.

As you are pregnant it would be incredibly risky of them to dismiss without notice and without following a proper procedure, so even though they could do it, that's probably why they aren't.

Good luck next week. It'll be over soon.

Gosh, how stressful. Surely in terms of future employment it's worth fighting any attempt to dismiss you?

If you believe that they would have grounds to dismiss you then why don't you approach them and ask for a compromise agreement? Its got to be worth a go and they can only say no.

Just an update.

I received a call on Tuesday. They said I'd missed that mornings hearing as I hadn't picked up my mail from the depot which arrived on Friday.
I was just leaving to pick it up.

Another letter was sent out and arrived yesterday informing me that I now have a meeting rescheduled for this Friday.

I'm scared, I really don't want to go to this hearing. But I know I must. I don't have anyone to bring with me. I know I just won't talk.

The hearing is taking place at another department by a manager I'm not familiar with.

I just want this over with now.

Oh dear :-(

Just seen this, I really hope it was OK - a different manager is good it means impartial view rather than foregone conclusion.

On a brighter note, if this tails on much longer you will get to the magic 25 weeks mark which will give you SMP rights, plus its much easier to explain a CV gap with maternity as an explanation.

Hello,

I was dismissed for gross misconduct on Friday.
I knew that they would find a way of not paying for SMP.
I haven't been paid whilst on suspension so i'm not surprised.

It's a huge relief TBH as I'm now suffering from SPD.

Thank you all for your support.

B

Oh I am sorry

Do you believe they have a strong case against you? It sounds very unfair especially if you could prove it has all been about not paying smp.

SPD is a fucker too, I hope you have lots of RL help x