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Been given notice - unfair dismissal

5 replies

wildwest · 07/07/2014 12:09

Only worked there for five months so not a lot I can do. Saw citizens advice on Friday and after running through everything she said it's clear I've been unfairly treated. He wants me to work notice until the 1st August but I just can't. I was ill Monday, Tues last week. Forced myself to go in wed still ill. Had to go home in the afternoon which was when he told me. Said he was 'downsizing' the team, I'm giving you four weeks notice. I've been off since. The real reason is that he tried to move me to another department saying I couldn't do my job which was untrue (long story). even the solicitor I worked for said it's not true and I'm more than capable. I've worked for senior partners at law firms and had my own business. He was shouting at me and just awful. I sent an email defending myself and telling him I thought the way he handled the meeting was unprofessional which clearly he did not like.

I've never not worked my notice but then again I've never lost my job before. I a single parent with a 12 year old so god knows I need the money but I feel like vomiting at the thought of going in.

I asked him for pay in lieu of notice which he has refused. The whole thing is just awful. I don't know what I'm asking really. I just want to cry. I worked so hard for this awful awful man.

OP posts:
Unexpected · 07/07/2014 12:31

Yes, unfortunately as you have only been there five months they can give you notice. If you are so unwell that you are crying and nauseous at the thought of going to work you must go to your doctor and get signed off. You will then at least get sick pay (hopefully the company offers more than SSP?). Sadly, they are under no obligation to pay you in lieu of notice.

flowery · 07/07/2014 12:37

Your post isn't that clear, but the "real reason" for your dismissal won't be that he tried to move you to another department, it will be that for whatever reason, he didn't feel your performance was good enough for the job you were doing. Perhaps he is downsizing the team and won't replace you, who knows, but you were obviously a wrong fit or something. Strange that your (presumably) immediate line manager says they were happy. Did he/she speak up for you? I'm interested on what basis the citizen's advice person thought it was "clear" you had been unfairly treated? What aspect of what happened did she think was unfair treatment?

It doesn't sound like he acted professionally I agree, but as you obviously know, it's perfectly acceptable legally for an employer to dismiss someone within the first two years of employment just by giving the correct notice, and it's not unfair dismissal unless it is for one of a number of specific reasons, mainly around discrimination.

If you are not well enough to work your notice, you can go and see your GP and he/she may sign you off. I would work it if you can though, particularly if this person isn't actually your line manager.

wildwest · 07/07/2014 15:50

He's the man who owns the company. Basically when he hired me I was promised training that I was never given. I had been there eight weeks when the woman I was working for had a nervous breakdown. She had been massively stressed due to targets she was supposed to reach which she couldn't do. She basically gave me a lot of work, a lot of dictation which kept me extremely busy but and kept me out of her office. When she suddenly went off the guy who owns the company worked with me for one week and two days. During that time he tried to give me jobs I had never had training for. I did my best and he said that she hadn't utilised me properly but that it wasn't My fault. That week was a nightmare (during which time he actually exchanged on two files without asking the clients permission and one had a related purchase! (I work in conveyancing). At the end of the time I worked with him he told me the referrer had personally thanked me for all my hard work and help during a difficult time.

He went away for two weeks and a new solicitor took over from the girl who had the breakdown. We worked well together, she gave me training. All ran smoothly and we quickly got on top of everything. I then was off for a week.

When I got back he asked to see me and in a very vicious way, Including him raising his voice told me that the fee earner needed an assistant and I was clearly someone who could only do dictation. I said this was not true and he grew irate. I told him that we had been plunged into a nightmare when I worked with him and that I couldn't finish one thing without being given another thing to do. His wife had come in to clear a backlog of filing that the fee earner who went off with a nervous breakdown had been hording in her office. I was made to feel as though this was my fault. I have never been spoken to so badly and was so cross and upset that I had to go home as it brought on a tension headache.

I wrote him an email the next day. This is a man who doesn't read things properly nor does he listen. He had complained about me and another girl not answering the phones - when we answer them all the time! You can't win with him. I spoke with the new girl I was working for who told me I was good at my job. She said the referral company were very happy with us working as a team. She said that the girl who was taking my place wouldn't be doing anything I was not doing and told me that the boss hadn't even spoken to her about moving me.

I then had a meeting with him and the new office manager in response to my email. It lasted all of five minutes. They each had a huge notepad and did not write a single thing down. He said he could not recall having told me I wasn't an assistant and could only do dictation then said it all over again! He then told me that he didn't care if I had criticised the way in which he ran his business (I hadn't - but I could! I had told him he was unprofessional in his dealings with me) And that I would be moving downstairs monday to do dictation and that was that. Monday came and went and it didn't happen. In fact I worked for the new girl for another two weeks.

The girl who took over my role then came to me with questions about what she was to do. She couldn't believe the amount of work and is struggling to keep up with what I did meanwhile I whizzed through the work on my new job role she previously did.

The guy who owns the company is extremely childish and would not speak to me, not even answering calls I tried to put through to him. But if someone else called him around the same time he would pick up. The same week he had a go at me he threatened to make his own father In law redundant and had a screaming match with him and another solicitor downstairs which resulted in the solicitor running upstairs in floods of tears and slamming her office door locking herself in her room for the afternoon.

Pay was always late into the account and he does not pay for sickness absence at all. We regularly run out of stationary because he hasn't paid the bill.

Last week he changed passwords on my return to work. I had to text him to ask what the new passwords were. He phoned and rudely told me 'never mind that. Get all the post out from so and so's room (as though this was my fault - I had been off and she deals with her own post). Then came in and told me to clear a backlog of archiving which wasn't even mine (had been left by the girl who moved up stairs) as though I had been the one who had left it.

The whole thing has been massively unfair. I've had an email earlier asking if I am returning to work.

I've been to the doctor and I'm getting a sick note.

OP posts:
flowery · 07/07/2014 16:26

It sounds like a nightmare place to work anyway, but as long as you've been given the correct notice, it's perfectly fair in a legal sense for him to dismiss you I'm afraid. I imagine if it was that bad you were already looking for something else?

wildwest · 07/07/2014 17:50

Yes it's definitely a nightmare place to work. I've been looking yes. So have other staff. He doesn't realise that he has quite a few unhappy staff and no one trusts him.

OP posts:
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