any help please?

[whentheshithitsthefan]

my husband was dismissed from work today. he will be appealing the decision, but as we have never done this before we dont know where to start, can anyone offer some advice?

The company has reasonable belief that he touched this woman and have dismissed your husband based on the investigation they conducted.
You can only appeal on the way the company conducted the investigation if they failed to take into account any evidence that your husband may have provided that could have changed the outcome or that they have failed to follow their own documented procedures that should have been in line wih employment law that you feel it was unfair.
Personally this dismissal should not be taken lightly as your husband could be smeared by this accusation and should do everything to clear his name. Put your letter of appeal in and go and seek some legal advice from a lawyer look at the acas web pages on how disciplinary's dismissals should be dealt with from an employers point of view and from an employee. Good Luck my sympathy is with you i have been through this and know exactly how you are feeling.

Hi, what you need to do is send in a letter of appeal to the most senior manager in the company. mark it as a letter of appeal, and state that you wish to appeal the decision and will provide the deatils of your appeal once they provide the dismissal letter which you have not yet recieved. Send the appeal letter by signed for post, and send a copy by email.
Regardless of if they reply or not, you still lodge your employment tribunal three weeks minus one day from the date of dismissal because if you don't, you have missed out altogether.

Sorry, I think I have been unclear.. my husband has put his appeal in. And had his appeal 'hearing', that was 4 weeks ago. Since then we have heard nothing, and the company are not forthcoming with the decision.

It would be wise to contact the head of HR or managing Director to ask for an explanation as to why the conclusion to the appeal has not been confirmed in writing. It may be they are investigating how the whole thing has been handled but in those circumstances I'd send a letter to the employee explaining this (I work in HR)

What rainbow says...email then follow up the next day by phone, that you want the appeal outcome letter. Include that becaus ehe was appealing his dismissal and is waiting to hear if he has got his job back, this 4 week delay is unacceptable. And still put the tribunal deadline in your diary incase you do not hear back.

we have emailed a HR director. i actually counted it up, its more like a 6 weeks since the appeal meeting, so far far too long.

I really think you should pay to see a solicitor for one hour to see whether your husband potential claim for unfair and wrongful dismissal had any prospects. It'll make your life easier!

BTW - the time limit is 3 months less 1 day from dismissal, not 12 weeks - they're not the same. That said, if you are registered with ACAS within the 3 month limit you are now protected.

thanks Luna.
I have legal cover from our home insurance and they have asked us to send all the relevant documents and they will advise us.
I have found acas to be a bit useless tho!

ACAS are only there to facilitate settlement. They can't make people/employers settle and they aren't lawyers

yeah, i understand that, the issue we had with a guy on the phone the other day is that he made it totally clear that we cant do anything, they cant do anything and dhs ex company can keep stalling.
he made it sound like we were unreasonable for wanting an outcome. and he KEPT mentioning money. asking about us to think about settlement figures, when dh told him that money wasnt his objective.
i think its very hard to get advice from that sort or organisation when every company has their own policies and procedures, so acas are speaking generally and we are raising issues with the specifics of dhs case and the way his ex company have behaved.

Find a solicitor - most will give you a free initial consultation. See if they will write to the company for you - that should get the HR director answering his phone!

No-one can force the company to give you the letter. But if the letter hasn't been given to you by the time that it's 3 months-1day, the ET1 form you submit will include reference to the fact that an appeal was heard but no outcome ever given. That reflects very badly on the employer which would stand you in good stead for negotiating a settlement or in frint of a judge.

Still no outcome. Dh called his former employer yesterday and hr said he was given the outcome at the beginning of Jan. Obviously he wasn't. And they couldn't tell him the outcome. But they did say the manager handling his appeal no longer works for the company. He was sacked beginning of Jan. And they said it was handed off to someone in hr to deal with...so what's the betting its fallen into an abyss?

What reason did they give for not telling him the outcome now?

Because they think he should have been informed by 'someone' by letter and they can't tell him as they don't have access to the information as his personnel file has been archived...

They've archived his records less than three months after he was notified of dismissal? They are getting it back from archives though, yes?

Hmm sounds like they want you to go away quietly and are fobbing you off. Request for HR/personnel for his file sharpish.

We've got onto the head of hr today so are waiting on a reply.
Shittily enough the home insurance won't cover it as it was within 90 days of the policy starting.

How horrid that home insurance doesn't cover because it was within 90 days cover, are you in a position to still get a solicitor involved as though you say it isn't about the money when it is eventually settled in favour if your husband the solicitor will factor in this and any any costs should be paid by the employer. Also isn't it strange perhaps that the manager dealing with the appeal has been sacked? Hope you have logged this as at the very least very convenient.

Ok. Hr bigger bod contacted him today. They can't ascertain if a decision was reached by the previous appeal manager so now want to do it all again.

God that's awful! How are you both feeling? Are you managing financially?

we are so unbelievably pissed off it is untrue. how on earth can a big company show such poor attitudes?

If your policy was a renewal could you not argue that point. If it was continuous cover.

It was the same company as previously, but legal cover was a new addition to my policy that I added when I renewed.

anyone know if they are allowed to redo the appeal?