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Original poster

I think work is trying to get rid of me (ie fire me) before I start my maternity leave........

70 replies

fannyannie · 02/02/2007 14:08

just been in an given a Final Warning!! Which I'm positively about. Apparently there's a catalogue of complaints about me speaking "abrubtly" to the residents (I'm a Night Care Assistant in a Residental Care Home) the latest incident apparently happening around 5am this morning - when I didn't even speak to this particular resident at that time. - Another resident - very kindly (not) decided to back her up and say that I speak to all the residents like that - including herself (the other resident) but she "puts me in my place" actually she tries to put ALL the members of staff "in their place"

I've been working so f*cking hard at trying to do my job properly, yet it seems the harder I try the more things they find to pick me up on.

The thing is though - although I haven't got my contract on hand in front of me - I remember reading in it - just before Christmas (when I was given a verbal warning for - well TBH I'm still not exactly sure what it was for) that

a) I'm supposed to be given sufficent time to prepare for disciplinary meetings (I was called at 11am this morning and she wanted to see me ASAP - said it was about a complain from this resident but nothing more - I said I could make 1pm - thinking it was just a case of the resident being a twit because she wasn't put 1st (she has a record of getting arsey if she's not put in front of other residents that need more immidiate attention). So I hardly had any warning - and I've been up since 8am yesterday morning.

b) It says in the contract that I'm allowed to have another member of staff in the disciplinary meeting with me.........I didn't have anyone else with me except DS2 (who's 3).

c) It also says in the contract (from how I understand it) that I should have been given a letter informing me of the verbal warning from before Christmas - which I never recieved).

Just spoken to DH in floods of tears and he thinks (as I already did) that they're trying to get rid of me before I go on Maternity leave (due to go in May), tried to call my local CAB for advise - but they closed at 1.30. Incidently (and I never thought too much of it at the time) I saw them advertising my job (for Maternity leave I presumed) in the paper the other week - but it had NO mention of the fact it was to cover Maternity leave......I put it down to the fact that it was a space/cost factor for the ads - but now I'm not so sure...........

OP posts:
Original poster
fannyannie · 02/02/2007 14:59

But who do I address my Grievance too??? The Director and the Manager were both present at my 'disciplinary' meeting today........

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PoppiesMum · 02/02/2007 14:59

You should appeal against the warning too - it will be overturned without a shadow of a doubt. There are 3 reasons for appealing, 1 of which is failure to follow company procedure - you have them on about 10 counts there!

PoppiesMum · 02/02/2007 15:00

I would say your manager as you will need to write to them to lodge your appeal. I would suggest asking ACAS that just to clarify when you call them.

gscrym · 02/02/2007 15:01

I know at my work if you get a warning and it's not reviewed after 3 months, it no longer stands. They haven't given you adequate notice, haven't given you anything in writing or given review of any previous warnings. Get ACAS for this as they're in breach of contract. Better to get someone used to arguing this than try it yourself. In all the enquiries I've been to, I've had union representation and have hardly said a word other than state who I am and explain what had happened. When it came to disciplinary, I was there but again said very little until the rep thought the punishment was fair.

PoppiesMum · 02/02/2007 15:03

Sorry to keep going on, but I do believe that you can't 'jump' from 1 level of warning to the next. I.E if you have a verbal warning and they still aren't happy with your work, they can follow the discip procedures but this would take you to the next stage only, in this case the 1st written and not the final. I believe you can only go straight to final in the cases of gross misconduct that then don't result in dismissal (i.e theft, threatening behaviour etc)

Original poster
fannyannie · 02/02/2007 15:04

Right I need to pick DS1 up from school in 15 minutes, so I'm going to spend the next 15 minutes clearing my head a bit more - and then once the DS's are settled after school I'll give them a ring.

A few other things that have cropped up -

  1. About 3 weeks ago I had my last supervision, then she knew that DH and I were splitting up (we're not now - we're going to Relate and sorting it all out) as I needed an employers reference for the letting agent I was going to be using. Anyhow, in dicussion about the split she asked me if I was intending to come back. I told her I was because I enjoyed my job (I do, I love the work I do - just not the environment I'm working in if that makes sense). She started telling me how hard it would be to work nights with 3 children and that "you'd be better off not working" - because I'd get more money.
  1. Today after I'd been told I was on a Final Warning she asked if I was struggling with 3 nights - and if I wanted to cut it down to 2..............
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PoppiesMum · 02/02/2007 15:06

Good luck with ACAS - don't worry about taking action against your boss, it's completely out of order the way they are treating you. Let us know how you get on with it.

Original poster
fannyannie · 02/02/2007 15:06

poppies - they've jumped to 3 because my "abrupt" speaking to residents can be classed as abuse..........

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gscrym · 02/02/2007 15:10

Were you the only member of staff in the room at the time? It does sound like they're trying to bump you. Start to document everything that your boss says to you. Your bosses behaviour is wrong. I have a friend who was in a similar situation to you. Her boss (a nun) would scream at her and tell her she had no compassion for her patients which is totally untrue. It seems to be common in care homes.

Original poster
fannyannie · 02/02/2007 15:12

Yes - there was just me, the home Manager,the Director (owner) and DS2 (well he kept running in and out of the room generally being an awkward 3yr old - serves them right for giving me practically no notice and wanting to see me ASAP),

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PoppiesMum · 02/02/2007 15:12

Again, I could be wrong, but check with ACAS that if they are disciplining you for a gross misconduct offence then they should have suspended you. God, this sounds like a training session for my managers in 'what NOT to do!'

Original poster
fannyannie · 02/02/2007 15:30

ahhh b*gger ACAS don't have a queuing system - all their operators are busy so please try the website or ring later....and then cut you off.

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colditz · 02/02/2007 15:37

Oh Christ I was hoping this wasn't you. Private care homes are utterly shitty plac4es to work when you are pregnant.

Keep trying with ACAS, they are worth the effort. They are evry good.

You also need to start going to CAB NOW!! As soon as they are open, you need toget down there and get all this crap on their files.

get some sleep. and be absolutely impeccable at work. I think your instincts are right, they most probably do want to get rid of you,.

Original poster
fannyannie · 02/02/2007 15:41

I'm sitting here with the phone in my hand re-dialing constantly..........I shall go to CAB on Monday morning. You know what if it wasn't for the fact that I need the money - even when it's only SMP I'd say stuff the bl*dy job and would just walk out - I've got so much other stuff going on in my life at the moment (ie trying to save my marriage and being 22 1/2 weeks pg) that I can hardly be ared with it

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PoppiesMum · 02/02/2007 15:50

FannyAnnie - I really feel for you. I have been seeing what a shitty time you've been having of it on your other threads, and now your boss is being a total &@" !

Agree with other comment - stay at work, rise above it all and be whiter than white. Once you've seen CAB and got through to ACAS, hand in your appeal / grievance letter and wait for them to deal with it all.
Trust me, they haven't got a leg to stand on, and they are probably only doing this to you because they think you won't know any different and won't challenge them on it.

To make sure you stay within company procedures, you will probably have to appeal within 7 days, so get straight over to CAB when you can, and good luck!

Original poster
fannyannie · 02/02/2007 15:50

Well I've spoken to them - and the first thing they said was "how was the warning given" (or something along those lines). Told them I was called at 11am this morning about a complain someone had made and asked to come in, went in at 1 and was given the warning there and then.

I didn't even get any further before she told me "no that's completely wrong" - and told me to right an appeal letter to them as they haven't followed their procedure........now I just need to write the bl**dy thing........good job DH and I are talking well again as I think he may come in handy with it,

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Original poster
fannyannie · 02/02/2007 15:52

according to the contract I have 5 working days - now as we're a 24/7 business is that 5 days, or 5 working days ie Mon-Fri days?????

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Original poster
fannyannie · 02/02/2007 15:56

thing is I've been trying to be whiter than white. And last night/this morning , despite having to completely clean someones bed (including matress) after he'd managed to coat it in sht and having someone elses bed covered in sht earlier in the night and thus getting 'behind' getting people up we actually had a great shift. Got our 'chores' done in plenty of time, and managed to get all of the 'normal' ones up that we usually get up (plus the one that had covered mattress).

I came home feeling really quite positive about what had turned out to be an incredibly hectic and at times stressful shift.

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PoppiesMum · 02/02/2007 16:03

FA - don't understand the 5 day contract sorry.

Basically, all you need to put in your letter is that you wish to appeal against the Final Written Warning that was issued to you today and list the reasons why. These should include

  1. Investigation not carried out in line with company procedure
  2. No offer of representation was made to you (ie did you want another employee in there with you)
  3. You were not given the minimum 24 hours notice of a disciplinary hearing
  4. No notes were taken and you were not given a copy of them before your hearing.

Take you letter to CAB or read it to ACAS before you hand it in (keep a copy) just to ake sure they're happy, and you're ready to go.

Miaou · 02/02/2007 16:21

If you can find a copy of the ad FA, then ask a friend to ring up and enquire about the job. See if they mention that it's to cover maternity leave or not. If not - then more grist to your mill.

prettybird · 02/02/2007 16:23

5 working days normally means 5 buisness days if it is not otherwise defined - so MOnday to Friday.

Agree with what PoppiesMum has suggested. It might also be worth also putting in writing that you have not been given a letter informaing you of the verbal warning from before Christmas, (as requiered by the plicy) as if you had, you would have appealed it.

The other thing to do is to put in writing what happened on last night's shift (do you still have your notebook from your previous hassles). Can the person you did the shift with you confirm that you didn't speak to that resident at that time. What were you doing at 5am?

If you had stopped, then re-start keeping you own private log of everything that you do on your shift.

Original poster
fannyannie · 02/02/2007 16:26

Unfortunately I don't still have the notebook - things seemed to have improved, I had a few months of good supervisions and not realy hassles and I've no idea where it is now.

I'll definitely start keeping a log again.....and there was me hoping to enjoy the last 9/10 weeks before my maternity leave too

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mosschops30 · 02/02/2007 16:29

Fa - dont quote me on this but I dont think you need to stay just to get SMP.

I worked fulltime for years but was made redundant in april, found out I was pg with ds, and started a degree in the september, ds born in January. I still got SMP because I had worked a certain amount of hours between a certain period, didnt matter that I was no longer working.

Just a thought if you cant stand it, I know ive been in jobs before where I just think 'f*ck it, its not worth it'

Original poster
fannyannie · 02/02/2007 16:39

I've just been looking at the DWP website and you could be right Mosschops - I'll ask about it when I go to CAB on Monday morning......

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colditz · 02/02/2007 16:47

They are very very wrong here. You bneed to make sure they know that you know this.