Possible unfair dismissal advice please!?

[HeadElf]

I've been unhappy at work for the past few months.
I've still been working hard and producing the same results (sales), if not higher.

This week I really had enough and applied for a few jobs and sent my CV out.
My boss (company owner) has found out and says I'm unloyal and wants me gone. He's told me not to come back in until Monday (I would usually work Friday and Saturday too) and to attend a meeting with him on Monday first thing.

Can he fire me for this? What are my rights at the meeting? Can I record it or have official minutes taken incase he tries to fire me unfairly?

Please help I'm so upset.

"It was in an EAT outcome ie an apoeal meant that case could be heard."

Could you link to the case please?

"The trick here though might to write to raise a grievance and insist the grievance is heard before you will accept notice."

An employee cannot refuse to accept notice they are given in line with their contract, nor can they change the dates of notice by putting in a grievance.

" I do know that because they said they wanted her gone even though she hadnt committed a samctionable action, without investigation and that the punishment. .dismissal..has been effected without investigation."

But before two years are up they don't even have to give her a reason for the dismissal, let alone have to conduct any investigation etc. You may think it's "natural justice" unfair, but the tribunal rules on whether the dismissal was lawful or not. And unless there is something major we are not being told, it was perfectly lawful. They are not at all vulnerable to a tribunal claim so the OP is in no position to "insist" on anything.

well seeing as i manahed to delay a dismissal by six months..and get paid for it, there is always room for manoeuvring an employer if you can get away with it.

linking to the case would take me ages..i have six files from a case i ran a couple of years ago and its in there somewhere.. look it up if ypu are a member of xpert hr or something similar. .

op is there anything you can hang discrimination on? only woman? sexuality? race?

Fine give me the name of the case and I'll look it up. Even though earlier you said it was a "quick glance" at "tribunal guidelines". Could you link to these "tribunal guidelines" instead?

I'm going to add a couple of things here that appear to have been missed in the melee.

What is your contractual notice period? It's pretty usual im sales to have a longer notice period. If they have breached this you can make a wrongful dismissal claim which does not need the two years employment.

Secondly - if they had followed a fair process of proper investigation and given written notice of and preparation time for the meeting, they could not have given the notice on the day they did. They would have had to write to you and usually give a couple of days notice, that would take you to Wednesday at earliest for the investigation, then Thursday for the dismissal. Then you would be outwith the two years and able to bring an unfair dismissal claim. It is worth getting some advice on bringing a claim on this basis. (as an employer I have had that aspect of a claim held against us)

If you go to tribunal and win, by the way, you get your tribunal fee paid by the respondents, so on top of any award.

If you go to tribunal and win, by the way, you get your tribunal fee paid by the respondents, so on top of any award

Is this always the case? I have heard the converse, that tribunals aren't like other types of actions where the successful party gets to claim back their costs from the other side - iow the employee has to pay all their own fees etc even if they win. But I could be wrong ....

Your notice starts 20th. .which means one week of working days is reasonably considered 28th or 29th due to bank holiday substitution...(any reasonable ambiguity should always be considered in the employee's favour) ergo you are over the two years ergo require minimum two weeks notice. .which furtjer cements your inclusion in the two year qualifying period.

You'll need to assert l i think, that this is a dismissal, not notice, on grounds that your cv was circulated. A friend of mine won a case where an unprotected conversation about redundancy was held before a dismissal.

get.the notes first and keep quiet about the time issue you want them to be cocky and state their position as riskily as possible.

What is your contractual notice period

That is very important. The OP originally said it was 2 weeks but later has repeatedly talked about it being 1 week. If it was 1 week she does not have a case for unfair dismissal. If it was 2 weeks that takes her over the 2 years and means she does have a case. The process used by the employer would then be important as, if they have not followed a fair process, that is evidence that the dismissal may be unfair.

If there is a contractual dismissal process which has not been followed that could give the OP a claim for breach of contract regardless of her length of service.

which means one week of working days is reasonably considered 28th or 29th due to bank holiday substitution

No it does not. One week's notice means one week. It does not matter whether the days are working days or not. Bank holidays do not have any special status. The fact that most employers choose to stipulate that their employees must take a day of their annual holiday entitlement on a bank holiday does not change things at all. One week from the 20th is the 27th.

You'll need to assert l think, that this is a dismissal, not notice

Not sure how you think that helps. If it was an instant dismissal the OP is even further away from the 2 years service required for an unfair dismissal claim (although, as per my earlier post, if the tribunal considers that the OP is not guilty of gross misconduct they may add on her notice period).

It does not matter how you try to twist this. The OP seems to have been dismissed before achieving the 2 years service required to bring a case for unfair dismissal (assuming her repeated statements that she is entitled to 1 weeks notice are correct and that her original mention of 2 weeks was a typo). She may only have been 24 hours short but she was short. She does not appear to have been dismissed for any of the reasons for which she is protected. She therefore does not have a case to take to tribunal.

last day notice is 27th.. if she started two years ago on the 28th she has completed two years

The OP says she would complete 2 years service on 28th December. That gives a start date of Monday 29th December 2014 which seems more likely than Sunday 28th December.

Check your home insurance for legal cover- I used this for my unfair dismissal case which went almost to tribunal ( settled out of court week before tribunal date ) and it didnt cost me a penny . Good luck

daisychain not costs, no, that's very rare. But, yes, you always get the fees paid by the respondents (employer). They are different things.

outtogetyou Fees will only be paid if you win. If you bring a wrong claim (such as within the 2 year limit), you can be made to pay employer costs.

I know Carol, I was responding to a poster who asked me after reading my pay where I clearly said that. Feel free to read the previous posts.

It is vanishingly rare to pay the employer costs, so much so that a landmark case where that happened this year was widely reported on, and all the legal advice was that it can happen but employers should still not expect it as it was a very particular set of circumstances.

presumably the new ACAS early conciliation service is there to avoid a "wrong" claim going to tribunal? ie ACAS triage the case to ensure it stacks up.

No, that's not quite what ACAS does, plus the employer can refuse to engage with it anyway.