Relative rather than ex employee claiming right of appeal

[Iamabuyingbootsaddict]

I would really appreciate a view of the following scenario:

Ex-employee was dismissed during extended probation period

Issues were conduct and poor performance which were discussed informally and formally and confirmed in writing.

The right of appeal was given to the ex employee. The appeal has been lodged by a family member rather than the ex employee themselves. The ex-employee is 18 so in my view should be appealing and speaking for themselves.

My response is to write acknowledging the letter and stating that we will only be corresponding with the ex employee concerning their appeal rather than a family member.

Has anyone come across this before and what did you do??

I'm reluctant to get into any correspondence at all with the family member but I feel that receipt of their letter should be sent.

It's clear the true extent of the situation hasn't been shared by the ex employee with their family member.

Thanks in advance for any views you can offer.

Hiya you can't correspond with anyone other than the ex employee

You can't correspond to the family member but you could accept that appeal and respond to the ex employee.

I'm not very well versed in employment law (practice in a different area) but my instinct would be that the relative doesn't have any legal standing in this matter so doesn't have any right to appeal.

Whether you should correspond with them at all I don't know. Someone who has better HR/employment law knowledge will be along I'm sure to answer that question.

Hiya ... Thanks for your response. That's what I thought .... I can't get over the audacity of it really!!! I asked my nearly 17 year DS if he'd want me stepping in if he found himself in a situation that's similar and he said not likely, I'd be mortified!!!

I'm an employment lawyer. The family member is presumably acting for the employee. As such you should accept the appeal but ask for written confirmation from the employee that you can liaise with the family member as their representative.

You can't discuss the matter at all with anyone other than the employee due to data protection laws. You don't really have to reply to the letter. You have no obligation to the family member. I assume when you dismissed you have them a letter detailing the appeals process and timeframe.

We're more than happy to proceed with the appeal. If we do I'm expecting that the relative will want to be the person accompanying the ex employee. It's possible that the ex employee doesn't know the relative has appealed on their behalf so this adds to my dilemma. Do I write to the relative saying we cannot discuss this situation with them and then leave it up to the ex employee to take responsibility for appealing themselves? my gut instinct is that's the way to go.

Yes they were provided with a letter detailing the appeals process and had been given written confirmation on the extension of the probationary period of the reasons why it was extended. We made everything crystal clear and I suspect none of this has been shared with the family member. They made reference in their letter that there had been no written confirmation received of the poor performance and conduct issues on which we based our decision. The letters were given to the ex employee in person (and probably then binned).

Are they in any way ‘vulnerable’

We had this with a parent and 18 year old employee

No there isn't any reason to consider them vulnerable at all.

How did you solve this Running ?? I seem to spend much of my time dealing with this kind of thing even when the youn 'uns are in the wrong!! Is this a symptom of child centred parenting I wonder ?? Never believing that your (grown up in the eyes of the law) little darling should ever be called to question in a working environment?? You can tell I'm starting to get a bit fed up with it all!!

You CANNOT disclose anything to the relative. Even acknowledging the dismissal is a breach of data protection. You can however write to acknowledge receipt of their letter, and let them know that they need to send you the written permission of the employee before you continue any further correspondence.

I've had exactly the same situation.

I wrote to the employee informing them that we had received correspondence from their parent (mum) and we could only correspond with them, however we would be happy for them to be accompanied to the meeting by their parent if they desired.

I had a few calls from the mother and recorded delivery letters. However I just kept responding with the same information and invited the ex employee to a meeting.

They never turned up and we had no further correspondence.

Good luck.

Read and listen to the employment lawyer's advice above.

A valid power of attorney is all the relative needs. "Data protection" doesnt prohibit any correspondence with a representative if the employee has given explicit verifiable consent to sharing the Personal Data.

There are a lot of presumptions about what the employee "probably" did which aren't helpful. So here's one of mine: Though you must ensure you have employee consent, there's no point making a massive song and dance if you do in fact have that consent as a) you're wrong about the law and b) the same letter will come back signed by the employee if either of them has a single brain cell.

I would suggest replying saying you are unable to proceed unless and until you have written consent from the employee stating that the relative is acting on their behalf. If that is the case, then the consent (or a replica of the letter with their name at the bottom) will come back to you, at which point you can proceed. If it is as you suspect, the relative taking it upon themselves to appeal based on limited information and without the employee’s knowledge, it will probably go no further.

Thanks all for the replies.