I don't know why I lost my job

[useyourimagination]

I was 'let go' yesterday. It was totally unexpected and I have been given no explanation as to why. I know that I have no legal right to be told as I had been there under 2 years but I'm now worried about how that's going to look to future employers. I asked 3 times at the meeting but was told three times that 'I'm not going to tell you'. I know there were no customer complaints and I suspect the reasons were financial or perhaps I upset someone internally but I just don't know.

For those of you who work in recruitment, how would you view an application from me when my reasons for leaving are termination of contract for unknown reasons?

BUT if you have a contract with them which states their disciplinary process (often in their staff handbook which usually states that it forms part of your contract) and they didn’t follow their own disciplinary process you could sue them for breech of contract. This is assuming you are not in your trial period

This is not correct, it contradicts your first point which is correct.

You can't sue an employer for breach of contract when you have < 2 years' unbroken service - and a trial period ie probation has nothing to do with it whatsoever. Best not to make things up.

”You can't sue an employer for breach of contract when you have < 2 years' unbroken service - and a trial period ie probation has nothing to do with it whatsoever. Best not to make things up.”

There is no length of time a contract needs to be in place before one party can pursue the other party for breach of it.

However there is usually very little point in these circumstances as even if a disciplinary procedure was contractual from day one, there would be very little (if any) financial loss incurred by the employee as a result of the employer not following it.

I'd be interested to know in what ways Brexit is going to change UK employment law for the worse, in terms of protections that are in place for UK workers. They won't be reversing any laws AFAIK

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-worker-rights-impact-assessment-eu-withdrawal-leaked-theresa-may-a8201176.html

In a way flowery it's a mute point. If someone want to throw their money away, sure they are welcome to try to sue a company, but good luck trying to prove in what way the company has breached the employment contract in the OPs situation - it would be a pointless exercise hence my point was it's not a good idea to embark on a court case unless they don't mind being lighter of purse and increase in stress levels.

Just put made redundant. No-one gives references anymore anyway so your new employer won't know why you left.

Just put made redundant. No-one gives references anymore anyway so your new employer won't know why you left.

Utter horse poop.

In fact, about 8 months ago I fired someone who had said they had been made redundant when they had actually been dismissed. Didn’t matter that they were good at their job or had reasons to lie, the trust was broken when the checks came back with different information and they were instantly dismissed.

Your point was that you “can’t” sue for breach of contract in the first two years, and in fact you accused someone who accurately said that was a possibility of “making things up”, which I thought was a bit unfair.

It may be a moot point in most cases, yes, but it’s absolutely not the case that it “can’t” be done in the first two years and in many cases it is a useful option where length of service is insufficient for other protection.

The OP gives no indication as to whether there are any contractual terms regarding discipline/dismissal procedure so there is no way of knowing whether breach of contract would be “pointless” in her particular case.

It probably would be I agree, because most employers are sensible enough to make discipline procedures non-contractual and even a contractual procedure would probably not have delayed the outcome very long.

You could always put in a subject access request. They have to give you all the information they hold on you.
No guarentee they actually will but if they do that will tell you their reasons.
It's a risk though. If they've not guarenteed a reference or reason for letting you go then you might annoy them by doing this.

It's been a while but I thought I'd just update you all. I had several interviews, some I withdrew from, some I didn't get, but at every one I just said I was let go and no one batted an eye.

Except my last interview where they didn't even ask why I left. I've been working there now for best part of a month and loving it :)

That’s great news, glad it worked out for you!

Hooray! Thanks for updating