My mum has had her job terminated :(

[ItsAllPeachy]

Hi Everyone,

Don't post much on here but wondered if I could have some advice on behalf of my mum.

Try and explain as briefly as possible. My mum is a support worker and works a zero hour contract.

A care home for young adults is opening near her house. She missed the initial application for support worker vacancies but still emailed her CV on the off chance that she might be considered for any future vacancies.

A few days later, she was contacted. One of the support workers had a holiday booked for 3 weeks in September, this is when the care home opens so management decided not to take on worker and asked my mum for an interview.

My sister and I said she must say at the interview that she has booked two holidays. A short break in October and a three week trip of a lifetime to Thailand. Although she discussed her holiday and length, she forgot to mention dates. She was then offered the job.

My sister immediately told her to contact the manager and confirm her holiday dates in writing. Which she did (by text) but he said it was not as issue. I've attached a redacted screen shot.

Anyway, her induction week was this week, mon-fri with the other support workers to train together and get to know each other. My mum was nervous about this and although she's very caring and experienced, she is shy. So sis and I said to make sure she makes an effort to do small talk etc.

Last night, she texts us extremely upset. The manager called her, said she didn't look very happy during training and wasn't sure she was the right person for the job and the 3 week holiday was an issue. I'm not sure how the phone call ended because she was too upset to explain any further.

She then received an email at 21:50 last night terminating her employment at probation period. Again attached redacted email.

She is in bits, this really was a dream job for her. Permanent contract, less hours, more pay, close to work. She has been stripped of her confidence and feels absolutely worthless. 😢

I have a feeling the overall issue was her face 'didn't fit' but I find it completely unprofessional that instead of supporting her, they've just dropped her and used the holiday issue as a 'proper' excuse to terminate her contract.

Where does she stand now legally given she's in her probation period? She's got a meeting today with her current employer to withdraw her resignation which I think won't be an issue.

Any advice would be great. Thanks

Suggest their loss if they don't want to employ your Mum. Look for something else

In the nicest way OP they don't owe your mum anything. They don't have any obligation to support her or 'bring her out of her shell'
They are looking for people to do a job at that time. There are a lot of places where a three week holiday would be an issue.

Tell her to take it as an experience and to try again with a fresh start in a new place.

Well it does seem like they've used the holiday as an excuse, but there's not a lot your Mum can do about that, as long as they've given her the right notice and paid her for work done.

I’m sorry to hear your mum is so upset over this, but there is nothing she can do - the employer is acting within their rights and has done things properly.

It sounds as though this would have been a dream job for your mum, doing something she loves on her doorstep with the advantage of a permanent contract. This makes me wonder why she wasn’t on the ball about applying in the first place when the roles were advertised? Maybe it would still have been the same outcome, but I do wonder whether she was a bit on the back foot from the start, as she only got the role because someone else was going to be away in the opening weeks.

Sometimes you have to be really proactive, and if you’re needing to give her advice about talking to people, and participating fully on the training days, then it sounds like she’s not ‘selling herself.’ I know that’s hard if you’re shy. I just remember working with a colleague years ago who gave the initial impression of being quite downbeat and standoffish... she wasn’t at all, she admitted later to being quite an anxious shy person but the point is, it didn’t make colleagues feel comfortable.

If your mum can work on putting on a bit of a ‘front,’ not being overbearing or in your face, just making an effort to smile, ask people questions, look interested etc then hopefully she’ll feel more confident to apply for future roles. I imagine this employer needs a sizeable workforce so chances are the same role might come up again in 6 months or a year and she may have better luck.

It sounds as though she’s a sensitive person and that’s a great quality for a support role, so hopefully she’ll pick Herself up and put this down to experience