Sacked for gross misconduct

[uhgreat]

Hi all,

I was recent sacked on the spot for gross misconduct. I'd only been with my employer for a few months (although out of the probationary period), so I know I can't claim unfair dismissal but I wondered where I stand as I've done some investigating and started Early Conciliation with ACAS but I'm still unsure.

Basically, the Manager wasnt happy with a call in which I spoke to a customer. He had listened back to it, called me into the office and said I was unhelpful which does not follow the company ethos and that my employment was terminated.
I argued that surely I had the right to a warning or proper disciplinary hearing to which he replied "raise it with a solicitor if you want, you're still sacked" and I was asked to leave the premises.

ACAS advised me briefly that anything can amount to gross misconduct and it doesn't have to just be things like theft, drug taking, violence etc.

Has anyone else been in this situation or can explain the law in more detail? I'm absolutely gutted that I've been sacked for seemingly so little and can't even contest it.

With under two years service, you have no legal recourse under employment law, unless you can show discrimination under the equality act.

The employer will not be held accountable.
I’m really sorry, but there is very very (nothing) little you can do.

Early conciliation is only for an employment tribunal and you don’t have the legal right to take an employment tribunal out with the employer. based on your lack of length of service with the employer.

You do have legal recourse, as you were not given notice. That means it's wrongful dismissal, which you can claim at any time, you don't need two years' service.

It's fine not to pay notice in the event of gross misconduct, but an employer would have to have followed a reasonable procedure and made a reasonable decision for that to the case.

Being 'unhelpful' to a customer wouldn't be considered gross misconduct, and you weren't given any chance to defend yourself, or anything. ACAS are right that it doesn't have to be theft or similar, but it has to be reasonably serious, and to remove the possibility of a claim for wrongful dismissal/breach of contract if an employer wants to dismiss someone with less than two years' service without giving notice, they need to be sure they can demonstrate that the gross misconduct aspect was reasonable and fair.

Therefore it is likely that if you brought a claim for wrongful dismissal/breach of contract, a tribunal would rule that you should have received notice pay.

How bad was the call? Had you insufficient training/support?

Thanks for your replies everyone.

2sexy4myknickers not that bad at all. I'd been in the office all week on my own as management had allowed my other 2 colleagues to take annual leave in the same week.
I was a bit dismissive as it was the end of a long week of covering other people's shifts but I was in no way rude or said anything inappropriate and the customers issue was resolved. That's why it's come as such of a shock as it is the flimsiest reason ever.
I'd only been working for the company for 4 months and haven't been trained on some aspects of the job as one of my colleagues who was on annual leave usually manages those.

Did they give you pay equal to your notice period?

It's a bit crap that you're not protected by employment law for 2 years. Basically they can fire you for no reason?
It was a pretty poor decision to leave a junior manning the fort - you might not have realised the importance of a client or whatever else you've done wrong. The manager must have been pretty cheesed off to fire you though as now he's going to have to recruit again.

I suspect you made a fuck up of epic proportions without realising the significance.

You o probably should have gotten your notice period paid. What does your contract say regarding how long it is.?
Realistically that's all you would be entitled to though.

First and foremost, you need to establish from your former employer what constitutes gross misconduct. They have to justify themselves fully, because by sacking you on the basis of gross misconduct they have taken away your statutory employment rights, including statutory notice period of a week and any accrued holiday pay.

These are legally binding rights, they are skating on thin ice arbitrarily sacking you without giving you right to reply, as your next step is (as you have done) to take the matter straight to ACAS, and if it emerges through their intervention hat your communication with the customer was insufficient to constitute gross misconduct then they will have to pay what they owe.

You wouldn't need to get to Tribunal to achieve this, if they capitulate and decide to pay you (they would be unlikely to reinstate your employment). You'd have to have been extremely rude to that client (eg swearing or slamming the phone down on them) - subjectively, 'dismissive' sounds borderline - you could ask ACAS to say to them they will need to produce the recording of the conversation at Tribunal (if you work in a call centre environment) which might sharpen their attention!

If you'd passed your probation already, which may have elevated your notice period from statutory minimum to, say, 1 month, then it's 1 month they must pay if the gross misconduct doesn't stand.

It's a misnomer to say there are no protections in employment law before two years! There are full rights (two years) but there are basic statutory rights which UK employees benefit from. And enshrined in law is a basic expectation of fairness towards UK employees, so employers can't just sack someone without meeting their statutory obligations as an employer. We are far more protected than other nations eg US.

So a small update. ACAS contacted me today and said that my ex-employer have agreed to pay my 1 weeks notice as a settlement.

I feel like they know they're in the wrong but I guess I'm just best to leave it here and take the 1 weeks notice pay?

If you’re only on a week’s notice then that’s all they owe you anyway. They would have been perfectly within their rights to give you a week’s notice and terminate your employment that way. It’s just the instant dismissal that was wrong.

A good outcome OP. Glad they're going to do the decent thing, even if they had to be dragged kicking and screaming!

I have a similar issue. On my second part time position (which is my only saving grace)
Was very upset by it. No notice at all.