Written warning day before holiday then told about disciplinary meeting day came back from holiday

[foodiefil]

Can anyone help?

My sister is being bullied by her boss at work. There are a few examples of speaking to her aggressively and telling her to get out of his face but it came to a head the day before her holiday. He gave her a written warning. This is for being late twice and for not returning a phone call.

She had been told not to be late but hadn't understood this as a verbal warning.

Then the day she came back from her holiday he ignored her all day - didn't even acknowledge her and then at the end of the working day gave her a letter telling her about a disciplinary meeting today at 9.00 when she was off yesterday to celebrate her own significant birthday.

She has gone back into work today stressed and anxious and they've told her it will be 2pm.

She's been with the company more than two years and performed exemplary. She is still hitting targets. She is however part of the 'old regime' the last of a cohort who started at the beginning and I think he has decided he wants rid of her.

What are her rights? Thank you in advance

Was a fair procedure followed for the written warning- was she given sufficient notice of a hearing, an opportunity to consider and respond to the allegations, the right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union rep, and the right to appeal the warning?

How much notice was she given of this latest disciplinary process? What are the allegations?

In short no to all of those questions.

The written warning was given the night before she went on holiday for two weeks and the letter notifying her of the disciplinary meeting was given 5.20pm Monday this week when she was off Tuesday - original time of meeting was 9.00 this morning but they changed it to 2.00 - not enough time to gather evidence imo!

Less than 5 hours.

The allegations are lateness which she doesn't deny - she has been late on occasion by up to ten minutes however under the previous MD this was an unwritten agreement because she works through her lunch and over her hours and on a weekend. So the 10 minutes late every now and then was overlooked. After receiving the written warning she arrived nearly for work on Monday. Later that day she received the disciplinary meeting notification

Monday was her first day back at work

Im a bit confused but no expert!....in my workplace I would be invited to an investigation first where the 'allegations' would be laid out for me to answer what,why etc. If the manager then decided it was a conduct issue (for example) i would be invited to a disciplinary meeting, i would be given a copy of the investigation notes and a formal invite letter giving me 48hours notice. An independant mgr would hold the meeting and decide if to issue a written warning.

If they issued a warning before her holiday not sure what her disciplinary meeting is for?

I would phone ACAS for advice....or the union if she has one

Sorry I'm telling this second hand so might not be getting this right.

1 formal verbal warning night before two week holiday
No time to change behaviour
No evidence of behaviour
1 day back from two week holiday and given notice of disciplinary meeting that was to take place at 9.00am the morning after Tuesday (yesterday) off for birthday ie. today

Ring acas ASAP and see if it's right. You can ring up for her as I have done to check things for my partner. You can

I've had a written warning before but I had no verbal before that. I left shortly after.

They have not followed due process at all. Any disciplinary action (of which a Written Warning counts as part of disciplinary action) should consist of an investigatory meeting in the first instance to put the "allegations" to your sister.
If at this point the invesitgating manager decides that it is a disciplinary issue, she should then be invited, in writing, to a disciplinary hearing. She should have at least 24 hours notice of this & she is entitled to be accompanied by a colleague or union rep.
She should have the full details of the issue being addressed & should be made aware of the possible outcome of the hearing - ie. verbal, written warning, or in severe cases dismissal.
Her manager cannot issue a written warning without holding a disciplinary meeting first. Tell her to contact ACAS.

What is she supposed to have done between receiving a written warning before her holiday and being invited to a new disciplinary hearing after her holiday?

None of these ‘warnings’ will count, as for any formal warning (‘verbal’ or written) to count for the purposes of being in a position to dismiss someone, a fair process needs to have been followed.

Do they have a disciplinary procedure (they are supposed to)?

She should appeal all these warnings on the basis she was not given her statutory rights and a fair process was not followed. gov.uk on disciplinary procedures here

Thank you so much for your advice.

@cheeseypuff that's made it quite clear that he's in the wrong.

I also believe she has a case against him for bullying.

I took her to the doctors yesterday and she's been signed off for two weeks for 'work related stress'

She isn't in a union (I know! I've told her!) and Unite said she had to be a member for a certain amount of time before they could help.

I AM in the union and I'm going to contact and ask if I can go along - not to speak on her behalf but perhaps to interject when it seems they're not following process and maybe even breaking employment law.

Thank you again

@flowery thank you for all of that. She can't have done anything in that time frame. The performance based accusations are contrived at the very least and entirely fabricated at worst.

I have passed on your advice that she should appeal. I also think she could complain about him to the board. As you'll see in my comment above she is signed off sick for work related stress.

”I AM in the union and I'm going to contact and ask if I can go along - not to speak on her behalf but perhaps to interject when it seems they're not following process and maybe even breaking employment law.”

Do you work at the same place then?

If you do, she has the right to bring you. If you don’t, she doesn’t and I would be very surprised if they allow it.

No I don't work in the same place. I didn't realise a union rep needed to also be a colleague? Are there any circumstances in which I could accompany her? @flowery thank you

I think we'll try this? What do you think @flowery ?

”I didn't realise a union rep needed to also be a colleague?”

They don’t, but you didn’t say you were a rep, you said you were in the union, ie a member. Are you a union rep?

No you're right I'm not a union rep.

I think we will ask if I can accompany her as a family member.

Always worth asking, especially if potential colleagues who could do it are thin on the ground

Thanks @flowery we'll try