Employment - immediate dismissal for first instance ‘negligence’

[Freya202]

Hi I’m hoping there might be some employment law specialists on here who might be able to help me please.

I’ve been dismissed from my job today (senior manager in small company) after an investigation into the conduct of people in my team and my handling of the situation. Their hearings were before mine and the people involved received written warnings. At worst, I was expecting a similar sanction but actually was hoping to persuade the disciplinary hearing that I had not been negligent in my handling of the situation. It’s hard to explain without being too outing but my assessment is that the company has massively overreacted and that my immediate dismissal (with payment in lieu of my notice period) is completely disproportionate. I was told today that the Board have lost trust in me and that there was a serious dereliction of duty on my part.

I’m obviously still in shock but just wanted to know if in these sorts of circumstances I have any kind of case? Can I argue that the punishment doesn’t fit the ‘crime’?

Thinking more about it, they have been inconsistent in dismissing you without prior warnings but paying notice. I doubt it would amount to much compensation but worth discussing with your solicitor. Might be enough leverage to get a reference agreed

OP was the consequence of the situation relating to safeguarding of vulnerable people - if so they may have deemed that to have constituted gross misconduct under the terms of their disciplinary policy. Did they give you the justification of how they came to their conclusion?

It would be worth you getting hold of a copy of their policy if you believe they haven't been clear or transparent about why you were dismissed.

Unfortunately your past contributions don't necessarily get taken into account if the circumstances in question risk things like reputational harm to the company and their brand, including anything which risks legislative contravention, large fines etc - eg GDPR, FoI.

To your point, @HermioneWeasley it is well worth a solicitor using the past contributions/clean record as a bargaining chip if the OP decides to appeal and take legal representation. Often the employer needs to be dragged kicking and screaming before they recognise it. They will want to paint a bleak picture, but good legal representation can turn things around.

Another thought OP... could you argue they failed to provide you sufficient on the job and formal training? If you can argue they failed in their duty of care towards you if the area of concern was complex and required specialist information to be given to you, that may help strengthen your defence for what happened, especially if your tenure in the role wasn't very long ie a lot less than your 6 years' of employment there.

I agree @Moondust001 bringing Discrimination into this case is irrelevant, potentially vexatious, and the wrong perspective - based on information provided.

All the OP can reasonably seek to achieve is to gain a factual reference from the employer that could be used to seek new employment. Lodging for Tribunal would be unadvisable unless a RW solicitor gets to know of facts that aren't included here.

Thank you everyone. To be clear the misconduct by my team was a one off incident involving 2 members of staff. It did not relate to safeguarding or dishonesty or anything particularly unsavoury. This was not a series of events that I allowed to continue over a period of time. And yes I did ask for training in the relevant area which was denied to me. I asked more than once. I would love to present the full facts to you but clearly I can’t because it would be too outing and I am already feeling very paranoid. I think what this thread has shown me is that I need to get some RL legal advice sooner than later to assess the merits of an appeal and/or tribunal case. I appreciate a clean reference is my main objective but also, with 3 dependents, the financial side is also a major concern to me. In fact I’ve not slept more than a couple of hours each night since it happened worrying about that. Thank you everyone x

You could try appealing but it sounds like the best you’d get is an agreed reference and an opportunity to resign. If you’re worried about money my most practical advice is to get your cv updated and start job hunting. Sometimes a battle is futile and any outcome will not be worth the damage it causes.

*Sounds a little odd - immediate dismissal is normally for gross misconduct and no notice is paid- in effect they are saying you’ve behaved so bad,y that you’ve breached the contract and therefore no notice is owed,

If they have paid notice, they’re not claiming that logic, but are still dismissing.

I would appeal*

Yeah it does seem odd if they are PILON. Unless maybe it’s a dismissal for some other substantial reason rather than for misconduct? (As they’ve talked about lack of trust etc)

Just popping back on this to say I’ve had legal advice and been told that I have a valid claim for unfair dismissal. I’ve handed everything over to my solicitor and am hoping that a compromise can be reached.

Great news op. Fingers crossed for a fair result

Yes good luck.

Fingers crossed for you. Hopefully you’ll get a fair settlement.

Do you have an update on this OP? I am in a very similar position to you.