Employer have said I have resigned - I haven't. Urgent help please!

[Titslikepicassos]

I have a loooong thread in AIBU and received excellent support but things have escalated.

Long story short, I went on maternity leave this time last year. I had issues at work throughout my pregnancy, being shouted at and sidelined and told to move locations. Sorted it all out informally.

In March I asked to return to work early from Mat leave due to financial issues caused by lockdown. At this point my boss attempted to move me again, that didn't work and she then went back on the hours she had given me and it messed up my childcare.

I raised a formal grievance and put a flexible working request in at the same time. The company failed to do anything with my request and the grievance process was mismanaged and a data breach occurred in the middle of it, where my grievance letter was upload to a public file and seen by others.

The grievance was upheld in parts but they again tried to move me to a new location which doesnt work due to childcare issues.

I requested mediation with my boss in order to go back to work as I'm still not back 7 months later.

Today the regional director has said that they won't honour mediation and I have now resigned.

My union rep has disappeared and I received this at 16:00 today so couldn't get hold of ACAS.

Any advice would be very welcome!

Is discussing what happened with you with your DH not another GDPR breach?! Surely RD has no business discussing things with DH. Even if DH brought it up, RD should have said he couldn’t discuss it (in whatever degree of niceness). Don’t give up OP. Employers can be shit!

I was just about to say this about the conversation with DH!!! Wow!!!! This whole situation sucks balls!!! This company is appalling!!! Is the job offer in writing???

No advice but rooting for you Tits

@Wallywobbles

Pulled the trigger. What does that even mean in this context?

It means he terminated her contract, but wasn't involved in any of the previous discussions about how to facilitate her return to work, namely the OP's line manager who was actively blocking her return.

@Titslikepicassos - Not sure what your rep is doing at the moment, but one idea I had; I would appeal the termination.

This would mean that it would need to be reviewed internally by someone higher up and at least would keep the internal machinery going.

An idea to run past your union rep/union solicitors?

This is quite unbelievable (except I TOTALLY believe you, you poor thing!!). I am just OUTRAGED that they would slippytit on back to your husband and offer HIM HIS DREAM JOB. FFS!!!! Are they just trolling you now???

This is just absolutely grim for you. I’m so sorry for everything your going through, when I started following your threads months ago I never thought they’d go this far. WTF are they getting out of it?!?

The job offer is not in writing, I'll get DP to get on that - excellent point thank you!

@ilovemydogandmrobama2 - they didn't offer me the chance to appeal, could I do it anyway?

SO MUCH PAPERWORK.

I need to update the tribunal with my termination and also that I didn't appeal the grievance because I was struggling mentally with the entire situation, so rather than carry on being stuck at home, I instead took them up on their offer to return (as was my legal right) to my old role - then they unceremoniously dismissed me.

Madness

@Searchesforhipbones - trolling is exactly what it feels like!

Yes, of course you can appeal, but speak with your union rep if you can get a hold of him.. You need to tell your solicitor that you want to appeal and see what he/she says, specifically if this affects any time constraints.

Is there a way you could get your company's internal grievance/disciplinary procedures either from your DP or the union? It will lay out the process, and am sure there are numerous breaches.

And then use this as your basis of appeal.

@ilovemydogandMrObama - it's also come to light that the grievance panel did not approach my witnesses, only the witnesses that would back up my line manager. I didn't appeal at the time for the reasons given above, but is it also worth appealing the grievance outcome now too (very much out of time?)

@ilovemydogandMrObama

Yes, of course you can appeal, but speak with your union rep if you can get a hold of him.. You need to tell your solicitor that you want to appeal and see what he/she says, specifically if this affects any time constraints.

Is there a way you could get your company's internal grievance/disciplinary procedures either from your DP or the union? It will lay out the process, and am sure there are numerous breaches.

And then use this as your basis of appeal.

I already have that policy, will have a read through it.

@Titslikepicassos - I would speak to your union rep, to get advice as far whether appealing the decision would impact your already ongoing tribunal.

But if legal advice deems appropriate, I would appeal the termination of contract based on failure to follow procedures, and the company did not carry out a, 'reasonable,' investigation, added to the fact that the company refused mediation (but that HR confirmed that it was being organised).

Fuck me, they’re bloody terrible!!!! Don’t speak to anyone without legal rep and bloody recording it!!!

@Titslikepicassos, have the solicitors reviewed your case yet?

[quote NoWordForFluffy]@Titslikepicassos, have the solicitors reviewed your case yet?[/quote]
Not yet, but they asked for all evidence to be sent across on Wednesday (there's a mountain of it).

OP, I've read all your posts on this thread and the other, and although it is clear the whole thing has been poorly handled, I am not sure they have broken the law.

You said that a new policy about working together with a partner and sharing customers was introduced a month before you went on maternity leave. It is the employee responsibility to be aware of their organisation policies. The policy makes it clear that in this instance, one party has to move. If your role was not essential where you are but your OH was, it might be acceptable that they opt to move you.

There is then the issue of the change in operations and changes in hours. I'm assuming that means starting/finishing later in the day or weekend hours. Most contracts state that hours can be adjusted so not illegal to change yours. You said they offered 95% of what you requested but you were not happy with that.

It seems they then offered you to come back to your role with some adjustment to meet the requirements of the policy or move to another site. You accepted neither hence concluding you resigned.

On the surface they didn't do anything wrong. They don't have to give you back the hours you were on before when the business require a change, they don't have to agree to your request for flexible hours and they don't have to give you what you want because it doesn't suit your childcare requirements.

What it comes down to is whether their offer of change were reasonable, ie. distance to travel to the other site depending on seniority, and whether the change of hours were in line with the demands if the business and with some consideration of your needs (but not all).

What needs to be considered is whether they followed their policies, in terms of grievances, consideration of flexible working and change of bases.

If they've followed these, and acted in what would be considered a reasonable manner, then however badly you feel you've been treated, whether they acted in a way to get you out of the job, it won't stand in court.

The breach could mean a slap on the wrist, potential compensation for you, but that would be minimal as no serious damage was caused as a result.

The key part is reviewing all relevant policies and see where they might have failed to act in accordance.

Bloody hell.
Does your dp have a job offer elsewhere? The more free of these shits you are the better, although of course I understand that he needs a job. (If the offer is in writing... not just a dangling carrot conditional on you going away)

I hope you are considering at least 16 years worth of wages out of them, sure to the fact you will now have potential difficulty getting a job with a little one to look after as they have proven mother's are looked on less favourably. You can do this but look after yourself too.

@dontdisturbmenow

OP, I've read all your posts on this thread and the other, and although it is clear the whole thing has been poorly handled, I am not sure they have broken the law.

You said that a new policy about working together with a partner and sharing customers was introduced a month before you went on maternity leave. It is the employee responsibility to be aware of their organisation policies. The policy makes it clear that in this instance, one party has to move. If your role was not essential where you are but your OH was, it might be acceptable that they opt to move you.

There is then the issue of the change in operations and changes in hours. I'm assuming that means starting/finishing later in the day or weekend hours. Most contracts state that hours can be adjusted so not illegal to change yours. You said they offered 95% of what you requested but you were not happy with that.

It seems they then offered you to come back to your role with some adjustment to meet the requirements of the policy or move to another site. You accepted neither hence concluding you resigned.

On the surface they didn't do anything wrong. They don't have to give you back the hours you were on before when the business require a change, they don't have to agree to your request for flexible hours and they don't have to give you what you want because it doesn't suit your childcare requirements.

What it comes down to is whether their offer of change were reasonable, ie. distance to travel to the other site depending on seniority, and whether the change of hours were in line with the demands if the business and with some consideration of your needs (but not all).

What needs to be considered is whether they followed their policies, in terms of grievances, consideration of flexible working and change of bases.

If they've followed these, and acted in what would be considered a reasonable manner, then however badly you feel you've been treated, whether they acted in a way to get you out of the job, it won't stand in court.

The breach could mean a slap on the wrist, potential compensation for you, but that would be minimal as no serious damage was caused as a result.

The key part is reviewing all relevant policies and see where they might have failed to act in accordance.

Thanks for the reply @dontdisturbmenow.

The original policy they used to try and move me, didn't apply us. We didn't work in the same building or under the same line manager. If the policy did apply to us, they've implemented it unfairly as there are several other members of staff who it should be applicable to. HR agreed, so this bit is irrelevant, other than showing my line manager pouncing on something in order to move me.

In regard to the hours - I'm aware they can change. I put in a flexible working request, I was denied access to the rotas which meant it was nearly impossible to fill the form in. When I did hand it in, it was acknowledged but they did NOTHING with it. If they had turned me down for a legitimate business reason, I would have been pissed off, but I would have resigned. I don't expect special treatment.

Then they tried to move me AGAIN, while my maternity cover stayed in MY role. All the while saying, I had the right to return to my old role. I chose to do that and was 'fired' without due process.

There are procedural errors all over the place. The only reason these happened were because my line manager pushed me out for my maternity cover.

I'm aware that tribunals can be difficult and even a clear cut case can be lost on a technicality. My case is messy, long and complicated. Unfortunately, for both me and my ex employer, they terminated my contract and left me with no other options and not much to lose.

@timeisnotaline

Bloody hell. Does your dp have a job offer elsewhere? The more free of these shits you are the better, although of course I understand that he needs a job. (If the offer is in writing... not just a dangling carrot conditional on you going away)

He's hoping to finalise the offer today, it's with the current company. He's worried it's a dangling carrot!

@Ratbagratty

I hope you are considering at least 16 years worth of wages out of them, sure to the fact you will now have potential difficulty getting a job with a little one to look after as they have proven mother's are looked on less favourably. You can do this but look after yourself too.

This is what has annoyed the most - we shouldn't still be dealing with this shit.

The issues my line manager has used to force me out of my role, weren't issues until she made them issues. Childcare and my relationship - she took those characteristics and used them against me - DP hasn't lost his job on the back of this.

Are they still talking about a without prejudice conversation op? You have nothing to lose on doing that. And of course they will have had legal advice in the background.

I'd be really wary of your partner staying there. Dream job or not, they aren't exactly trustworthy.

@willitbetonight

Are they still talking about a without prejudice conversation op? You have nothing to lose on doing that. And of course they will have had legal advice in the background.

I haven't had any contact since last week. Their solicitor has asked for the contact details of mine but I'm not sure what that's about.

@NeilBuchananisBanksy

I'd be really wary of your partner staying there. Dream job or not, they aren't exactly trustworthy.

I know, it's a really difficult one.

The RD said to my DP that the outcome isn't what he wanted and seemed remorseful about the situation. DP thinks the situation spiralled, with a lack of communication between anyone dealing with this, that they've reacted without the full facts of the grievance in front of the person who made the final decisions.

But if there's one thing to take from this, it's that second guessing what's going on and why, isn't helpful.

They shouldn't contact you when you have a solicitor, that's why.