Can making a huge mistake in work be gross misconduct?

[BumbleBumbleBumbleBumbleBee]

Mistake was found a year after work carried out. The person who made the mistake should absolutely have known better. It was signed off by others in the department at the time. Would this on its own be enough to be considered gross misconduct? A disciplinary hearing has been called.

"I spoke to the person checking the file about the fact I hadn’t done a similar case "

Major failing by your supervisor then!

Yes, I think this is on the supervisor tbh.

How is your relationship with him/her?

I’ve had excellent feedback up until now. I understand this error is big enough that it’s raised questions regarding my competency though

You need to give more details, eg I was investigating an employment law case on .... Uber drivers, Spanish tax laws, but didn't do...... what didn't you do? Did it not occur to you, goodness I need to check this niche law/rule? And why didn't supervisor also think to check? It should've occurred to them too!

To be fair if you didn’t know the correct position you should have checked. The people signing off on your work wouldn’t expect to do it again but should notice a glaring error.

it’s normal to make a mistake and there often isn’t one right answer in law. But if you gave advice without checking it then that’s another issue.

I’m a bit wary of having given too much information already - but it wasn’t even niche it was quite basic knowledge, just in an area I hadn’t much experience in. I just hadn’t applied that knowledge to this case for whatever reason. I think had the supervisor properly checked the work they would have found the omission in research very quickly.

Thanks for the clarity.

It's something you should know given your qualification BUT.....

You were hired with the knowledge that you had no practical application.
Presumably, this is why you were provided with someone to oversee your work.

If you didn't need supervision, it wouldn't have been put in place.

That goes in your favour.

Secondly, it wasn't deliberate or malicious.

Thirdly, you weren't aware and didn't try cover it up.

You have also carried out additional training since to avoid a repeat.

I think the implications and negative financial implications will play a roll here. If you had to quantify the error, is it a once off say £X amount. Or is it ongoing, annual cost due to the advice? Can it be rectified & is there a cost to that too? All will probably be factored into the decision.

What has your work and feedback been like since? If very positive, this may be a mitigant.

If they were to audit say 20 other files, would you be confident they are perfect. Could you suggest that of it's needed?

Also, if worst comes to worst and it looks like you are being fired? You need to ask for departure by mutual consent.

It's very difficult for any of us to know the outcome and the culture will play a part. If they are looking for a scapegoat, you are it unfortunately. Hopefully, there's someone internally who will fight to keep you.

Is your manager saying much? Are they the person who signed off on it?

You need a lawyer who can advice you from now. What is your industry? I might be able to recommend someone.

I thought I did know. I considered between option A and C and gave my reasons for option A. I didn’t consider option B at all. Which is indeed a glaring error and it should have been picked up by the senior. I know I can’t dwell on this too much though as I should have known in the first place. I just feel like my life and career are both now in tatters

It was a one off error, while you were under close supervision. I’d be pushing back hard on this one.

Im not entirely convinced it really was an error from what you’ve said, was your recommendation something no other reasonable lawyer would have made?

It’s not for the supervisor to check and redo your work. You should have checked the advice before you gave it if you didn’t know.

X post

So was A actually wrong, or was B just better, with A also being within the range of reasonable recommendations?

Have you considered resigning before you are sacked?

It’s absolutely for the supervisor to check the work, and take responsibility for any errors that they miss.

In my workplace, it's exactly why I am there!

It's not law but I work in finance and if I'm accepting other people's work and signing off on it, the responsibility stops with me.

"It’s not for the supervisor to check and redo your work."

No. It is. The very point of a supervisor is to check the juniors work.

It is an ongoing annual cost to the client which can’t be rectified.

Compliance have since done a review on the cases I have written up until now. All came back without issue.

I have been told if I resign the investigation would still be carried out in my absence so I don’t think that would help me. It would also be reported on any future references that I have a disciplinary hearing on my record.

If its obvious that the choice made between recommending A and C is a flawed choice/ recommendation......if its obvious that B should have been recommended, then surely the person checking your work would have easily spotted this ?

I'm very hmmmm about you taking all the blame to the degree that you are to be sacked

It seems wrong to me

A was an option for the client but overall would cost them (a lot) more.

It was the first time my supervisor had supervised someone else’s work. I have since found other supervisors have been much more rigorous in feedback. The workload for my original supervisor is a lot higher than for others in the company which I believe has been a factor. (They don’t have time to perform that part of their role).

Goodness! So your work wasn't checked properly? But still YOU are to take the blame?

Have i misunderstood something here?

Because I think fundamentally I still made the error and I shouldn’t have done

Although it's difficult to comment on the detail we have (though I appreciate you don't want to give too much info), in my firm, I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be gross negligence leading to dismissal. It's a mistake that shouldn't have been made, but as a PP has said, it was made in good faith and there has been no suggestion of burying it or any regulatory/ethical issues at play.

The supervisor should have properly checked the work but I wouldn't hone in on this in any interview or hearing - it's your conduct they're looking into, not someone else's and you don't want it to come across that you don't work conscientiously as you know your work will be checked before it goes to the client. In response to the people who say you should have checked if you didn't know, you sometimes don't know what you don't know...

Absolutely correct

And I am no expert at all

But to sack someone who made a mistake undertaking work which was then checked by a senior, and for the senior to not be accountable in any way and for the junior to be dismissed because of the error which wasnt checked....seems crazy to me

What's the POINT of having a Junior's work checked, then?

Everyone makes mistakes. As people have said key is how you handle it and it sounds to me as if you have done everything I would expect
Its so easy in law to get a basic thing wrong. very senior people get things wrong. We are human not machines. It is life
It will seem insurmountable at the moment its not Any one who says they have never made a mistake is lying I hope your firm is supportive