Is this discrimination?

[Lonelymum]

Dh has been sacked from his job only 4 working days after being promoted. He was given a reason for his dismissal which is a provable load of nonsense (to do with his performance), but he thinks the underlying reason is because some other employees objected to his promotion and threatened to leave if his promotion went ahead. Dh thinks he was sacked to keep these people happy. Could that be construed as discrimination? I don't think so, but dh is compiling his appeal against his dismissal and thinks if he can claim discrimination it will add weight to his appeal.

Did his company follow the statutory procedure for disciplinary and dismissal? Was your dh given any warning, letters inviting to a meeting to discuss the allegations, etc.? If not, then his company have failed to follow the statutory procedure. I'm presuming there were no allegations of gross misconduct.

It's discrimination if the other employees objected because of his race/gender/religion etc, but not if they simply objected to him personally.

still sounds like unfair dismisal tho.

No, statutory procedure was not followed, but dh has already formulated some good arguments on that basis. He just wanted to add discrimination to the list, but I am not sure he can. Is discrimination only related to race/gender/religion? That is not the dictionary definition.

Nor Freckle, no allegations of gross misconduct! That is saved for the privacy of our home!

it's not the dictionary definition, no, but I'm pretty sure that in regards to unfair dismissal claims you have to claim sexual/racial discrimination, not just discrimination in general (apart from anything else, if you think about it, that would apply to all unfair dismissal cases except those where every employee is sacked).

ps I'm not a lawyer, I'm just interested in this kind of thing. Someone else may know differently.

No, I think wrongful dismissal but not discrimination. I'm not sure if one form of wrongful dismissal is any better IYSWIM than another though so he still has a strong case if no procedure was followed.
If they wanted him out why didn't they offer him a pay-off? Cheaper in the long run.

look here (step 3) - discrimination can be due to sex, race, disability or sexuality.

Seems a bit unfair really that you get a higher payout if you're sacked for being a woman/man than if you're sacked for some other arbitrary reason (eg because you're spotty).

I agree with what you say. I don't think he can use the word discrimination either. I just wanted someone else's opinion as neither dh nor I really know what we are talking about when it comes to this issue.

Sponge, they didn't have to offer him a pay-off because he was still within his six month probationary period.

Lonelymum, sorry to hear this. Has your husband been with the company (or its sister organisations) for less than a year? Although he had only been in the new job for 4 days, I don't how long he had been there before he got the promotion. If he had been there less than a year in total and they followed the proper procedure and he is not claiming that he was dismissed for one of the exceptions to the one year qualifying service rule, then there is very little he can do - in terms of persuing it to a tribunal. Sorry .

There is fairly comprehensive list of the exceptions to the one year qualifying rule about a quarter of the way down here .

Thanks for the link. He was only with the company for a total of four and a half months. You may well be right that he has no case for unfair dismissal, but he and I spent all yesterday formulating a claim and he sent it off today. The worst that can happen is that they will ignore it, surely? Dh is feeling deeply wounded by this experience and he agreed with me that, if nothing else, writing the letter was cathartic.

He has a meeting lined up with another company on Tuesday who wanted him to work for them earlier last year, but they didn't offer him anything in writing before he had started the job he has just been sacked from. Maybe, the y will come to an agreement and he will have another job by next week....

I hope he gets the other job.

Well, it would mean moving - major upheaval, etc - but we are probably facing that anyway.