Raising a grievance...help needed please...

[little_evo]

Good afternoon all, firstly may i thank you for reading this thread.

A brief history, a short while ago, i posted a thread with regard to a disciplinary hearing i received, the outcome was i received a verbal warning for 6 months. Although i feel this was unjust i accepted the verbal warning and decided just to get on with my work.
However, this week i had asked my supervisor if i could work a little overtime this weekend, they informed me i could, but i was to see my shift manager, (the one who took and decided on the outcome of the disciplinary hearing), so i did. She informed me that due to my (alleged) poor attendance (2 periods of 6 days (5 of which were certified by my GP and hospital) in 6 months!!) that she was banning me from doing any overtime for 3 months.

(She had informed all supervisors 4 days after i had received my letter of verbal warning that if i were to ask for overtime that i should be led to her direction. They all knew but did not tell me, as i have not asked for O/T in 6 or so weeks, but i feel she had set a trap for me)

I kindly asked her to review this as i thought this was unfair, but her response was, the decision has been made and she is not willing to change this and in her opinion i should be banned from overtime full stop! I kindly asked her to put this in writing informing me of the ban and the reasons for it, she did not seem too pleased.

As this was not stipulated in my letter telling me of the verbal warning, is she entitled to add "punishment" as and when she seems fit? Am i right to feel a bit peeved and file a grievance procedure against her, or do i just shut up and get on with it?
Your thought and advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

[adamski]

Hi
Was your non attendence 12 days or just 6?

[little_evo]

Hi Adamski,
My attendance was 6 days off sick in 6 months on 2 seperate occasions. One being 5 days certified sick with notes from GP & hospital. The other being 1 sick day on 1 occasion.

[little_evo]

Oh also to note, this ban on O/T has not been given to any other employee at any other time since i started work with the company almost 6 years ago.

[Sidewinder]

First thing to point out is that despite it being a 'verbal' warning, you should still have received written confirmation of any and all sanctions taken against you as a consequence - if an overtime ban was part of the punishment then the letter should say so. Your company disciplinary procedures should also dictate what sanctions are relevant in the event of misdemeanours or breaches of company policy, and also what the company policy is with regard to sickness.

On that basis, and assuming that the company policy makes no mention of disciplinary action involving either a ban on overtime or specific action to be taken in the event of two periods of sickness (you are entitled to know how sickness absence is monitored and at what threshold any action is triggered) then you should certainly raise a grievance.

No need to be confrontational particularly, but you should write heading the letter 'Formal Grievance' explaining that further to the issue of a warning against you, you were advised that you had been issued with a verbal warning to remain on file for six months, but no mention was made of a ban on overtime, which was neither discussed at the time nor advised to you in writing. Furthermore you can find no mention of this being a sanction made in conjunction with a warning in the company's disciplinary procedures. You are also concerned at the suggestion that this may be a punishment for two short periods of sickness absence and would appreciate written confirmation of exactly why this punishment has been added to your original warning without having been advised at the time. You understand that it would be considered unfair treatment to add extra punishment after a disciplinary hearing and without advising you, or to take what amounts to disciplinary action for sickness absence without the due process which is your legal right. Can they perhaps point you in the direction of the relevant clauses in your Terms and Conditions which relate to this?

Not entirely sure what you will achieve - are you entitled to expect a certain amount of overtime? Are others still getting extra hours?

[little_evo]

HI thanks for the reply, i have indeed mailed a formal letter of grievance asking why the overtime ban had been given at such a time and not in the past in conjunction with the verbal warning i received in April, i had previously asked my immediate manager to put what they had said in writing for my reference, but so far i have received nothing to confirm what she has said in writing, which is annoying. Furthermore to my request to a grievance hearing, i have had a reply to attend such a meeting on thursday afternoon (Less than 48 hours notice), which again is annoying as they know full well this will possibly go into the finish time at work (2.30pm), again i doubt i will get paid as they imposed such a ban!

The general rule of thumb for attendance is 3 periods of sickness or 10 days whichever comes 1st, and seeing as i have only had 2 periods and 6 days in a 7 month period, again i find confusing, but i accepted my verbal warning (although not fully happy with the decision) and decided to get my head down and get on with my work.
I presume the meeting will be all onesided and i feel in someway that i am being targeted and singled out for whatever reason, as i know of other collegues who have had the same if not more time off than me and not one word of disciplinary hearings for them, which once again i find annoying.

I shall keep all posted and thank you for your input.

[Sidewinder]

Originally Posted by little_evo

I presume the meeting will be all onesided and i feel in someway that i am being targeted and singled out for whatever reason, as i know of other collegues who have had the same if not more time off than me and not one word of disciplinary hearings for them, which once again i find annoying.

In which case you are perfectly entitled to say that you are aware that ACAS advise that disciplinary rules should be applied equally and any action taken against an individual should reflect that taken against others in similar circumstances. Why in that case, you should ask, is it a fact that others with worse attendance records have not even been interviewed, let alone subjected to a warning and an overtime ban?

Good Luck!

[little_evo]

Thank you Sidewinder for your thoughts and input, greatly appreciated, i will of course keep you posted on the developements.