Gross Misconduct

[Silly Girl]

Hi All,

looking for some advice and reading the other posts, looks like there are some experts here!
i came back from holiday on Tuesday and was asked into an office and accused of gross misconduct over an incident which came to light while I was away.
Let me tell you the background..... I work in the alcohol industy and we ship to some small african countries. I am issued with a "false" invoice from our agent which is for half the value of the actual goods, obvious to me now so that they don't get taxed as much upon import!!! All of the goods are subject to pre-inspection and when asked, I emailed over an invoice for the goods to Bureau Veritas (the inspection company). Unfortunately for me, i accidently e-mailed over the "correct" invoice (high value) and not the "false" invoice as instructed. I notice my mistake and e-mailed the "false" invoice telling them to disregard the first e-mail as this was for a different shipment.
I heard nothing more from the inspection company and assumed that this 2nd "false" invoice has been accepted.
The company has now been fined and I have been suspended pending investigation for gross misconduct and have a meeting on Thursday.

Surely a company cannot sack someone for a genuine mistake!! This practise is only for 1 customer and is not a regular requirement for normal shipments. I also have mentioned the fact that training in the company is somewhat lacking. I had only been doing that particular region for a couple of weeks prior to this issue and this was the 1st time that I had dealt with this difficult shipment.

Unfortunately I have only been with the company for 7 months so have no rights. I think that this is getting personal as my line manager has always been slightly hostile towards me.

Has any one heard of anything similar happening and of the outcome??
Or does anyone have any advice for my meeting on Thursday??
I have not slep since Tuesday and the whole thing is really getting me down. Can one MISTAKE really spoil a 10 year career in the drinks industry and spoil your good repuation?

Please help!! Thanks!!

[scampjet]

Have you had to do this before for this company? Even if it is only an occasional occurance, as you describe it, it is illegal, if it is intended to evade duties.
If the S**t hits the fan, you will be held responsible!
A call to customs and excise may be in order.

[Silly Girl]

This is the first time I have dealt with this customer and I made a stupid mistake. The "false" invoice is obviously produced to avoid paying duty but the are saying I have jeapordised further shipments to this country. Surely I should not have been asked to do this in the first place as doing it incorrectly causes huge fines!!! I did not produce or sign the "false" invoice but this practice must be dodgy in someway!!!

I have read in other posts that gross misconduct is a deliberate act. Surely this mistake cannot be described as a deliberate act. I did not gain from it in anyway and have potentially ruined my career.

[poppynurse]

I would be more worried about customs and excise fraud....sounds like an extremely dodgy company - get another job and report them.

[colgate01]

Hi,
I have worked with businesses in West Africa for several years so am aware of these kinds of practices which tend to get somehow justified by businesses as 'best practice' in this part of the world. It is fraud and you shouldn't have been asked to do this but it happens - frequently. Unfortunatley BV will have no option but to report it and thus it looks as though you will be the scapegoat your company uses to save their reputation.
Do you have anything in writing which implicates the company in any way?

I would take Poppynurse's advice and get out as soon as you can.

[Silly Girl]

Thanks for the advice and don't worry I won't be staying in a compnay that can treat someone this way.

~I have it written on a piece of paper that no-one except the agent should ever see the invoice but nowhere does it state that this is in anyway illegal.

There have been similar instances within my team which have resulted in heavy losses for the company and these people have never even been reprimanded never mind threatened with suspension. Should I bring this up??

Any advise for the meeting would be most grateful as I am petrified!!
I've not slept for a week and am not eating.

Should I mention that this was the first time I had dealt with this customer and have documented at appraisals etc that the training is by no means sufficient for such a responsibilty? Also, when the incident happed i had only been dealing with the market for a week and was given a half hour handover and was working with no supervision.

Should I bring up the fact that I was asked to do a fraudulant act which I only now realise the consequences of? Also should I threaten to expose the other "fraudulant" invoicing practices in other markets that I know of??

Please help. All advice gratefully accepted.

[colgate01]

Hi there,

I know it is easy to say but you need to get some sleep and try to eat - you need your strength to look at this objectively - believe me I am there!

I have my first ever disciplinary tomorrow and am terrified!

I am not an expert and can only give you advice from my own experience. It sounds to me that you have some pretty good arguments - you are not being treated fairly and consistently with other employees, you weren't trained sufficiently etc, which could help in a tribunal? Like I said I am new to this and just going through it myself but there are some good people on here who will advise you further.

I am not sure that the evidence you have really supports your case because you accidently showed the invoice to BV, who is not the agent so best not to use this I think.

I don't know your personal circumstances but I know about tax fines and stigma and have seen people in accounting scapegoated for this kind of thing in the past.

My experience and advice would be not to mention the f word - fraud! It is something your company will be especially raw about and it won't help your case. On saying that worded correctly, it might help you to negotiate a good settlement agreement. I think you should get some advice from an employment lawyer on how best to do this.

My own experience is that I have been asked in the past to sign things I knew to be fraudelant and have refused which has probably contributed to the situation I now find myself in. I haven't actully included this as part of my grievance since I was advised against it.

In your situation, I can very well imagin that you may not have been aware of the implications of your actions when you sent the invoices since it would seem like common practice. Do you mind me asking which country you were dealing with?

[Parkvale]

I know you have not been employed with this company for a year. Which would have given you a chance down the unfair dismissal route. Yet they do seem a bit lax on their procedures So you as an employee have the right not to be dismissed in breach of their contractual terms. For example, failure to follow a contractual procedure may result in a claim of breach of contract. So have a look through your contract of employment to see if they have breached it in any way. Good luck.

[Silly Girl]

Hi,

I hade my disciplinary hearing today and put my defence against the above across to the "Independent Manager" (who happens to be the best friend my manager who done the investigation). I listened to all the evidence that they have regarding the mistake and how costly it is and they are quoting GROSS NEGLECT OF DUTY/INSUBORDINATION.

Here's how I plan on tackling this tomorrow:
1.The company handbook states "failure to comply with a reasonable instruction from superior. Is a possibly illegal/fraudulant transaction reasonable to ask someone to do?

I also have evidence that other people in the same industry have been threatened with court action and individual memebers of staff with imprisonment for similar invoice irregularities. Should I even be asked to do this?

I have also requested a copy of the NES entry to see what value was declared to HMRC as this should have been the same value as the invoice.
I suspect that the NES will have been processed at the "high invoice" value and by giving the pre-inspectors the "fake value" invoice, it could be concieved that this transaction was fraudulant. Are they breaking their contract with me by expecting me to perform such tasks?

I have also mentioned that another member of the team has made a mistake of similar value and has not been disciplined.

I was also not aware of the consequences of sending the wrong invoice and would have questioned the practise and procedures in place if known.

Can anyone suggest any more defences for Gross Neglect of Duty or Insubordination that may be helpful??

Please, im getting desperate and still no sleep!!!x

[colgate01]

Hi there,

It doesn't sound like a good situation you are in. I would suggest speaking to a solicitor before you act any further.