Thread: Disciplinary hearing - please advise

Hi
I've found myself in a horrendous situation and I don't see any way out. I started my current job a year ago, I enjoy it and get on well with everyone but my immediate boss took a dislike to me quite early on and has basically made my life hell. I have 15 people under my direct control and they have all commented on the way she treats me. i have had very little training for the role but I wasn't bothered at first as the job had been sold to me as mainly man management which I am experienced in. More and more admin has been piled on me to the extent that even working 2-3 hours unpaid overtime every day I still can't get it all done. In January she threatened to put me on review on capability grounds and gave me an appraisal which criticised every single aspect of the way I do the job. I went to HR and asked them to have my job assessed to see if it was reasonable for one person or not.

I won't bore you with all the details but nothing was ever done and the next month she said I had been on review for a month and gave me a verbal warning, a month after that she said I was even worse and gave me a written warning. I asked her what I should focus on and she said 'Everything'.

My doctor signed me off with stress and I wrote to HR complaining that she hadn't followed the correct procedure and was basically bullying me. After three weeks I went back and was handed a letter acknowledging my complaint. At 5.15 pm that day I was handed a letter saying she was alleging gross negligence and I would have to go to a hearing next week. I was told that the details of her allegations were in two e mails she had sent me. I trawled through the dozens she had sent me that day and found them. One was quite vague and one was detailed. The detailed one I was easily able to disprove and copied my e mails to take to the hearing.

Then at 4.55 yesterday I was sent an e mail from HR with different allegations, the one I can easily disprove was left out but she has alleged among other things that I was dishonest and hid work in a cupboard. I don't even have a cupboard, I lock my tray in a drawer before going home for Data Protection Act regulations,the keys are tucked into my desk drawer, the other supervisors know that and so do my team in case they need anything.

She says there were things in my tray that had been there months, she has accused me of refusing to do what she told me and of costing the company money by not chasing things.

I would sack me if I read the allegations.

I have been to HR but they just repeated the rules about the hearing to me. I asked what would happen if I handed in my notice and they said they would press on with the hearing. I asked them what would appear on my reference if I walked out or if I was dismissed and they said it is their policy just to confirm the dates of my employment and my job title, but that the policy could be changed in the future.

I'm not dishonest, I never hid work and I worked hours and hours of unpaid overtime to try and do all the tasks she set me.

Should i fight this or should I just walk out so I don't have to tell future employers I was dismissed?

Sorry it's so long. Ive never been in a situation remotely like this and I just don't know where to turn.

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I work for a fairly large company with hundreds of employees. The first meeting I went to was our usual monthly targets meeting, I've checked my on line diary and the only difference was that she sceduled an hour instead of 30 minutes. The ones where she gave me verbal and written warnings were scheduled as review meetings but I wasn't told I could have anyone to accompany me. Since I was signed off with stress and complained that she had not followed the correct procedures all managers and supervisors have been given more training. At my interview I was told 80% of my job would involve training, monitoring and motivating staff and 20% admin tasks, initially it seemed to be like that she has gradually added more and more admin. when she gave me the written warning for capability I asked about the job spec and was told that in this department it was more like 80% admin. But she was at my interview and I asked that very question. While I was off sick she restructured the department and the job description I had stored on my pc now links to the new structure which is actually more evenly distributed between the supervisors so it will be very hard to prove all the things I had to do before. She is denying that the restructuing had anything to do with my being ill - she said it was one of the other supervisors that was overloaded.

I'm certain I'll be dismissed on Tuesday. But they have now told me all the allegations and that I'm able to bring someone to support me. To be honest I'm embarrassed to tell anyone what she has alleged.

Thank you for your advice
Unicorn76

I'll do a timeline as you have suggested, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to bring it up on tuesaday as she is alleging gross misconduct and is no longer trying to dismiss me on the grounds of capability. HR have said that the allegations are serious enough to warrant instant dismissal. I am not in a union I don't know of anyone there who is.

If they put in a reference that I was dismissed for dishonesty I'll never get another job.

Will it help if I explain on tuesday that I had already registered a grievance about her bullying me and the fact that I was signed off through stress?

She seems to be getting some kind of pleasure from this. On Friday she was really chirpy and wished me a happy weekend - this was minutes after she had e mailed details of her allegations to HR. Normally she doesn't even say goodbye.

Thank you for your advice
Unicorn

Is there anyone you can take into the hearing with you? I know it is hard if you aren't a member of a union. It is very difficult to ask a colleague, but you will be better off if you are accompanied both for the moral support and some to take notes and provide a witness to what was said.

The meeting will almost certainly start off assuming that you are guilty. From there it can go one of two ways, some companies will back your manager however ridiculous the case, and others will be more open-minded and will be prepared to give you a fair hearing.

In order to get the hearing on your side (if that is possible) then you need to be able to demonstrate that your manager is not behaving reasonably and is lying, or at least exaggerating. Since you say you can easily disprove the more detailed allegations then that is a good place to start. If possible think of a couple of questions to put to your manager about the allegations that she will not be able to answer to highlight any holes in her case. Make sure that these questions, and her responses, are minuted.

Whatever happens make sure that you explicitly deny any allegations that are made during the meeting and don't be manipulated into agreeing that there is any truth in any of them, however much they try to twist your words.

You say that you have raised a grievance about her behaviour - that could be an important point. Has it been investigated and if so what did it find? If the finding went against you did you appeal?

If the grievance has not yet been investigated then you can try to use that to your advantage - saying that your manager is trying to get rid of you because you raised the grievance. The fact that she has changed the allegation from performance to gross misconduct could also be in your favour. Check the ACAS guidance, or your staff handbook, for best practice for handling grievances and point out to them where they have failed to follow that.

Hi
I had my disciplinary hearing this morning and managed not to get too emotional which I knew would be a problem. The panel asked lots of questions and made notes and one of them seemed very concerned that the complaint I had made about my boss is still under investigation, which I thought was a good sign.

However at the end they sent me home and said they would call with a decision. That was at 12.00 and at 17.00 they rang and said I have to go in at 10.30 tomorrow for the decision. I don't think that sounds too good, surely if it was good news they would have told me at come in at 9.00? The HR rep who rang me said they had been going through all the review notes from when my manager was trying to say I wasn't capable of doing the job even though my complaint is partially about her mishandling of that situation. The person who accompanied me is a supervisor like me and she told me afterwards that the things I was accused of were pathetic. she's right they are silly things and they go back over months. Now I have another sleepless night.

The two managers who sat on the panel are probably the two most fair minded in the company. If they fire me is it worth appealing?

Thank you
Unicorn

Hi

I went in at 10.30 and was dismissed as i expected. They found that I had never been dishonest and never refused to do as she asked me. But they looked at all the review notes and said that they found I was guilty of gross negligence and not being capable of doing my job. But I had already submitted a grievance about the review process and I asked HR to review my workload in January but nothing was done.

This has been the most humiliating experience of my life. i worked over 10 hours of unpaid overtime a week for this company and I haven't a clue where I went wrong.

Unicorn

Hello Unicorn

I'm sorry to hear about this decision on the part of your organisation. From reading your messages I feel that you should most definitely appeal against the decision and if this does not work, then I imagine an employment tribunal may be your next step. The decision that has been made by the panel may have been arrived based on the company's own agenda and not a fair and just one!!

Either way, please don't accept this decision as final if you feel you have not been supported in your role (which will include training provision if issues/needs were highlighted), been vicitimised, bullied or treated differently from other colleagues and that your allegations and requests via HR have been ignored.

I hope that Ell-enn will be able to help you with the appeal letter as she has promised ...

Keep going and best wishes to you.

Just a note (and a consequent "bump") from a passer-by to say you have my deepest sympathy in what seems like a totally unfair situation. I hope Ell-enn and any other experts can help you find the justice you deserve. Do appeal - don't let them treat you so like this! All my best wishes for a positive outcome.

Hi all

Thank you for your good wishes and support. Apart from a phone call from HR the day after I was fired during which I was told that they were going to investigate the complaint I had made against my boss for basically setting me up to fail by overloading me with tasks so that I couldn't do them all and also against HR for not having my job assessed when I asked them to, I have had no contact from the company. They are a fairly large company (about 300 employees) but I have not had anything in writing saying I have been dismissed, no notes from the hearing and no P45. They received my complaint over three weeks ago and according to their own rules grievances are dealt with within 5 days or 14 days in exceptional circumstances.

Is this normal? I expected to get a letter right away confirming that I had been dismissed. Also am I right in thinking that the panel should not have considered evidence from my manager which was not presented at the hearing and which I did not see or get a chance to comment on. Apparantly after I had been sent home while they considered the decision my boss gave them copies of e mails she had sent me chasing things. and that was what they based their decision on.

I have sent the letter which Ell-enn drafted to the head of HR by recorded deliver and I know ithas been delivered but I have had no response. I am a bit confused by the sudden slow down - they certainly fired me quickly enough. I was out the door less than a week after being notified about the disciplinary proceedings.

How long should I wait before chasing them? Any advice would be appreciated. I can't afford to be out of work and even though I have had a couple of promising interviews I have heard nothing more so I am wondering if they called the company for a reference and got told more verbally than they would write down.

Thank you

Unicorn