Thread: Help with letter to appeal dismissal - unfair dismissal

Hi all

Appreciate some urgent help, my sister was dismissed and wants to appeal. I think it is a clear case of unfair dismissal and right now really need a good letter to send to appeal the dismissal first of all.

She really cannot work for that company again (they are a joke) and just wants her name cleared so she hasn't been 'sacked' to future employers, and the few weeks loss of earnings.

She was in retail on a shop floor, not long promoted to supervisor and put forward for management. about 8 months ago she was stock taking with one other girl and the prev staff had left a nightmare job to do....during the stock take they both each wrote on the top of the notes they were taking (which are only for counting up, they are scraps that go in the bin after) one single swear word each about the state of the job left to them (my sister even put little ** so it was more polite!)

Turns out the figures could not be phoned that one day and they were faxed instead, faxing those comments. Upshot is, a disciplinary was called and from an spotless employment record they gave her 'level 3' notice - which was explained as the most serious and if the same behaviour happened again it could lead to dismissal. She asked about appealing and her District Manager told her there was no point, it shouldn't cause her problems unless she did them same kind of thing again. She didn't appeal. Oh, also want to point out the same manager that encouraged her not to appeal told her she was being sacked until she 'fought tooth & nail for her, she should be grateful thats all she got'!!!

OK, 8 months later....another employee is caught breaking one of their basic security procedures by leaving the shutter partly open whilst closing up and also staff going under it like this (they demand you raise and drop it fully every time.

All the staff are asked if they have done this and they all say yes, and disciplinarys begin. Thing is, there used to be 2 cashing up and closing until the compnay cut hours and staff and reduced this to 1 person....alone in that store at night cashing up. Company demands the shutter is closed fully, they were leaving it partly open. My concern is now that to lock yourself in a shop on your own at night, with no way of anyone checking on you, knowing if you are ok, if you got hurt you wouldn't be founf until morning etc - breaches your basic health & safety rights. I should add the store is in a huge shopping complex with security guards etc, not on the street!

Sorry for the big long story! Turns out now the 'level 3' notice given before was actually a final written warning and they have found her guilty of misconduct and dismissed her now. She is the only one to be dismissed and her own Asst Manager was only given a letter of concern and probation for the same thing!!!

Help!!!

A very basic (and I mean basic!), appeal letter is letter no.11 on this link:

http://www.lra.org.uk/microsoft_word...nce_9-2008.pdf

Che

Thank you so much for that, letter done and going special delivery on Monday as they say she only has 7 days to get the appeal to them from the date on the letter (14th)

Do you thinkshe should put lots of info on the reasons she si appealing or just keep it simple and save it for the hearing? (not want to give them time to prepare/coverup?)

Hi all, any input would be much appreciated!

Sister went for her appeal hearing, which was a sham to be honest. They ignored her questions and simply quoted what sounded like political soundbites to everything - saying lots without saying anything.

Outcome of the appeal was for them to uphold the dismissal, so off to the Tribunal Service we go.

Her appeal centres around the fact that when they reduced staff hours, some jobs auomatically became lone working - in her case this would be late at night. Policy and procedure was never updated or changed to reflect this, even though procedure still required 2 people for most jobs. No risk assesment ever done and her health & saftey a risk by continuing to follow the same old procedures.

Managers simply said to cope as best you can when asked, staff left to figure out how to juggle 2 jobs at once, work extra unpaid hours simply to complete essential work (ie cashing up and closing up).

At the appeal she asked these questions and they answered by asking how SHE could have done things, changed things...she answered that every job could only be done following procedure if she then worked extra unpaid hours every night (approx 2 per night). They answered that was the right way and she should have done this....that is why she was disciplined.

They still did not acknowledge the health & safety issues, simply stating 'there is always an 'element' of lone working and they do have a lone working policy' - thats it.

The other issue is consistency. She was dismissed, the other staff given final written warnings - all except one. The Asst Manager was only given a letter of concern on her file - not even a formal disciplinary action.

So! Have to submit the claim to the Tribunal today (today is the deadline), if their is any advice I would be very grateful.

Hi patdavies, thanks for the reply

I understand the difference in that my sister had something on her record already, her point is (which I did not explain clearly, sorry!) that all the other staff had clean records also - this was all their first disciplinary - they went straight to final writen warnings and the asst manager basically got nothing.

The other worrying thing is that my sister was the only one that brought up the issue of health & safety (one girl was pregnant and still working in that locked store late at night).

There is a culture in there of not arguing, just do as you are told. None of them would appeal as they thought they would then be first out the door if there are any more staff cuts required and they have 'argued' with them.