I have a question on capability dismissal. I have recently received First warning on my performance. The ground for it is an assessment that I had a month ago. I had few objections on the assessment (the way the assessment was done, range of questions etc..). I have raised these issues on the formal meeting with my line manager and HR representative, but I still got First Warning. The formal letter I have received is mentioning my right to appeal to one of CEO. I do not think that it will make much sense to appeal as I believe this is happening with management approval. But I do not think that assessment was fair and I think I have enough evidences for this. My question is as following: if I will be dismissed and go for tribunal will it take into account that I appealed or haven't appealed on First Warning. Is it worth to appeal from this point of view?

Many thanks.

Emily

hi, if it were myself and even knowing appeal would be pointless, I would still appeal, collect evidence, as this will show any future tribunal or court that you tried your best to sort out this problem.

if you keep your thread updated as things progress than others will be able to help you further if you need it. and - welcome to CAG!

Basically it's up to you. Check the policy and see if it allows for them to increase a sanction on appeal (most don't) as this will be a major part of your decision making.

if they can't do more than uphold the original warning then it's a case of "speak now or forever hold......" If you do not raise it within their procedures then they have every right to say you missed the boat if you later wish to rely on it. Personally i think i would get something in so it's on the books as they say.

Bluntly : No Appeal means you've accepted their warning without rebuttal.

If you don't agree with the reason they took you to this first stage then you have to appeal. if they have a written procedure describing the capability process then compare that against their conduct thus far. how long is your employment?

Thanks for your replies guys!

I will share more details on my case, iin case somebody will be happy to discuss. Sorry if it is too long/too detailed!

I am in this job for nearly 7 years, and had good reviews first 5 years but not last 2 years. 2 years ago new management came and organisation changed a lot since then. I am IT specialist and we are now off-shoring most of the jobs rather than developing on site. So while my job description remained the same (I believe) work demands has changed., it is more supervision, management, mentoring and business critical production support. I also work part time as I have to look after my disabled son. I kind of understand that with current demands I probably do not fit to this work very well, as it is now much more time critical and stressful. But I can not afford to leave the job as I will not be able to find any other part time job in my area.

Since 2 years ago I received bad review for the first time I feel like I am gradually pushed out. First year I did not received much details of what exactly is so bad. Second year my review contained some details and then I was able to challenge some of factual information it included. For example in my review it was stated that I do 'many mistakes' in my deployments. I spent whole night digging out deployment issues information from logs and calculating what is average number of mistakes in my deployments comparing to average number of mistakes within the team. Mine was not higher and 'many mistakes' was removed however review still remained negative with just 'mistakes' (it did not say 'average number of mistakes within the team').

This year they put in place performance improvement plan and I agreed to take certification exams in 6 month, however to assess my capabilities management has chosen not the objective exam but on site assessments managed by my technical lead. Few words on my technical lead. He is new guy in the organisation with quite aggressive work approach. So initially when he came he was asking me to stay overtime or spend my after work time to learn new things in my area. I pointed out that I only can spend contractual hours on work related issues and have other responsibilities. He is not expressionless these demands directly now but I think attitude is there. Within last 5 month I have 6 assessments in 2 different areas (one is my speciality, the other one is not) with the final one about a month ago. I think I actually done quite well but to my surprise found that I got about 7 points under the threshold. I talked to one of the markers (the other one was my 'aggressive' technical lead) and he said 'I do not recognise the marks, maybe you can ask it to be remarked). It was remarked but I still got 1.5 point lower than I need. Questions are mostly (2/3) subjective so it is easy to make score as you wish. I also talked to third marker he also agreed that the marks are a bit low. For my capabilities meeting I provided all this information in writing. I also pointed to some inconsistencies in the pack. For example it was confirmed that questions will be within certain areas or 'basic questions' but they were not within those areas and not basic enough for 2 markers (who are considered to be experts) to answer on these questions when I asked in our conversation. All this was discussed on the capability meeting and I still got first warning. I also was asked to retake both assessments.

By now I am completely exhausted with all the assessments, appellations, investigations, ongoing work, other responsibilities and challenges I have outside of work.

So now i would like to get dismissed but with some redundancy package if possible. But I am not sure if I have enough to support my case. I can point to inconsistencies in the pack. I can say that I was not assessed on any work that I was done within this year (all just on the basis on subjective assessment). I can say that I was the only one who was asked to do the assessment (8 for 6 month!) and I can prove that those who considered experts were not able to answer some of the questions from my exam. I can possibly talk to the markers again, I think they can agree that the assessment as such does not show me 'incapable'. I am not sure what else I can do.

Just ask for the cash. They save on your wages and admin time to process things. Why not ask?

Well, that's the point. I do not know how to ask so they will not use it against me. They do not tell me directly that they want me to go, just torturing with these assessments ..

"You seem to be unhappy with me. I'm going to do all I can to meet the standards you are setting. However, if you are sure it isn't going to work out, I'm open to looking at a reasonable settlement agreement."

Fantastic! Thank you Emmzzzi! It is certainly opening them a door without putting me at risk!