Hello everybody this may turn out to be a bit long but I want to be precise, some may seem irrelevant but i feel i should give all facts as to events I had been working as a sales rep for a catering butchers(since 30/03/2014), supplying meat to pubs, restaurants ect, but normal business was NOT to supply to private individuals just to business(relevance of this will become clear). In addition to sales duties I also deliver my own generated orders, so have a company marked van. The company offices and factory is located some 70 miles away from my home address, so it was decided when I started that it was more efficient to be home based and communicte with the office via email in the form of daily reports, plus the van has a tracker so they can(and excessivley did) monitor me. I was paid £18000 per annum and no provision for private use of van(considerably less than the £30000 + Car the job was advertised at, I needed the job so was pretty much forced to accept the offer). There were no major targets to hit and was told if I generated £100000 worth of trade in my first 12 months they would be ecstatic. At the end of jan 2015, after 10 months in the job i had generated £135000. Last Weds(11/02/2015) I recieved a phonecall from my boss(finance director who I reported to). He stated that a large customer who I was interested in talking to had been in touch and wanted to discuss giving the company their business. He asked me to travel to the office for 8am the next morning to discuss it and give my input. Upon arrival the next morning(12/02/2015) at 8am I was taken into an office with the finance director, MD, and facory manager under the impression this was a meeting about the customer. I was then told that this was NOT about the reason I had been given, instead that they had been informed that I had been handing out product lists for another company and asked if this is true.... [i had been suffering from financial difficulties for a long period and through a friend I was offered a small extra income by selling via a website, meat products to home customers only, essentially an online butchers shop. I agreed to do this as it did not interfere with my primary employers customer base. It was clear my friend was struggling and there were a couple of ex customers who no longer wanted to deal with my primary employer, who had said they would love to deal with me, but refused to deal with products from the primary employer. So initially I made introductions and negotiated prices(prices and specific cuts are fairly standard in the industry and were set according to what the customer currently paid, again standard in any sales negotiation). The customers agreed and I was their point of contact via phone, I have not, despite accusations, dealt with any of these during my primary work hours, nor were they current customers of primary employer. After this success I was made an attractive offer, If I brought in the customers I would be offered a 40% stake in a new catering venture and I had put out feelers among my customer base to guage interest, at the time of 12/02/2015 interest was high and I had planned to gain agreements over the coming weeks and leave primary employer. I have never, or would ever deliver products in my primary employers van or whilst wearing their uniform and this can be witnessed. All deliveries had been undertaken by my friend upon my insistence] ....So back to the meeting under false pretences of 12/02/2015, upon being presented with the allegations(bear in mind that I had been there under a false impression and had no prior warning that allegations had been made, therefore no time to prepare a case), I decided it was fruitless to deny that I had handed out product lists(I had done that and it was a fair cop), I admitted I had done that, but denied that I had done it on work time. At this time they became aggressive and intimidating and was told it is gross misconduct and instant dismissal and i was to leave the premises immediately, leave the van and make my own way home. the exact quote is "Ok, so you admit you have, that is gross misconduct and you are instantly dismissed to leave immediately, get your stuff and f**k off now, and you can make your own way home".I was then given a letter of confirmation of summary dismissal, the finance director had signed it and he had it in his hand at the start of the meeting, so that indicates the decision had already been made, can i correctly assume this?? I stated I had no cash on me to make the 70 mile trip, to which they replied that they dont give a s**t, and I would have to walk. I then requested access to the van to recover personal items, it was granted but only when i was accompanied by them and they were making snide comments and being aggressive and intimidating(I suspect they were attempting to make me lose my temper as they know i suffer from depression). I asked to be able to wear the company jacket i was given as it was cold (between 1-2 C according to thermometer in van), I was refused and told they didnt care how cold I was "walking home" I was harrassed to get my things and leave and was severely intimidated by their constant demands to inspect every item to prove it was in fact mine. I got my things and left the premises, though I have since realised 2 items were not recovered. In order to get home I had to get a taxi into the nearest town(I did have approx £8 in cash to cover this), I had to phone a friend to put some money into my bank to complete the journey (£40 as being thursday before being paid weekly salary on friday my bank had nothing in), by bus to nearest town with a rail link, train to Huddersfield then bus to home, total cost including taxi £43. I do not dispute the dismissal but the manner and non following of procedure and the aggressive and intimidating nature of how it was done was surely not allowed?? I should have been paid my usual weekly salary on 13/02/2015(week in hand , therefore this would be for the preceding week), followed next friday 20/02/2015 by remaining holiday entitlement and salary up to 12/02/2015, I was not paid on the 13/02/2015 and have recieved no reason as to why or when I can expect payment, if at all. Not being paid has resulted in 3 standing orders not being paid which will cost £10 per item in charges. I would like to appologise for the essay but I wanted to be exact and give the whole facts, but I would really like to know how to proceed, as I said I dont really contest the sacking, I did wrong and I admit that I just want what im owed but it seems they are unwilling to pay and as they know my financial worries and mental health issues it would seem they are being deliberately difficult and seem happy to see me suffer and humiliate me as much as possible. On saturday 14/04/2015 I sent an email requesting payment, I also went and did some hours for the secondary job(not officially part of this company in reality, yet). While I was there a friend of mine, and the owner of this secondary employer, came into the unit, supposedly to visit, however this friend is also a very good friend of the ex employer, or rather friend ofthe factory manager of ex employer. Are they checking on me??, and would it make any difference that I was there after the contract has ended?? Any help and advice on what to do now would be very welcome and really needed.

My son is 27. He has worked for a local shop since leaving school, rising from assistant to assistant manager in the 10 yrs. 5 months ago he was asked to work at different location for a few weeks due to them having no management in place. He covered this absence a number of times. On his last cover, he decided to take the team out for a goodbye drink the night before his last day. During that night he stupidly made a play for a colleague and asked her back to his hotel. There had been flirty texting and calls between them since he had been there. she said no and he went on somewhere else. He then slept through his alarm and was over an hour late for work. He arrived and was hungover. This is not something he would normally do at all, in fact he has been commended for his timekeeping and punctuality in previous reviews. On his return to his normal shop, he was suspended. The girl made an allegation, saying he made it uncomfortable for her to work, that she was refused a day off because she hadn't slept with him and that he had been drinking whilst working. They held an investigation and found that he hadn't been drinking (other workers statements) and that the girl had lied about the day off however he admitted to asking her back to hotel. He left out the fact they had been flirting in his statement. During his hearing, they didn't give him minutes, of the process or company grievance policy. After 6 weeks of suspension they have now dismissed him for gross misconduct for being late (he was only key holder so shop was shut ie loss of business), being hungover and abusing his position of trust by asking her back. He has been given no notice of what he will receive (lieu of notice, holiday pay etc) but what concerns us more is 1. The reference 2. Accrued flexi time of over 300 hours His contract mentions flexi time is given in place of overtime but nothing else is mentioned about what happens when the employment ends. Surely they can't expect him to have worked almost 9 weeks overtime for no.pay? He had an exemplary work record before this. As a side..he was asked to take this other shop permanently but refused due to it being so far away. Now I have rollicked him for his stupidity, but I really need to help him too. He has two young children with his ex partner, who he pays maintenance to. We know he won't get JSA, but he has applied for lots of.jobs. He hasn't got to the stage of needed the refenrce yet, but are they likely to say why he was dismissed? I'm hoping someone can give us some advice

Hi All, Apologies for the long post but I would like to convey all the details. I have been with my employer (a major car company) since Jun 2011. Recently I attended an international 3-day training course to showcase some of the new vehicle. This is an event that has been held annually for over 15 years by the company but the first time anyone from my department has been invited. To cut a long story short, this was a driving event and I don't drive. For all delegates there was a mandatory breathalyzer test for anyone driving in the morning, though there were mixed messages as to whether non-drivers where to be breathlyzed. My director told us that anyone who fails this test will be subject to dismissal. Upon arriving at the location, a barcode tag to verify the persons license and information was given. As a non-driver my card was hole-punched so it could not be read by any of the staff organising the driving of the vehicles. I asked the person stamping the card if I was to be breathalyzed and he laughed and say no, because I don't drive. Rather than take this as read, I then asked the trainer for my group if this were true and he said yes I would, so I went with this answer. The night before were lunch was served there was a themed party with an open bar. I have never been breahtlyzed before and so was very concerned about this but on the same vein, I wanted to enjoy the party and so I had a few drinks. Prior to this, I had rang the police who couldn't give me any advice on breathalyzers and consulted 1 website and two iPhone apps to estimate what I could drink and how long it would be in my system, as I have no frame of reference aside from what would give me a hangover and what wouldn't. I am 6'6" and weight 99kg, I also drink frequently enough to be able to take my ale. The consensus from the three calculators was that I could drink 6 large glasses of wine (2 bottles) and sleep it off in 10 hours. I therefore erred on the side of caution and drank 5 small glasses of red wine and have half a regular strength lager, with dinner. I woke up having had 7 hours sleep and felt a little tired but otherwise not hungover in the slightest. I was breahtlyzed at 9am and blew 0.02% into the machine, promptly shat myself and spent literally the last 3 days panicking severely. I contacted our director and told him yesterday, who then advised that I speak with my manager. I did this this morning and was suspended immediately for Gross Miscconduct - Serious breach of company rules/policy and Wilful failure to carry out a reasonable request. I prefer to expect the best, prepare for the worst and so have begun searching for other employment already. What are your thoughts on this? Aside from a penalty (which dozens of others I spoke with have paid without disciplinary action for similar circumstances) there is no other history of people being dismisses for this. My argument is simply that although I did drink, there are other factors that could influence a breathlyzer and my score was low enough to warrant those factors being present. Thanks in advance. I am not a reckless person and have a perfectly clean slate with this and all of my other employers.

Hey. I am a Care assistant, and started working in a Care home on September 10th 2012. On March 13 2013 I walked into work at 13:00 as I had POVA training to attend. As I walked in my senior leader said the manager wanted to see me and I assumed it was about the transfer I asked for as I wanted to relocate to a care home closer to home. I wen't up to the managers office and she said to go back to see her after training. At 16:30 I went back to the managers office and the manager then went and got the clinical leads. At this point, I started to worry. I asked what this was all about and the manager said she needed a witness in the room and then proceeded to tell me that I was being suspended. I was completely shell shocked at this point and asked her to tell me Why? She said she couldn't tell me anything other than it was a case involved in THEFT! I asked what I was supposed to of stolen but she said I would recieve a letter in the post the following morning. On thursday 14th, I did not recieve a letter. The letter arrived on the 15th saying I have been suspended on full pay pending investigation, but again, it didn't say what I was supposed to of stolen. or when! I phoned the manager who again, refused to tell me anything! 1 week later, a friend text from work saying he had heard about what I was suppoed to of done, and that no one would believe it. I was supposed to of stolen an iPod connecter thingy that connects the Ipod to a docking station. I own an iPod 4th Gen, but the thing that was stolen was for an OLD iPod. and I don't even own a docking station. fast forward, and its now 6th April 2013 and I have still not heard a thing from work. I only recieved that one letter saying I wasn't allowed to contact anyone or I am not allowed to find another job. Please help

Hello, Its a bit long winded but please stay with this. I would be greatful for any help. In February my girlfriend told work that she is pregnant. She works as a senior care worker in a nursing home. She was expecting a risk assessment to be carried out but there was no mention of it. After continually asking, her manager said that one had been carried out and she told my girlfriend that she was not able to work up stairs where the more difficult residents are. My girlfriend did not see or sign this "risk assessment" and she was not given information about the works maternity policy and pregnancy notification form. This is set out in the companies own policy and procedure. My girlfriend only received this when she raised a grievance about this. Now the fun begins. On the 11th of March my girlfiend was off work sick when she received a phone call from her manager asking if she remembered losing any confidential information she answered the questions unaware that minutes were being taken or that someone was present with the manager while the phone call was made. The minutes of this conversation were then put forward as evidence. On the 15th of March, my girlfriend received 2 letters from work. One was for a gross misconduct meeting regarding the loss of information and the other was an investigatory meeting for a medication error (which the company stated as being poor performance) for which my girlfriend is not responsable. She has been suspended due to the investigatory meeting since the 30th of March. My girlfriend raised a grievance because she never saw a risk assessment and other reasons for which she feels unfairly treated at work. During the grievance meeting, the person who was chairing the meeting showed my girlfriend the risk assessment that was carried out which could only be described as a joke. It was not on the correct form (it was filled out on a residents care plan risk assessment). The person who was chairing the meeting screwed up the risk assessment and then carried out a proper risk assessment. At this time my girlfriend was 25 weeks pregnant. The person chairing also went through the other points that my girlfriend raised and agreed that there was a case for grievance and the outcome was that my girlfriend and her manager should have mediation meetings. On the 6th of May, my girlfriend went into the gross misconduct meeting with a union rep. She explained that she did not realise that she had the confidential information which had been lost. When they challenged her over her having this information, she then told them that all senior carers were given this information and that they were allowed to complete care plans in their own time at home. The union rep blew them out of the water on all points they raised during this meeting. (She is still waiting for the outcome of this meeting) Today my girlfriend received a letter from work asking her to go to a meeting about the medication issue this has now turned into a gross misconduct meeting. The letter states that she could be dismissed from work and also put on the POVA list which would stop her working in care in the future. As mentioned earlier she is not responsible for this issue. The medication was ordered not collected. She had no way of knowing this due to the fact that the information was recorded in a diary which is held upstairs where my girlfriend was told not to work. To me this seems like her work cannot uphold the earlier case of gross misconduct and they are trying to get my girlfriend sacked on another issue for which they previously stated as been poor performance. My girlfriend only has 1 week and 4 days from today until her maternity leave begins. Do you think that we would have a sucessful case for a tribunal? Would this come under constructive dismissal and would my girlfriend also have a case for sexual discrimination.

Hi everyone, This is my first post on here, and the first time I am sharing this news with anyone, but I need some assistance. I am a Canadian immigrant to England, I moved over in July, so my knowledge on employment rights in UK are a bit foggy. I started my employment with a company, as assistant manager, in mid-November 2011. Fastforward to 3rd December 2011, the store manager realised there had been a theft (approx. 3pm) from the store's safe. It was only the previous nights deposit, all the floats were still there (heavy coin). I closed up shop the 2nd December 2011, with another associate. Together we counted the tills, put deposit in safe, locked up and etc. I should add that the store itself has no CCTV or alarms. I was told by the store manager to have a bit of a lay in on the 3rd, because I had come in on my day off. When I came into work, the store was already opened (tills put out, etc). Now. It's company policy to have 2 people whenever you go into the safe, and 2 people must sign off on any safe logs (for money coming in and out, inluding the till floats and deposits) First mistake the store manager made was 1 - not checking the safe at all in the am, and 2 - not having someone with him while putting out the tills. Anyways. I had my formal disciplinary on 28th December 2011, went through everything again and they've essentially made it down to that I should of ASKED the store manager to do a safe check (do his job) when I came in that morning. I should point out, he was sacked for potential to of stolen monies, breach of trust and confidence and not following company proceedure. Another guy, supervisor, was sacked for potential to of stolen monies and breach of trust and confidence. I was sacked for opprotunity to of stolen company monies and breach of trust and conifdence. That's all 3 of the key holders. I've also been in contact with the police, as the company notified them of the theft. They actually called me down to the station on the 28th December 2011, funny enough. The PC flat out said I had nothing to worry about with the police, and he believes I had no part in the theft - my partner and I are quite well known in the village we live in as he owns his own business. And he also pointed out that I would obviously have no record and good character references since I managed to get a UK visa, which is absolutely true, it's a very complicated process. I truely believe the company went in looking to sack all 3 of us, and started nit-picking. Problem is, we were all under our probationary time still. I am new to UK however, and it's going to be quite the stain on my rather new work history. Anyway, I obviously want to appeal. I recieved thier 'confirmation' letter today, and have 5 working days to do so. Just a bit tied up on which points are valid and which arent, I need to make sure I have a valid case I suppose and a fighting chance. Thank you in advance for any input, if anyone wants more details please dont hesitate to ask.

Hi everyone, I could really do with some advice please? I have been reported to HR by my manager for using my corporate amex card for personal expenses. This does not mean that the company paid for my personal expenses - I used the card and then paid the bills myself. I know that there are many other people in the company who do this including many senior managers and my boss's boss. There is a line in the expenses policy about not using the card for personal expenses but then there is also a checkbox in the system that says 'do not reimburse - personal expense'. I admit that I let it get out of hand and had quite a lot of purchases go through the card each month (this has been happening over the course of about nine months). There is currently money outstanding on the card - I have paid off a chunk and let my HRBP know that the rest will be paid off the moment I get my next pay. When I first put a personal expense on the card I asked the person who is now my manager if that was something that was done at this company and she said everyone does it and that her boss put everything on hers. It was ok as long as you paid it off... I reminded her of this when she told me that she had reported me to HR but she said 'I wasn't condoning it'. However I have no doubt that she'll deny this completely if asked by HR. She's known the whole time she has been my manager that I had personal expenses on there but she waited until a few days before I left to raise it with HR. I wonder if she has found that it could save her paying my redundancy out of my budget. She put me at risk of redundancy the moment she arrived and I am currently on garden leave for three months for my notice period. This manager and I were once friends before she became my manager and I'm sure there is a personal element to this because from what I have heard no-one else has been disciplined for this. I could really use some help as I am scared witless. I can't afford to lose my redundancy pay, or I won't be able to pay for the degree course I have started or my bills and I can't even start looking for a new job as I don't know whether I will be on garden leave for three months or if I will have a gross misconduct dismissal on my record! I've been asked to come in and meet our head of financial audit on monday as part of the investigation and I'm not sure how to prepare for this meeting or what to say. Can anyone give me some advice on how to defend myself? I've been stupid but I feel my boss is exploiting that to save herself my redundancy money for her budget. Thank you!

Hi id lick some advice please. I have my Employment Tribunal coming in a week or two. I was summarily dismissed in Febuary this year for alleged gross misconduct. specificly posting (alleged) confidential material on facebook. This went the the dissciplinarys, and appeals etc.. and as far as i know they follwoered the correct proceedures etc.. I am still compiling my evidence statment, getting prepared for the ET. One thing i have been thinking about is, The alleged gross misconduct happened while i was signed off work for Stress. would this have any bearing on the trial at all? i went off sick on january 3rd, with sick note for stress. i was again signed off on the 28th januiary for stress. i was phoned and asked to attend a meeting on the 1st febuary. which i did,( in hind sight i shouldnt off, but was informed it was important) there i was informed about some changes to working patterns, and also potential redundancies in my store. Other collegue were getting briefed the same day. i put something on FB the day after.and have plenty of evidence showing this being dicusse don another site by other people, though an internal business forum. When i went back to work, on the 13th Feb, i was suspending pending investigation and subsequently dismissed and appealed etc.. Also I was dismissed for an alleged first offence, + could i quote "•Article 10, (freedom of expression)" because the alleged confidential material was already common/public knowledge. Also got these point here which may help me, but unsure of the ebst way of putting all this across. 5. Had the employee done this before ? 6. Did the employer consider warnings, were these used in the past ? 7. Did the employer consider the overall performance of the employee, for example did the employee previously have a long record of good work and behaviour ? 8. Could the employer have disciplined the employee instead of dismissing them ?

I have been working for my employer, a supermarket for nearly 2 years. In the summer, our store had self scan tills installed. During the training, a person outside the company did it and showed all the screens. On the reused bags screen, a colleague asked on the lines of 'Whats there to stop you from entering the maximum number of bags everytime you use it?' The trainer laughed and said 'How much is few points extra to (supermarket). I work on the checkouts. On Saturday, I clocked in as per usual and reported to the supervisor station at the checkouts. Line Manager was there and asked me to go the Managers Office. In the office, I was told by the deputy store manager that out of the 40 times I have used the ss tills since they became live, I have inputted the maximum number of bags 22 times. He had print outs of my loyalty card transactions from the past 4 months. I was in a state of shock and was then forced to write down names of colleagues that were doing this as well as I commented that others were doing it. I was in shock and put names down which I couldn't acknowledge if they done it and put ? by those names. I was then suspended on full pay til further notice The thing is I have seen customers doing this as well. As an employee, I have been caught as I swipe my discount card after swiping my loyalty card. I reckon it happens across all stores and all those stores that reward extra points for reusing their own bags. I have my investigation on Thursday - won't get an outcome on that day. I feel bad, angry and ask why was I the one being caught. As part of the suspension rules, I am not allowed to talk to colleagues and visit the store. A few hours of me being suspended, I met up with the union rep - who works on checkouts at a pub carpark, 150 yards from work. Guess who walks past us? My favourite colleague who is such a dear friend to me. She asked what was I doing in my civvies with (UR's name) when I was at work. I said, 'I can't talk'. Her face sank. It was the most painful thing I have seen unrelated to illness and grieving for a love in anyone's face. It breaks my heart being unable to tell her or see her during the process. It looked like her heart was breaking too. At times of need and help, I am unable to get it! I am so worried that I will get dismissed. I will tell the deputy manager that I am regretting my actions, am ashamed and apologise. The thing is I did notice when I visited another store today. The manned tills' keypad has 123 as the top line of numbers. The ss tills top row is 789. I normally use 3 bags (as I walk home) and I just pressed the top right hand number on the bags reused without looking at the screen. I cannot justify this as a reason for all transactions - especially those that are just a few quid! Ok for £15. I am dyslexic and recently had an eye op where I had 2 weeks off sick. One of the problems with my eye condition pre and post op is that I experience bad glare. The angle of the ss screens along with the lights above them make them difficult to read at various angles, depending on which ss till I use. I don't have an issue working on manned tills as I can adjust the height and tilt of the screen. The ss tills are fixed. I did post a thread on another website forum and many posters kept mentioning my dyslexia and eye condition are just excuses. Work will not tell my colleagues why I'm not at work. They will say I am sick. I don't phone in sick willy nilly and this will raise suspicions This is really getting me down. I am fed up, unable to discuss this with my parents as they would make matters worse, unable to talk to my colleagues and cannot relax. I have times where I just cry - I am not a crying person and want to keep my job.