Termination of contract?? dimissal?

[c_allen]

Ok I already know that this is in the wrong forum and I expect it will be moved soon, I've done this because I've been posting in the employment section, but recieved no help, ok i've recieved some advise regarding my health, but it's not really what I need right now.

 

Time to get to the point and I'll try to keep it short,,,,,

 

worked for company for just short of 11 months.

been sick 4 times, 5.5 days beofre this time. only half a day in last 6 months.

been off this time since 16/06, diagnosed with insomnia, vertigo, and possible skin cancer.

asked to go in for " meeting to discuss my continued employment" 03/07.

 

03/07

I go to " meeting" request shop steward, the 1 I request is on lates, told to have another shop steward, I say no because he has no experience, only been SS for 2 months, told I've no choise.

SS comes in, I request the meeting be postponed due to vertigo which makes me disorientated, effects my concentration and ability to think straight, also on the grounds that I have insomnia, make thinking straight impossible, understanding impossible, refused postponement because " this meeting is to find out how I am, when i'll be back to work, if I could do anyother jobs at work, until i'm fit again.

meeting goes ahead, soon becomes apparent that this IS to discuss my future,,

I say that I'm in no state to be having this discussion at this time because I don't understand what is going on. I'm told " don't worry as what I answer will have no effect on my future with the company" ( already decided it seems)

still not happpy, repeat this several times.

SS finally speaks " this diciplinary process is for people who are taking the pi**" manager agrees and says that my illness is obviously genuine.

 

04/07

 

recieve letter saying that my contract has been terminated effective from 03/07.

 

my main question is,,,,,, is this the same as dimissal, whats the diffrence if any? if not do they still have to follow company disiplinary procedures?

any help on any of this would be helpful, my appeal is 17/07.

 

 

thanx

 

link here ,,,,Disciplinary while under a doctor's note

Edited July 10, 2008 by c_allen
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[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Hi

I'm no expert but it does seem that you were treated unfairly, if no usful replies come forward then you could click on the red triangle and ask the site team to direct your post to members with HR experience.

 

Andy

[c_allen]

Heres a letter i'm thinking of sending in, any thoughts?

 

Dear Sir.

Thank you for your letter dated 9 July 2008.

In paragraph 4 of your letter, you make reference to my “undated and unsigned” letter. I must have made a mistake and gave my copy to Mr Y. I apologise for this error.

You also in paragraph 4 request me to provide documented evidence to support my claim that I am suffering from vertigo and insomnia, I have already provided documented evidence to support these claim by way of the medical sick notes already in your possession, however in the interest of complying with your request I have obtained further evidence in support of my illnesses at a cost of £10.00. I hope that as I had provided evidence already, I will be re-imbursed with this money.

In the same paragraph you also request more evidence of my skin cancer, the only evidence I have at this time is a letter confirming my admission to hospital on Monday 21 July 2008, could you please let me know as soon as possible if this is not enough evidence and I will contact the hospital to try to arrange more, I hope that this will be enough as I am reluctant to waste the hospitals time.

With reference to paragraph 5,

I completely accept that the original letter clearly stated the purpose of the meeting, my contention is that Mr X misrepresented the meeting as something else when I requested the meeting is postponed on health grounds.

I also accept that it is my responsibility to arrange representation, unfortunately I was not given sufficient notice to enable me to do so, minimum notice required, to the best of my knowledge, is 48 hours, I feel that given the nature of my illness even 48 hours would have been insufficient.

In your letter dated 3 July 2008, it was at no point stated that I would receive 2 weeks pay in lieu of notice, is it any wonder that I have spent the last 7 days believing that I had been dismissed for gross misconduct. This has added considerably to the amount of stress and frustration I have suffered.

In my statement of terms and conditions of employment, it clearly states that “in cases other than gross misconduct the Company is required to provide you with two weeks notice, in writing”. In your letter dated 9 July 2008, you say “ Please note that you have not been summarily dismissed and will be paid two weeks pay in lieu of notice as per your contract”. I feel that this has happened only as a reaction to my letter of the 7 July 2008. In support of this is the fact that I have not received this pay yet, 8 days after being dismissed. For a Company of the size of ***i, with the administrational resources available to you I find it odd that you would not be able to arrange the payment within that time.

Further to my previous letter received by you on Monday 07 July 2008, I wish to add further grounds for my appeal against the decision to dismiss me on the grounds of Gross Misconduct or any other grounds.

Having read your own “Timekeeping and Absence Control Procedure”, I have found the following;

PROCEDURE AND SCOPE

“The procedure is designed to help and encourage all hourly paid co-workers to achieve and maintain the company’s standards for timekeeping and attendance. The aim is to ensure consistent and fair treatment for all”.

SICKNESS ABSENSE

“It is recognised that co-worker will, from time to time, fall ill. In recognising that fact, the Company operates a generous sick pay scheme in support of co-workers genuinely ill”.

LONG TERM ILLNESS

“The Company considers absence in excess of three working weeks to be a long term illness”.

“After 3 weeks of absence a co-worker will be requested to attend a review meeting in the presence of the Company Medical Advisor”.

“Any person who shows a frequency or pattern of absence that gives cause for concern, for whatever reason, will be offered help, e.g. the referring of the co-worker to the Company Medical Advisor in order to identify an ongoing health problem etc”.

To be perfectly honest my record of sickness has shown neither “a frequency nor pattern” but I would expect to be allowed, under your own “Company Policy”, to be given at the very least this “help”.

I would also like to point out that I cannot be accused of “ abusing the company sick pay scheme” This is the first time I have received any sick pay whatsoever.

(At this point I feel I should point out that in my “statement of terms and conditions of employment” it clearly states that my probationary period is 6 months,).

I have served my “probationary period” therefore I should be treated no differently than any other permanent employee.

The same document says that disciplinary procedure may be invoked if:-

“A co-worker records 3 occasions of absence in a 26 week rolling period”.

There seems to be a special rule for me, in your letters you state that I have been absent on 4 occasions in a 10 month period, when by your own policy it should say, I have been absent on 2 occasion in a 6 month period.

As Mr X said in the meeting that my illness was “obviously genuine”, I fail to understand how the decision to dismiss me was reached. Mr X agreed that it was genuine, I only had 1 Period of sickness in a rolling 26 period, 2 if you include this “obviously genuine” period, my sickness was below the 4.5 threshold , then the disciplinary procedure should not have been invoked, surely.

Also to clarify part of my last letter,

The reason I believe the amount of time sick claimed I have had is wrong, is that the third period of sick was when I was sent home unfit for work, even if this is counted as sickness it is only half a day not a full day as claimed.

Another “day” that has been counted against me was the first day of this present period of sickness; I dispute this for the same reasons as above.

I have a problem with one more claimed sick day, and I feel very strongly that this is a deliberate attempt to twist the facts to make my record seem worse than it really is.

The day in question is Friday the 27th of June, how could this have been counted when we are on a four day week, and don’t work Fridays?

I have remembered something else about the “meeting” I attended on the 3rd July.

When it became apparent that the meeting was not as Mr X stated “concerning my health”, and I said that I would not answer any more questions as I felt I was not answering the questions as I would normally have, because of my ill health and lack of sleep for the past 5 or 6 weeks, Mr X said,

“The answers I gave would have nothing to do with any decision he made on my future with the Company”.

Yet in the letter dismissing me it says that,

“ following the meeting held on Thursday 3rd july at 9.00am, at which you were accompanied by Mr Z, your trade union representative. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss your future employment with the company”.

It is quite obvious that something is wrong with one of these statements. Had the decision to dismiss me already been made before I had been given the chance to defend myself? Or was that statement an attempt to mislead me into thinking the meeting was not about my future employment?

While I can understand that I will not be allowed to work while this matter is being investigated, I fail to understand why this, (considering the facts), decision has been allowed to stand.

The decision to dismiss me is based on incorrect and misleading information, the letter inviting me to the meeting made no mention of disciplinary action, what the consequences of the meeting could be, the process of this action has failed to follow the rules on disciplinary procedure, ignored Company policy, ignored relevant employment laws, ignored relevant HSE regulations, denied me my rights to fair representation, denied me my rights to a hearing at a time when I was fit and able to defend myself, I was forced, while unfit, into a disciplinary meeting which was falsely represented as “ a meeting concerning my health”, and I have been bullied and intimidated into answering questions I did not understand,

This whole business is very distressing for both myself and my partner, and is adding to the already huge amount of stress I have at the moment, due to the possible skin cancer.

We have a mortgage and bills to pay, We are also supposed to be going to Australia on the 30th of September, the remainder of the flight has to be paid for by the 15th of this month, I will have to cancel this “holiday of a lifetime” which I have been planning for 12 months, and so will my partner, I booked these holidays off work months ago.

While I am very disappointed with the treatment I have received, I still feel I have a lot to offer the company, and would be very happy if I am reinstated.

I also hope that my complaint against Mr X is being treated in accordance with company policy, My absence due to unavoidable illness has been treated as very harshly, and I have been dismissed, then I trust that Mr X is being judged using the same standards, we are after all co-workers, with equal rights, and therefore we should be treated in the exact same way.

 

Yours Faithfully