Are They Allowed to Hold a Disciplinary Hearing

[iwgunter]

Hi

 

I sent a text message to a work phone number by mistake instead of someones mobile number and she received it, anyway, one of the bosses found out, I don't know why and now they're holding a Disciplinary Hearing against me for sending it.

 

I was on a tea-break at the time so they can't say I was supposed to be working. It was a bit of rude office banter.

 

I'm not worried about losing my job as I don't think it will go anywhere near that far, just don't want to have a written warning on my record.

 

 

Any help?

Ian

[godpikachu]

unfortunatley they can discipline you for this, as it would be classed as a misuse of company equipment.

 

itd be the same if you sent a rude email to someones work email by accident when at home.

 

Also, depending on the content of the text, they could bring it up as misconduct on the grounds of indecency etc.

 

Basically, id just apologise profusley and promise it will never happen again, i dont think theyll sack you for it, but you never know these days.If they do let you off, and if it makes you or them feel better about it, remove the mobile number from your phone in front of them, unless of course its critical that you have it.

[p_cas]

I think it would depend somewhat on what you mean by 'rude office banter'.

 

Is it something that someone might find offensive or just gossip?

[ErikaPNP]

This reminds me of the email my other half meant to send to me (we work together) and sent it to his manager instead!

 

Thankfully she thought it was hilarious, and his punishment was to be wound up about it. (embarassingly). It was a harmless email, not sexual or owt. If it had been, my other half would have probably been severally dealt with as our office is rather strict about the policy on electronic communication, and even though it was harmless, we were still a bit shocked that they chose not to take it any further.

 

But it would depend entirely on the content of the message you sent. If it could be viewed as libellious, offensive, or could compromise the company in any way by whom you were meant to send it to, then they can hold a disciplinary about it.

[iwgunter]

I sent an email to the person I sent it to saying I was sorry and didn't mean offense - I meant to send it to her mobile!

 

Anyway I got a reply from her saying she wasn't offended by it.

 

I spoke to our HR lady and she's my representative in the hearing, she can't beleive the pettiness of it all. Anyway, our boss is now very annoyed that we've discussed this during work time. Surely we're allowed to as it's a work matter.

[xuntitledx]

I spoke to our HR lady and she's my representative in the hearing, she can't beleive the pettiness of it all. Anyway, our boss is now very annoyed that we've discussed this during work time. Surely we're allowed to as it's a work matter.

 

Please refer to below response.

Edited February 13, 2009 by xuntitledx
Incorrect info

[patdavies]

You have to be careful with this and it would depend on your companies disciplinary and dismissal policy but it's usually not okay to discuss the issues when they are due for investigation or a meeting but you can easily double check this by speaking to HR.

 

Doesn't depend on anything of the sort. Of course you can discuss the matter with the person accompanying you to any hearing.

[xuntitledx]

Doesn't depend on anything of the sort. Of course you can discuss the matter with the person accompanying you to any hearing.

 

Beg your pardon - I mis-read it that the OP was discussing this with other people at work, not his HR rep. I'll edit my comment so not to mislead...!

[iwgunter]

Well I had the meeting today and I got a Written Warning with 2 counts on it

 

1. Sexual harassment to another member of staff.
   
2. Wasting company time and therefore not being focused on the job/workload.
   

It will be kept on my file for 1 year!

 

I have come up with the following letter of appeal in response.

I am writing to appeal against my written warning on the Sexual Harassment part. I have read into the definition of Harassment and Sexual Harassment in the workplace and it doesn’t seem to cover this incident.

 

 

"Harassment and Sexual Harassment

5. In the 1975 Act, after section 4 (discrimination by way of victimisation), insert—

 

Harassment, including sexual harassment

(1) For the purposes of this Act, a person subjects a woman to harassment if—

(a) on the ground of her sex, he engages in unwanted conduct that has the purpose or effect—

(i) of violating her dignity, or

(ii) of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her,

(b) he engages in any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect—

(i) of violating her dignity, or

(ii) of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her, or

© on the ground of her rejection of or submission to unwanted conduct of a kind mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b), he treats her less favourably than he would treat her had she not rejected, or submitted to, the conduct."

 

Quote The Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005

 

 

 

Sub-section 1(a) and 1(b) both read that it should only be classed as Sexual Harassment if I have engaged in “unwanted” conduct (verbal, non-verbal or physical). At no time has Sam ever said to me not to say things like that to her or when she is around, and I have an email from her stating that no offense was taken by it.

In light of this, I would appreciate it if you would remove the “Sexual harassment ot another member of staff” part from my written warning.

Does something like this sound okay?

[godpikachu]

was it the person you sent the text to that made the complaint?, also, what was the actual content of the message (pm it to me if you dont want to put it on here for public viewing)

 

 

also, what do they mean by "wasting company time", didnt you send the text on your own time? (ie, not in work), if so, then it is not wasting company time as when you sent it you were not on work premises or on works time.

[iwgunter]

The person I sent it to has not complained at all.

 

The message was in response to a picture of a chicken and I wrote "You love the C**k"

 

Wasting Company Time is because I showed a colleage, who also got a verbal warning for laughing and joining in with the "sexual harassment"

 

It's a bit of a joke in the office!

[godpikachu]

The person I sent it to has not complained at all.

 

The message was in response to a picture of a chicken and I wrote "You love the C**k"

 

Wasting Company Time is because I showed a colleage, who also got a verbal warning for laughing and joining in with the "sexual harassment"

 

It's a bit of a joke in the office!

 

 

So, being as the person who it was sent to hasnt complained, who has?, you have a right to know your accuser.

 

Secondly, as no one in the office is offended by it, then a claim of "sexual harassment" is not justified, as for "wasting company time", does this mean you are not allowed to talk to your collegues during work hours?.

ok, so you showed them a rude joke and they laughed at it, but how does this constitute them joining in with this sexual harassment?, were they sexually harassing you?, did they immediatly go over to the woman you sent it to and begin harassing them?.

 

Seems to me like this is just a knee jerk reaction to what is basically just a bit of light hearted office banter, the ONLY thing they can really complain about is the misuse of company property.

 

Get it appealed against!.

[iwgunter]

The person who compained is someone in the sales team who asked is what we were laughing at. It went to my boss who complained to the top bosses about it.

 

After I found out it had gone higher, I emailed the woman involved appologising and she replied saying no offend was taken!

 

The whole thing makes me want to find somewhere else to work. Only 4 months till I have my 2 years with them