Supermarket Gross Misconduct/Dismissal?

[SparkyD]

Hi i hope someone could help or be able to give me some advice as i am lost.

 

My employment was terminated for Gross Misconduct & i shall try & explain as much as i can.

 

This is how it all happened

 

I was a 'teamleader' in training at the time of this happening, One busy saturday i was running the dept on my own 'Checkouts' A colleague had approched me & had asked me to change him some 20 pound notes into different nominations of 5's & 10 pound notes as it was a busy Saturday he thought he would come & ask me to change it up rather than have waited in a long queue being a teamleader in trainning in my store & how my store did things were that teamleaders could exchange money from 1 till to another without so much having a withness side by side watching you do the money exchange from tills. I had then took this colleague over to the kiosk counter where i new as its a saturday it will have money for me to do this exchange (as its a saturday we also would of had the lotto float in that till).

 

Now i changed over the money of which he gave me in 20 pound notes of 200 pounds into 10's & 5's notes. There was also another colleague who was there already in the kiosk signed in on her till so i used her draw to do this exchange during this exchange b4 i put the money into her draw i had asked her IF she would like to count the money to check it again she had said no so i put it in her draw i carried on working as normal.

 

This Saturday was not a normal Saturday trading busy as it was valintines day too.

 

Later on this very same day i was asked to go into the Managers offices where der was the Store Manager my dept Manager Admin Manager Duty Manager & Personnal Manager (in Training) They had ask me IF i would like a union rep into which i had said NO.

 

They then had told me why they have called me up n showed me these notes which i had exchanged they asked me if i thought anything was wrong with them i had said NO as @ the time i found nottting wrong with them, So they then showed me a CCTV clip of me counting the Money @ the kiosk & had ask me if that was me counting the money into which i agreeded.

 

They then turned around & told me that the notes i colllected in were fake so they were going to suspend me untill they investgate on the matter. On the Very same day at the same time they also had rang the police The police had then arrested me under 'theif in employee' The police had then asked my Dept Manager & Admin Manager to ascort me out of the buliding the shortest route instead both the managers gave me which they call 'the walk of shame' which means walked me around the whole store tru the checkouts area which was my dept so everyone could see i had been arrested.

 

The police interviewed me etc & let me out on bail while i was in d station they had also searched my house where they had found notting.

 

The police also had arrested this other colleague aswell as searched his house too as far as am aware.

 

EDIT The supermarket had then sent me a letter to invite me to a disciplinary which at first the first one got cancelled by them so they sent me another invite which then i went to but NOT sat in instead i just wrote a letter there & then to say am resigning & left the buliding, they had then sent a letter back saying that i signed up to a contract with them saying if i leave i have to give them a 4week notice so they accepted my letter from that day i went in & still re invited me back whilst the 4weeks notice was given.

I'd told them at this stage as i had a new job that i wont be coming in for the disciplinary & instead they could do it without my present.

 

which they did & sent me a letter back saying that they are terminnating my employment with effect on gross misconduct namely fraud.

 

NOW THIS IS WHERE AM LOST

 

While they had suspended me i was told that i would be getting FULL suspenion pay untill they have finished investgating the matter.

 

Now while i was suspened i had had my hoilday booked for the years 2007/2008 march - march is our hday period now these hoilday were always getting changed about due to short staff etc which i didnt mind.

so they were moved i was the last person on my dept 2 have booked hoildays which was meant to be in d month March 09 BUT because i got suspended Sainsburys sed that i wouldnt be getting the Hoilday pay while am suspended instead i will be getting my full pay for the days i was contracted.

 

Now i rang them up as i should of got paid into my account which the money for my normal suspension for the month as i did not get this wage into my account i had rang HR up asking WHY i havent got paid now the HR manager in Trainning said ' she doesnt Know why i havent got paid but she will Email pay roll & find out' so i had asked her if she could let me know how much i had got paid which she then said she check on the system she told me how much should of got paid in which was my basic contracted hours i had then asked her why my hoilday pay isnt been given she had said she NOT sure if i am intitled to it. She did NOT once apologize to me so say she sorry that i havent got paid after i had told her because this wage didnt go into my account my direct debits have been bouncing in my account which now because there were no funds & direct debits were bouncing i got to pay the bank fees for direct debit bouncing Something which isnt my fault.

 

Reguarding this paying in the bank problem she had then told me over the phone before Email payroll that my wage was sent out but it went into my old account Now i dont understand HOW it went into my old account seeing i had closed that account off last year gave them my new bank details which they had paid me in my new bank various amount of times.

 

sorry for the long essay its just i would like to explain it fully as someone may able to help me here

 

Just want to know IF i am intitled to my hoilday pay?

 

should this error of sending money into my old account never of happened?

 

& why it may of happen all of a sudden? (after they have got rid of me) I feel as if i have been miss treated & treated unfairly due to the reason of them dismissing me under gross misconduct.

 

Now up untill present am still out on bail n also in a new job as far as i have heard the colleague who had done this exchange with me has been given back his job. which i dont quite understand either.

 

So i have also asked EDIT the Supermarket to send me the full written report of the note taking they have of when they done the disciplinary without my presents which they said they will post out to me within 7 days.

 

Now am still out on bail by d police & have NOT as yet been Charged or convicited of anything. So i dont understand why EDIT the supermarket would put they terminated my employment for 'Gross Misconduct namly fraud' i DONT GET THE FRAUD part how am i a FRAUD IF i didnt NO the MONEY which i exchanged was FAKE in the 1st place.

 

I hope someone on this forums be able to take the time out & maybe give me advice on what to do personnally however i think they just taking the mick outa me as i no longger work for them.

Edited March 30, 2009 by elche
Please try not to mention specific company names. thanks

[omalleyr]

To resign from your role you must do so within the terms of your contract or by mutual consent. In this case that hasn't occurred and so the company are within their rights to continue with their disciplinary in your absence.

 

I am surprised that they found you guilty of Gross Misconduct on the basis of fraud and not simply dismiss you for the lesser charge of failing to turn up to work as this would be easier to prove; although in your disciplinary letter that details the outcome of their meeting you should have the option to appeal their decision.

 

You will need to look at your staff handbook to establish whether you are entitled to you holiday pay in the event of dismissal.

[SparkyD]

Thank you omalleyr so much for getting back to my post so soon.

 

i did have the option of appealing but i wasnt going to or planning on appealing aslong as i got my basic pay while i was suspended along with my hoilday pay.

 

i was due to get paid Friday just gone & the last appeal date was on Sat Just gone too that was the day i rang up to find out WHY my basic wage didnt go into the account.

 

i had also asked her in reguards to this 200 pounds what happens with it will they take it out of my wage or what the HR manager in trainning said IF i would of went to the disciplinary i would of known so i said to her just because i didnt go to the disciplinary they cant even answer me a simple question she didnt say anything so instead i requested for the notes that were taken by the note taker whilst they did do the disciplinary without my present.

[omalleyr]

By not going through the appeal process you lose a lot of rights as this in effect is accepting their decision.

 

Any monies owed prior to your dismissal should be paid in full although holiday pay may be seen as a company benefit (see your staff handbook) and therefore they may withhold the right to pay this. Most companies will usually pay holiday pay though so you should ask HR what their position on this is.

 

My advice is to put everything to them in writing (email is ok) so that you have written documentation. This will usually speed things up and any monies owed will be settled more quickly.

[weedalli]

I don't quite understand, first of all you say you resigned at a displinary meeting, which you didn't attend and then say the company got rid of you.

 

When you said you didn't get paid do you mean your wages while suspended or your holiday money? If you resigned, then you broke your contract with the company and I'm sure the don't have to pay you any monies outstanding, I stand corrected if I'm wrong.

 

However I would be more worried about being on police bail, this does not mean that you won't be charged with the offence. The police and the supermarket will be doing their own investigation, which is why you shouldn't have resigned as you were getting full pay. They could take this as an admission of guilt.

 

Soz Sparky am not trying to sound negative, but you should perhaps have stuck it out to prove your innocence.

[hammyhound]

Crikey, if someone accused me of stealing and I had been arrested, you bet your bottom dollar I would not let it lie.

 

I cant believe you were more worried about your pay.

 

You know that if convicted you will have a police record which might be awkward in finding future employment.

 

You should not have resigned and taken them all the way to an appeal. I fear that by resigning they will take it as you being guilty.

 

HH