any advice or help please x

[sarah6]

hi im not sure what can be done about my husbands situation so i will tell you all i can and hope for some good advice. thanks

 

he has been working for this company for the last 7 years without any problems or complaints against him until. last year. a colleague was sacked and took them to a tribunal. he ask dh to be witness for him and work asked dh to be witness for them. dh said no to both and didnt want to get involved as it was his friend and work a awkward place to be he knew both side had right and wrongs in there case. his friend accepted that he didnt want to get involved but work summoned him to court. he didnt go and wrote to the judge stating about the pressure that was being put on him ( a lot at the time in work and lots of nit picking about his work) and the case was rescheduled but work settled out of court so he didnt have to go anyway. during all this he took about 6 weeks off for stress and depression and was put on anti depressants by the doc. after this was all over with he returned to work hoping that with it over things would return to normal but they didn't. the supervisor land told him they were out to get him out and he had bean told to find things to do that with but he refused and left. he told dh this after he left. then the manager went on maternity leave for 6 months and things settled down again . but after her return the trouble has all started he has had 3 warnings now for the amount of sickness he has had. when unwell he will just take a day off to try not to lose time by having a week off and needing a sick note. the last warning was about 2 days in a row where he came home early after requesting to do so and being told that was ok . to then have a letter saying he was being disciplined for leaving without authorization. he is now on his final written warning so next time they can sack him. he has had the least amount of time off sick compared to the other workers who had not had anything said against them as has received disciplinary for things that others have got away with. he is now on the sick again through the stress and the doc advised to talk to his union, but he dont have one so suggested the citizen advice but i dont know what can be done. we have 5 children and a mortgage and if they end up sacking him ( like it seems they want to do ) it will effect his chances of finding another job.

so any advice would be appreciated thanks sarah xx

[papasmurf1cx]

Hi Sarah

 

This is very tough on him and indeed you all. I am sorry you are going through this. Why was the 'colleague' sacked? This may be relevant if the colleague took the employer to court for any form of discrimination. Is your husband still on the medication for his depression. When exactly did this illness start and how long has he been ill?

 

Sounds as if he should be putting in a grievance but he needs to define exactly what he needs to grieve about. I must say that he has become a victim of the previous complaint and I suggest you should all brace yourselves for a rough ride as the employer seems intent in taking their pound of flesh. You have to decide to flee or fight.

 

Is he in a union or do you have legal expenses cover, you may need it in the near future. Look in your home contents policy or similar they are usually there.

[sarah6]

hi the collewague was sacked for not following procedure and runing a business from the work place. they had sold scrap metal to the rag a bone man and he had added some of his own to works so they said he ran a business in selling his own scrap with theres. but like i said they settled out of court. im not sure the reasons for that. dh doesnt have a union and is not on antidepressents now he didnt like the effect they had on him and only took them for a few weeks he felt they were making him feel worse. im for fighting but i dont know what to do and if we have a fight. they are trying there best to get rid of him. well one particular manager is. while she was away for 6 months on maternity leave ther were no complaints made aobut dh but as soon as she came back it all started again.

[papasmurf1cx]

Apart from the grievance, I don't think there is anything you can do until the employer dismisses him and perhaps even then he may find that he has nothing to complain about. However I hope I have missed something and am wrong.

[SarEl]

I am afraid that I agree, and that even worse, I suspect that you may have an uphill battle on here when they do - and I suspect that it will be when and not if. If there is a managing sickness absence policy in place then "disciplinary action" can be taken under that policy - although they should have such a policy in place to do so. But what you are describing is typical of some employers - building up warnings instead of going to a biggy is cleverer, because it is the final issue that is the dismissal cause - and the one a tribunal will focus on. So what went before and how fair that may have been is almost unimportant, compared to what the dismissal cause is and the fact that he is already on a final warning. Raising a grievance at this stage is too late - not that that is an argument not to do it - but it will be very hard to show any concrete evidence of anything here, impossible to show that this is retribution for refusing to attend a tribunal, and can be validly challenged as "if this was happening whu not have complained at the time - or is it all an excuse to try to deflect from your own misconduct?" I am afraid that hindsight is a wonderful thing, but not a great deal of help, and possibly the worst thing he could have done was to write to the judge. He may as well have agreed to appear for his friend if he were going to do something like that. Admirable - but ultimately there is a reason why most staff see and hear nothing at all.