Possible unfair suspension

[solcot]

Hi all

 

Bit confusing this but hopefully it will all make sense....

 

I work for a warehousing company and had an accident on an item of MHE on Friday 14th September. I work nights and the incident happened towards the end of my shift Friday morning. I returned to work on the Sunday (work Sun-Thurs) and completed the paperwork. I was told by my supervisor that he had discussed it with the Ops manager and the Ops manager said no further action to be taken. Subsequently, the Contract Manager told another supervisor on another shift that no action was to be taken, before relaying the same message to my Supervisor and I continued to work as normal. On Tuesday 2nd October, I was told at the start of my shift that I was to be suspended for this incident. I received a letter this morning inviting me to attend an investigatory meeting this afternoon which I did. I now believe I may be dismissed for this incident. My questions to anyone that can help me are:

 

1) Can a company wait over 2 weeks to suspend me (bearing in mind the Ops manager was actually on site for the Sunday after the incident, and indeed for the rest of that week, did not know of the incident, and told me personally that there was no reason to suspend me or take further action as it was a genuine accident)

 

2) I was due to be suspended on the 1st October but was on annual leave. I have been made aware that the news of my suspension was discussed by numerous colleagues on the Monday and Tuesday before I found out myself Tuesday evening. I believe most, if not all, of the employees in the warehouse knew I was to be suspended before I did. Can I do anything about this?

 

3) I am under a final written warning for another accident (5 months to go), which I wholly believe was incorrectly given and my appeal was unsuccessful - my grounds were dismissed without being discussed and the meeting descended into a surreal discussion about parked cars!. However, there are numerous legal grounds for believing the warning should not have been upheld. Is there any grounds to have the original warning discarded from this investigation?

 

4) The company I work for is involved in 3rd Party Logistics and the customer has high volumes of work at month-ends and low volumes at the start of a month. Could I suggest/infer that the suspension has been timed to allow for me to work during the high-volume period (I am held in high-regard amongst the supervisors as someone who works hard and does numerous hours of overtime)

 

5) There is talk on site that my investigation is only being held now due to another accident on site last week and the HSE being involved due to the seriousness of it. Whilst almost impossible to prove, the timing seems coincidental at best

 

Any help would be most appreciated

[Emmzzi]

1. yes

2. no

3. no

4. if you like but it won;t make a bit of a difference

5. and?

 

You need to not get bogged down in other issues and focus on yourself.

 

If your prior appeal failed and you did not lodge an ET at the time - I am afraid that is tough, you cannot have the decision revised now.

 

I would concentrate on proving you were not at fault for THIS accident. That is all you can spend your effort on that will be worthwhile. Harsh, but I think accurate. if you want to talk a little more about the incident we may be able to help more.

[altobelli]

Are you still suspended? What was the reason given for the suspension, and for the fact that you were told previously that you were not going to suspended?

[solcot]

Thanks for the answers emmzzi

 

Altobelli - yes, still suspended. As mentioned in OP, was invited in for an Investigation meeting last Friday but not heard anything since then. The reason given for the suspension was "pending an investigation into an alleged accident". However, I was told verbally that the investigation was completed on the 16th September (2 days after the accident). Not sure it makes a difference but the letter I was given informing me of my suspension (dated 2nd October) states that I was "notified verbally on the 14th September" - this was the date of the accident and I was certainly not informed of any suspension (possible or otherwise!). Further, it was on the 16th that I was informed there would be no suspension so that part confuses me somewhat

 

I have an additional question - according to the letter, as I normally work nights, I must make myself available during normal office hours (which I have done) but on Friday, I will not be available as I'm away for the weekend and this was booked months ago. Also, I will not be in the country from Monday through to Wednesday (Friday is a rest day normally and the Monday-Wednesday is annual leave) and this was also booked some months ago. Am I allowed to rearrange any meeting or would it be deemed that I'm breaking the terms of my suspension by not being available. The letter of suspension states that being unavailable due to unauthorised leave is a disciplinary offence so bit confused about the Friday!

[Emmzzi]

it's authorised leave, isn't it? So I would just remind them.

 

(Actually I wouldn#t, I'd cancel and go in but then I am a worrier!)

[solcot]

The Monday-Wednesday is authorised leave. I'm more confused about the Friday one - is not being available on what is normally my rest day breaking the terms of the suspension whereby I have to be available during office hours?

 

I'm certain they're going to dismiss me anyway so not too fussed about cancelling just to find out for certain!

[Sidewinder]

Don't be so certain that you will be dismissed - if you are held in high regard, then it may be that your superiors are arguing about a way of keeping you in employment, although you might well have to accept retraining or an alternative sanction to dismissal.

 

Obviously I don't know about the circumstances of your accident, but I have seen a scenario which might have a relevant parallel. Many years ago we had an employee who had a 'misjudgement' in using a piece of equipment and he injured himself quite severely. He too was on a warning for a previous 'misjudgement' which did not involve an injury, but a fairly significant inconvenience to the business, but was a genuinely hard worker and was very well though of. No action was taken over the injury incident until HSE pointed out to us that the employee was entirely at fault - risk assessments were in place to cover the activity and he had not complied with clear instructions in using the equipment (for which he had received proper training). On the strength of that he was disciplined, and already being on a warning should have been dismissed but we opted for a lesser sanction in the light of previous good conduct. Basically we negotiated a very temporary demotion, retraining and then reinstatement to his original position after a nominal period.

 

I hope you keep your job, but the above tale may explain some of the questions that you have. It is possible that they are having to be SEEN to be acting to correct behaviour which led to a potentially damaging incident (and which resulted in your injury). There is no such thing as a genuine 'accident' - there is always a causal factor which could have prevented it irrespective of blame, and this may have only become apparent when an investigation took place - quite probably being prompted (quite legitimately) by HSE recommendations.

 

Agree with Emmzi on the other points. Unjust perhaps, but not unlawful, and little that you can do. Stress your remorse where appropriate, accept guidance, training, bending over for a caning as applicable and things might not be as black as you think. If you are not generally a troublemaker, work hard and don't usually create problems for them, then so long as they can have confidence that you won't be in this position again any time soon, then it may be of more benefit to keep you there.

[altobelli]

Hi, I agree with emmzzi's and Sidewinder's last posts. However, I would also put in writing the fact that you received no notification on 14th September that you would be suspended and were told on 16th September that you wouldn't be suspended, with as much specific detail as possible. You may need to refer to this at a later date, and it looks as if the employer is trying to re-write history and this needs to be corrected. It would be better if the suspension is lifted if it is uneccesary and you were able to return to work.