Potential Gross Misconduct. HELP.

[emilyjayne]

My partner is currently suspended from work due to apparent gross misconduct.

 

His letter of suspension says that he has seriously breached health and safety at work and bought the company name into disrepute.

 

To breach health and safety, he hooked his feet on a metal bar and hung upside down and had a photo taken of him and uploaded onto facebook, whilst wearing his work uniform.

 

However, his company name is no-where to be seen on the uniform - just looks like general hi-vis wear.

 

AND this occurred on his break which is classed as UNPAID and the employees OWN TIME.

 

What are the chances of him being dismissed?

If he is dismissed, what are the chances of taking this to tribunal?

 

Thanks.

[Feebee_71]

How long has he worked for the company?

Has he been subject to disciplinary action before?

Was he on company premises at the time? If so, was he in the work environment or staff break room?

Was the metal bar there for the purpose of people to hang off it or for some other purpose?

 

Feebee_71

[emilyjayne]

7 years in total.

Has a completely clean record, always 30 mins early for work everyday.

Not on company premises nor in any kind of staff room.

The metal bar had no purpose other than just guarding some bushes I would say.

 

Thanks.

[renegadeimp]

Well, i don't think he has much of a leg to stand on as its a very very silly thing to do. He could bring up his exemplary record, but c'mon. He grabbed a metal bar, and hung himself upside down from it. THen had his photo taken while in works uniform ( name of company doesnt matter if the uniform is recognisable and people know where he works), AND he had it uploaded to facebook.

 

Not to mention the very serious H+S issue.

 

 

The most he can do now is be very very apologetic about it and cross his fingers.

[emilyjayne]

He did not upload the photo to Facebook. Someone else did.

He has had his meeting to establish facts today, the manager said he was very grateful of my partners total honesty throughout.

 

Yes it was a silly thing to do. He does not have his company name on any kind of social networking site so whoever knows where he works is solely the people he works with.

 

The main thing we would like to know is whether it is gross misconduct as I said it looks just like general hi-vis wear, and he is technically off the clock.

[stu007]

Hi

 

I have to agree with renegadeimp very silly thing to do and it does not matter one bit about company logo not seen as has been said if the uniform is recogniseable and can identify the company.

 

be very apologetic about it will never happen again etc.

 

It also does not matter that they never uploaded the photo, especially if they are reccogniseable from that photo.

[emilyjayne]

Yes I understand that.

 

Do we have the argument that general hi-vis wear cannot be categorised to a certain company as there are no visible similarities as you can by hi-vis wear off the highstreet.

 

Could be just anyone doing it, for arguments sake.

 

Thanks

[renegadeimp]

Nope. No argument there sorry. The employer could simply state the person in the picture and his job, and that his friends knew who he was and where he worked. Thats all they need. Especially if it shows any part of company premises. They would have to issue at bare minimum a final warning as to anyone who saw it, it would seem that the employer let this kind of silly thing happen.

 

The "could be just anyone doing it" wouldnt work, and indeed it hasnt seen it was your partner that was caught, identified and is now up for GM.

 

As i said, all he can do now is be very very apologetic and hope that they dont dismiss him, which in cases like this, there is a very high percentage chance that they will.

 

 

Now, if the metal bar was outside of work at home or elsewhere, then the company would have no say at all in the matter. Except he was wearing his works uniform and he knew it was his works uniform. If he tries to say otherwise, and he is found to be lying, then its guaranteed that he will lose his job.

[emilyjayne]

Okay

Thank you.

 

Just have to hope for the best now.

[renegadeimp]

Fingers crossed for your partner. As i said before, don't lie to the employer and be very apologetic. The only thing you could bring up is his exemplary work record.