constructive dismissal

Our man in Havana

Do you have to be working at a place for any length of time before you can sue for constructive dismissal?

Heres what happened.

My close friend and brother in law was killed in a car crash 2 weeks ago. I was on a day off when it happened. Naturally I was devasted and I had to identify his body which was too much for me.

The doctor signed me out sick and I rang boss with news (not impressed). Doctor said I was suffering from stress and was fit to resume on thursday last.

On Wednesday boss rang and said that I couldnt go back to work even through I was fit. Today I was due to work the night shift and boss rang to say that it would be best if I didnt work at the present site because I would have to deal with people and a less stressful site would be more fitting. He was afraid that I was mentally unsound.

Problem is that new site is 15 miles further and is 16 hour shifts with 2 hours to travel there and back is no good. I told him that i couldnt work these hours (which I think are Illeagal) and I was too far to drive. I gave him an alutumation (sic) to give me my old job back or I quit. No go so I quit.

Do I have a case?

Serbian

Hey,

Firstly, sorry to hear about your loss.

Secondly, your boss may have had genuine concerns about your mental state, and he may have thought that it was best to move you, but my gut reaction when I read your post is that you quit and were not in fact dismissed. However, you didn't have a choice in the situation, and your boss wouldn't let you work in the place that you had been working in for the past while, so essentially it was spend 20 hours working / travelling or don't work at all. Essentially it was dismissal then.

The part I'm not really sure about is, if the employer does in fact fear for your state of health, can he justly prevent you from working? Or in other words, is it his legal responsibility to prevent you from working if he feels it would be in detrement to your health and possibly others? I think this is the question that needs answering. The fact that you had a doctors cert stating you fit for the job works greatly in your favour.

I think the best option right now would be to seek legal advice. Most places do a free consultation over the phone, and probably in person too. If you do a search on google.ie you can find a bunch of law firms.

Hope it all works out.

Serb

RicardoSmith

Citizens advice bureau is free and will point you in the right direction.

The Brigadier

These hours you were asked to work, what were they? Why do you think they were illegal?? I assume that, seeing as you drive you are not a juvenile. Under the Working Time Act the only possibility I can think of is if the hours asked involved you working shifts back to back without rest period of at least 8 hours.

Otherwise you would have a very poor case for constructive dismissal. If this was a once off case, you have been asked to move to less stressfull location to protect you after a very stressfull situation. A court will look on your employer very favourably in this case, unless there is a history behind this you are not telling us..

Our man in Havana

Talked to a lawyer and said I have due to the circumstances i have an excellent case. There is a separate legal action being taken for under payment of wages which is quite a lot of money considering my length of service.


Note to mod: As the matter is sub judice please lock this thread.

pebble

Since this is no longer an advice matter, and is now a legal matter I will close the thread.