Possibility of loosing job

Kicja · 13-02-2011 4:00pm #1

i've been working for a company for almost 3 years. never had any warnings. always did great job, was employee of the month numerous amount of times. now im in trouble and might get sacked on Monday (without any previous warnings) over the tiniest thing ever. which i don't even think is important compearing to other stuff that happens in work. i was told that im gonna get an email about the meeting that is going to take place on monday or tuesday as my HR and General manager deciding what to do with me. my concecerned that im gonna loose my job.all my coworkers are in shock that im in trouble over such a small thing. im never late or absent, never had any warnings. Can i legally be sacked? can you please advise coz im really worried!Thanks

Captain Commie · 13-02-2011 4:03pm

First off, cant give any legal advice on it, but what was the issue? cant really give you any advice at all if we dont know what you did. What you think is minor and what the powers that be think about it can be completely different things entirely.

Shield · 13-02-2011 4:05pm

Does your company have a policy for disciplinary procedure? If so, you have a right to be treated in accordance with such policy, depending on the nature of the incident of course.

Kicja · 13-02-2011 4:11pm

innovated wrote: »

First off, cant give any legal advice on it, but what was the issue? cant really give you any advice at all if we dont know what you did. What you think is minor and what the powers that be think about it can be completely different things entirely.

they are accusing me and few more people of dropping few calls (i work in a call centre) while i was trying to contact customers. i cant deny it but i cnt agree with it either as it wasnt done specially. it can happen to anybody who make a lot of alls a day. they are saying that its very serious and they have to make a decision what to do with me. they overrated the whole thing and made it out to be such a big deal. thay told me we r going to have a meeting on tuesday or so regarding this. they worse thing is that i cnt even prove them i didnt do it specially as all facts are against me.:mad:

Kicja · 13-02-2011 4:14pm

psni wrote: »

Does your company have a policy for disciplinary procedure? If so, you have a right to be treated in accordance with such policy, depending on the nature of the incident of course.

yes they do. but i remember they used to let go people on the spot before, without giving them any previous warnings. my supervisor said that its so serious that i might loose my job. i think it is unfair dismissal as i never had any warnings. my contract states that i have to get verbal, written and final..but they procedure is rarely being followed.

Captain Commie · 13-02-2011 4:33pm

Kicja wrote: »

yes they do. but i remember they used to let go people on the spot before, without giving them any previous warnings. my supervisor said that its so serious that i might loose my job. i think it is unfair dismissal as i never had any warnings. my contract states that i have to get verbal, written and final..but they procedure is rarely being followed.

I have worked in call centres before, and this is classed as gross misconduct in most that i have worked in.

You were caught playing the system and messing about, time to stand up and take it. They have every right to let you go over this

Kicja · 13-02-2011 4:37pm

i wasn't messing around.it was done unintentionally. in the beginning i couldnt even understand what they were talking about. they have nothing else on me. i was always a good employee. just think its very unfair.:(

Shield · 13-02-2011 4:48pm

How many times was it done unintentionally and over a period of how long?

HooterSnout · 13-02-2011 5:03pm

The only thing you did wrong was get caught unfortunately.

Kicja · 13-02-2011 5:04pm

psni wrote: »

How many times was it done unintentionally and over a period of how long?

well they said that it happened on 6 calls that i made in 1 day. i do a lot of calls. they sed it looks bad and i might loose my job over this, they are still deciding what to do with me.

Shield · 13-02-2011 5:13pm

6 calls in one day! Seeing that you never had any warnings and are with the company for 3 years, why not suggest that your phone developed a fault? Highlight the fact that you have been employee of the month a few times and that you'd never do such a thing, and that your track record speaks for itself.

Unless they can prove the release button on the phone wasn't acting up, your 3 years of hassle-free service should be taken into account, and you should be given the benefit of the doubt. Ask them to change your phone too!

Kicja · 13-02-2011 5:26pm

psni wrote: »

6 calls in one day! Seeing that you never had any warnings and are with the company for 3 years, why not suggest that your phone developed a fault? Highlight the fact that you have been employee of the month a few times and that you'd never do such a thing, and that your track record speaks for itself.

Unless they can prove the release button on the phone wasn't acting up, your 3 years of hassle-free service should be taken into account, and you should be given the benefit of the doubt. Ask them to change your phone too!

that would be a good idea. but we all have same phone in our computers. so i have no excuse there. its very unfair to get sacked after 3 years of excellent performance and after being awarded top performer many times.

Shield · 13-02-2011 5:32pm

Do you mean you don't have an actual telephone on your desk?

Kicja · 13-02-2011 5:35pm

psni wrote: »

Do you mean you don't have an actual telephone on your desk?

we use voip which is program that is installed in our computers.

Shield · 13-02-2011 5:40pm

Then why not say that one of the keys on your keyboard must have become stuck at various times throughout the day, using all the reasons I gave you. Remember, it's up to them to prove you did it.

Who's to say someone didn't spill coffee or a fizzy drink into the keyboard causing a few keys to temporarily stick while it dried out?

Kicja · 13-02-2011 5:48pm

psni wrote: »

Then why not say that one of the keys on your keyboard must have become stuck at various times throughout the day, using all the reasons I gave you. Remember, it's up to them to prove you did it.

Who's to say someone didn't spill coffee or a fizzy drink into the keyboard causing a few keys to temporarily stick while it dried out?

not sure that will buy that. im just worried if i do get sacked. how do i go about getting another job?can i still get good references from my current employer?can i tell that i did get sacked?its so stressfull and really unfair as i consider myself very good worker.:(

HooterSnout · 13-02-2011 5:48pm

I agree. Don't admit to anything, that's my motto. Unless they have video proof of your finger moving the mouse pointer onto "end call" or whatever and clicking it, then it could be down to a load of reasons that aren't your fault. Just because you all have the same Voip software doesn't mean that one didn't develop a fault. This is quite a common occurrence.

Stress the point that you have a perfect track record etc. I'm in a similar job and if it was me I'd go overboard, accuse them of bullying me, discriminating against me. I'd refuse to leave and if it came to it I'd have no problem handcuffing myself to the desk and working away haha.

Kicja · 13-02-2011 5:54pm

HooterSnout wrote: »

I agree. Don't admit to anything, that's my motto. Unless they have video proof of your finger moving the mouse pointer onto "end call" or whatever and clicking it, then it could be down to a load of reasons that aren't your fault. Just because you all have the same Voip software doesn't mean that one didn't develop a fault. This is quite a common occurrence.

Stress the point that you have a perfect track record etc. I'm in a similar job and if it was me I'd go overboard, accuse them of bullying me, discriminating against me. I'd refuse to leave and if it came to it I'd have no problem handcuffing myself to the desk and working away haha.

haha..imagine that:))) that would be funny. they would probably ask me to evacuate their premises with the help of security:))
i hope they dnt.coz its so unfair. apparently its gross missconduct. im shocked that such a tiny thing considered as gross missconduct.

Shield · 13-02-2011 5:54pm

This will be my last post on this. Do what you will with it.

Admit to nothing. They need you to admit you did it for them to be in a comfortable position to sack you. Deny you did anything wrong, and suggest it was the software, the keyboard, a faulty mouse - ANYTHING to keep your job.

Highlight your past achievements, the fact you never had any past warnings, and the fact that you're there 3 years without any previous allegations of such serious misconduct. Suggest that if you were the type of person to cut people off, you would have done it before now, and you certainly wouldn't be so stupid as to do it 6 times in one day. You need to plant the seeds of doubt in their mind that there are other explanations for this, and back it up with your history with the company.

If you admit you did it, you're basically handing them your job on a plate.

Over to you.

HooterSnout · 13-02-2011 5:56pm

psni wrote: »

Admit to nothing. They need you to admit you did it for them to be in a comfortable position to sack you. Deny you did anything wrong, and suggest it was the software, the keyboard, a faulty mouse - ANYTHING to keep your job.

Imo this is the best advice to follow. Good luck tomorrow.

Kicja · 13-02-2011 5:59pm

psni wrote: »

This will be my last post on this. Do what you will with it.

Admit to nothing. They need you to admit you did it for them to be in a comfortable position to sack you. Deny you did anything wrong, and suggest it was the software, the keyboard, a faulty mouse - ANYTHING to keep your job.

Highlight your past achievements, the fact you never had any past warnings, and the fact that you're there 3 years without any previous allegations of such serious misconduct. Suggest that if you were the type of person to cut people off, you would have done it before now, and you certainly wouldn't be so stupid as to do it 6 times in one day. You need to plant the seeds of doubt in their mind that there are other explanations for this, and back it up with your history with the company.

If you admit you did it, you're basically handing them your job on a plate.

Over to you.

thanks for advise. ill try to do that. im not going to admit it coz i really didnt do it specially. ill defo mention my past achievements. hopefully everything goes well for me!

Kicja · 13-02-2011 6:01pm

thanks for your advise guys!:)

tenchi-fan · 13-02-2011 6:56pm

Oh god, reminds me of a callcentre I was in 5 years ago -not my last job, another very petty place where I was constantly accused of doing nonsense things that I had nothing to do with, by petty supervisors who just didn't like me - being treated like a child, even worse than when I was in school, just turned me into a messer and gave me a really us-vs-them attitude that can be common in callcentres.

I got in trouble over a supposedly racist remark during training. The question was "an alien arrives and asked how to use a device" and I asked what country the alien was from.

At the disciplinary I just hand on heart swore I honestly thought that's what they meant, given the large number of our customers who were foreign & the fact that there is no evidence that aliens exist. Oh, and i wasn't cool or calm, but I argued this point until they had no choice but to just edit the slide in future training

Just deny everything. Find out the keyboard shortcut for dropping a call. It it's something like ALT and X, tell them you are used to the shortcut CTRL and X for cut (as in, cut copy and paste).

Or blame a fault in the headset.. saying that it crackled really badly and you thought it was a problem with the line and hung up.

Lie your ass off. Callcentres just don't like having staff longer than 11 months and will keep staff as close to the door as possible through disciplinary proceedings.

Kicja · 13-02-2011 11:08pm

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Oh god, reminds me of a callcentre I was in 5 years ago -not my last job, another very petty place where I was constantly accused of doing nonsense things that I had nothing to do with, by petty supervisors who just didn't like me - being treated like a child, even worse than when I was in school, just turned me into a messer and gave me a really us-vs-them attitude that can be common in callcentres.

I got in trouble over a supposedly racist remark during training. The question was "an alien arrives and asked how to use a device" and I asked what country the alien was from.

At the disciplinary I just hand on heart swore I honestly thought that's what they meant, given the large number of our customers who were foreign & the fact that there is no evidence that aliens exist. Oh, and i wasn't cool or calm, but I argued this point until they had no choice but to just edit the slide in future training

Just deny everything. Find out the keyboard shortcut for dropping a call. It it's something like ALT and X, tell them you are used to the shortcut CTRL and X for cut (as in, cut copy and paste).

Or blame a fault in the headset.. saying that it crackled really badly and you thought it was a problem with the line and hung up.

Lie your ass off. Callcentres just don't like having staff longer than 11 months and will keep staff as close to the door as possible through disciplinary proceedings.

not sure how the keyboard thing will work as we usually use mouse for it.and they have recordings. but sure i didnt do anything wrong specially so im in no wrong there! just have to wait and see. im not going to admit to anything as i dnt consider myself of being guilty at all. i know that thye pay less to our new started (something like 5,000 less a year) so maybe thats one of the reason they r trying to get rid of old employees. just gonna have to wait and see whats gonna be the outcome of all this!

stevejr · 14-02-2011 7:32pm

Hi OP how did things go today?

HooterSnout · 14-02-2011 7:38pm

Hopefully not drowning their sorrows down the pub.

LifesgoodwithLG · 18-02-2011 2:53pm

Heah there OP,

I have worked in Call Centres for years. I think that you are underestimating what has happened, from a Company's perspective 6 customers called and the call was terminated. In general that means that someone is hanging up on customers which is really really poor performance. You don't seem to be denying what has happened only focusing on your historical ourstanding performance.

Now from your perspective you are unlikely to get sacked over it however be warned that your performance will be closely monitored to avoid any repeats. I wouldn't be holding out for the Employee of the month for a while.

Love the boss:pac:

Possibility of loosing job

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