Being pushed out of job.

LegacyUser

Hi, I'm going to try to keep this vague to protect my identity.

I want to know if I have any rights in this situation. Any opinions/thoughts/advice is much appreciated.

I've been working in my current job for a little over 6 months. It's a boring, mind numbing job, but I like it. It's in sales, but I'm not a contractor or considered self employed, I'm employed by the boss and pay my taxes and whatnot. It's not a commission job, either.

For the past 3 months or so, the boss has been doing spot checks on me in work. Fine by me, because I don't do anything wrong anyway, and I have good sales and all of my regular customers love me. Thing is, he's accusing me of doing things I don't do! He's accusing me of using my phone constantly, for non work related calls/texts. He says he sees me on the CCTV from the centre I work in, which I know is a lie because security and the manager of the centre have all told me that he does not have access to it, it's only used for security purposes. I've offered him my phone, to go through all of my call and text logs, to prove I've only made/received work related calls during work hours, but he just told me to stop being defensive.

They provide the uniform, but only one item of clothing. If I work 7 days in a row (which happens at times), there's no way I can wear one thing for that whole time, so I wear something plain and covered up instead. All of the staff do this, but now I've been given out to over it! Nobody else, just me.

They don't give me bank holiday pay or time in lieu, and never have. I've worked every single bank holiday since I started, and have never received extra pay or a day off in lieu.

There is more to it, but I don't want to reveal anything further, for fear of identifying myself, but suffice to say I'm being treated badly, left short on time/money, accused of things I haven't done, etc.

Now, I've been told my colleague trained a new guy in yesterday. He's being trained for our shop. We don't need any new staff, as there are only three of us working there because we work mainly alone. None of the stores in the county need new staff, and training is always done in the store the person is being hired for. I'm usually the trainer.

It's looking like (from information I've heard from staff) I'm being replaced, with no notice.

Now, I know I'm entitled to a week's notice anyway, but is there nothing else I can do? I haven't done anything wrong, I make great sales, I always go over targets, the boss just hates me and I don't know why. Probably because I've called him out on the money he owes me.

Am I not entitled to warnings and such first? A disciplinary? Something? I'm cracking up, crying all evening since I got home from work. I don't know how I'm going to face working tomorrow. I'm only there six months, so I'm not sure if I'm entitled to any kind of fair procedure. Any advice?

Eoin

On the surface of it, it does sound like he is trying to manage you out.

Does your contract mention anything about a probationary period? Because if you're on probation, then there's no need to go through any sort of subterfuge to get you out the door - they can simply say that it's not working out.

Once they make sure that you're not let go on any discriminatory grounds (gender, age etc), then they're totally within their rights to do so without going through any formal disciplinary processes. That's the first thing I'd check. Unfortunately you don't have a huge amount of rights when you're there for less than a year.

solas111

Sorry to hear that you are having trouble like that. I don’t know how you would fight it but it may be worthwhile talking to a trade union and maybe becoming a member. You could also visit your local Citizen’s Information office who should be able to tell you what rights you have.

Keep a diary of everything that has happened, with dates, what was said etc. You may be able to take a case for harassment or unfair dismissal. Also, if it comes to the worst you could go to the next level of management, above your local boss and present them with your evidence.

Nobody has a right to treat you like this so dry up the tears and fight them. Don’t let anyone walk over you, no matter what title they may have.

LegacyUser

Eoin wrote: »

On the surface of it, it does sound like he is trying to manage you out.

Does your contract mention anything about a probationary period? Because if you're on probation, then there's no need to go through any sort of subterfuge to get you out the door - they can simply say that it's not working out.

Once they make sure that you're not let go on any discriminatory grounds (gender, age etc), then they're totally within their rights to do so without going through any formal disciplinary processes. That's the first thing I'd check. Unfortunately you don't have a huge amount of rights when you're there for less than a year.

I'm pretty sure I'm not being managed out on discriminatory grounds, although I have a suspicion as to why I'm being managed out (I won't say here, but I'm unsure if it falls under the seven hallmarks for discrimination, so I'll be speaking to Citizen's Advice about it). I never received a contract, or written terms of employment.

I was told verbally that I was on a 3 month probation, same as all of the other staff in all of his shops. My probation was then (again verbally) reduced to one month, as a result of how well I was doing.

tatli_lokma

As you are there less than a year, your recourse against dismissal is very limited.

All I can advise is that if you are given the push, try to ensure you get a decent reference - i.e that it looks like you left rather than were pushed.

Also, as you have no contract and are there over a month, and have been left short on wages on a few occasions, have not been paid for public holidays etc you have a number of areas where you can make a claim to NERA. At the very least it will result in an investigation. If the boss does decide to let you go, I wouldn't be behind the door about telling him that you will be contacting NERA and making them aware of all the above breaches. And don't be fooled, these are very serious breaches of basic employment law.