Hi all,
The company I work for is a well known retailer, which is in partnership with another well known retailer. I am paid and employed by one but my job is in based store of the other, Hope that makes sense.
I recently requested and took 2 weeks holiday which I had changed from my original holiday request, I had the request authorised by my line manager. Now the rules are that when we take holidays we need to arrange our own cover for our store. As I am the only employee in my store we need to get cover from other stores, which I did do.
When I the colleague from the other store if she was available to cover me on the dates in question she told it shouldn't be a problem (she was helping at my store when I asked her). I tried to call her the week before leave but I couldn't get through and I assumed she was still covering.
On my return from holiday I had a visit from HR telling me they were investigating me and took me into the office. the investigation was for going on holiday without having cover for my store. The girl I had asked told them she had told me she couldn't do it as she was on holiday herself, this is untrue as she at no point told me she couldn't do it. Anyway the outcome of the investigation was decided there and then & i was told it was being took to a disciplinary level.
Now as for my representation to the meeting, I had chosen someone from the store I work in as I do not have regular contact with colleagues from other stores, so I assumed the staff from my store were classed as my colleagues. I have been notified by my line manager that the colleague I have chosen cannot represent me as they are not from the same company.
Were do I stand with this please, any help you can give me would be much appreciated.
x M x