Good Evening one and all. I have to start off from the top. A few days ago in a huge moment of what I can only describe as a mindless act, I stole from my workplace. Or at least I attempted to. I was promptly caught and asked to come back in. This is the biggest single regret of my entire life. I had worked for the company for nearly 4 years and to decide to throw it all away for this is unfathomable. Today i was invited to a investigation, which lasted for about an hour. After this was completed I was then informed after admitting my guilt, and offering no reason as to why I did it. I was informed I will be invited back for a disciplinary hearing - which I am 99% sure will lead to me losing my job, this I have come to accept. However, my question is not about losing my job, it is about what to do next. I have written an immediate resignation which i intend to deliver to the store, this would be against the 4 week notice period so I would lose that right for pay and my holiday accrued. I am under the impression though that the 20+ days I have already worked since the last payroll cut off and also the paid suspension will be honored and I should receive them. I understand as well my employer has the right to deny my notice, and carry on with the investigation in my absence, this may result in dismissal and then the notice period / holiday pay is ok again? The last bit of my query is I am fully aware this will affect my references in the future - I will not give the name of the manager or hr department for example when giving referees. I partially understand that if asked in the future, if they decided to dismiss under proceedings of the disciplinary when asked for a reference they can put "resigned under investigation" or words to that effect? Please could anyone at all shed any light on this? Thank you in advance.

Hi, I have an employee at the moment which I have no idea how to treat. TO keep the story short: 1) He was put on a shift he didnt like (pre CHristmas so not holiday related,no bereavements and no pregnancies). I confirmed that he just, in his words 'didnt want to work those hours'. 2) Despite the contract clearly stating that he is an on-call officer between the hours of 22:00 and 06:00 mon-fri on his third off period. COntract was signed and was fine for about a year, no issues before. 3) Recently, I've had nothing but FU's and profanity thrown at me because of this. He isn't unique, all other engineers get similar shifts and I have put this on paper to show him. 4) He decided to sit out, and say I refuse to; ll the other engineers call him Kenny the Krepid (As he's always sick or off), and now this is the ultimate. I'm at my tethers end. What can I do? Cheers A

My wife has worked for the past ten years at an accounting partnership in the billing department. Her job is to bill work done by the fee earning partners. The basic outline of the process is as follows 1. The accountant completes the work for the client and advises the secretarial team that the work has completed, what the work was and what the fee should be via a form 2. The secretarial team collate all the necessary paperwork and submit it to the accounts department 3. The accounts department bill the client, chase any outstanding bills, then pay the accountant the billed fee minus a 15% cut to cover the admin costs There is a three month contractual deadline starting at the completion of the work, after which the fees, if not billed, will no longer be payable . It can be seen from the above that there are 3 people involved in the billing process, each of which has to complete their work in a timely manner to ensure that the fees can be billed. There have been a number of problems over the years where the process hasn’t completed in time and fees have been lost. The causes of this are many and varied but include the secretaries not submitting the paperwork to the accounts room, the secretaries not updating the work flow system that the work packet is complete (which would alert the accounts department to the start of the three month countdown) and various problems within the accounts department itself. Historically, attempts to resolve the out of time bills have been undertaken by the Admin Director because the two people in the accounts department were already hard pressed to process the volume of non-contentious bills. Various attempts were also made to implement systems that would prevent the three month deadline being missed in future. These were met with varying degrees of success but systemic problems remained. There are therefore two elements to the problem: A systemic problem that allows work packets to go unbilled and a managerial problem of what to do with the those work packets that miss the deadline A year ago the partnership merged with another partnership. In addition to the upheaval associated with any merger, the post of Admin Director was made redundant and the incumbent post holder left. The responsibilities of the Admin Director were absorbed into a newly created role of Chief Finance and Administration officer. The merger resulted in the number of accountants increasing from 40 to 110. There was no corresponding increase in the number of people in the accounts department. A few months after the merger, my wife’s colleague left leaving my wife to process all the bills herself. At this point she started working 12 – 14 hour days to get through the work load. Several months after that two more people were recruited to work in the accounts room followed by a third person to handle the admin (photocopying etc.). However, my wife is still having to work 12 -14 hour days to get through the work load because, of the two new recruits, one is incompetent and is now only allowed to bill the most simple situations and the other is lazy. My wife has raised the laziness with their mutual boss the Chief Finance and Administration officer, who has agreed that there were concerns as to his performance . Out of the blue my wife received a letter advising her that she was being investigated for gross misconduct because there were 150 bills that had passed the three month deadline. She wasn’t advised who had made the allegation nor what the specifics of it were. At the investigative meeting the investigator was extremely aggressive and refused to listen to my wife’s attempts to explain the process but instead repeatedly referred to her job description and said that she was responsible and it was therefore all her fault. She handed a statement and a large amount of documentary evidence in support of her case to the investigator. This documentation included the job description for the Chief Finance and Administration officer, which makes clear that it is this person that is ultimately responsible for all billing. In return she got the work flow system references for the 150 unbilled work packets The report of the investigation has now been completed and the investigator has decided to recommend that she face a disciplinary hearing for gross misconduct. He has concluded that it is my wife and my wife alone that is entirely responsible for the 150 bills not being done in time and has ignored both the written statement that she supplied and all the evidence that supported it. The tone of the report is extremely nasty and, I presume in an attempt to justify a gross misconduct charge, makes a number of unsubstantiated slurs as to my wife’s integrity and ability to do the job. My wife has done some analysis of the 150 work packets and discovered that less than half are unbilled. The remainder are a combination of either billed and paid or closed in preference for another work packet under which all the clients concurrent work was billed (so as to produce one big invoice rather than a number of small invoices). Of those that are unbilled, most are stuck in the secretarial department but, for reasons too complex to go into here, all will be paid. I have never been involved in anything like this and, although learning fairly quickly would appreciate some tactical advice as to how to defend this. My initial thought was to raise a grievance against the investigator for bias and failing to investigate properly but I suspect that this may be better saved for the tribunal that appears to be the inevitable result of all this: My feeling is that, post-merger, my wife’s face no longer fits and she is being forced out with the disciplinary process being used as a cover. This is ironic really because if they had made her a generous offer to go quietly I’m sure she would have accepted. I’d appreciate any help or advice that anyone is able to give here, particularly anyone with experience and a view on tactics. Its unclear where all of this is coming from, although the investigation was instigated by the Senior Partner but we don't know whether it was of his own volition or in response to a complaint or allegation. As we understand it, all staffing issues should be decided by the management committee and we would like to see the minutes of the meeting that decided to charge my wife with gross misconduct. If we ask for them are they obliged to disclose?

Some help would be appreciated in the following circumstances... I work in tech support call centre and have been charged with Gross Misconduct but due to my performance over the last 12 months my employer has chosen not to terminate my contract; I disagree with this being gross misconduct and while partly being my fault it is not all my fault. I shall outline the situation below. Business A calls for some configuration details to be added to their marketing program which I cannot find anywhere so I check with some body in the department who specialises in this side of the business who advises me it is actually Business B. I ask Business A if this is them and they decline although as we dont have account numbers we just go by business name there is lots of room for human error and mistaken identity from business to business... I went ahead and entered Business B's details into Business A's program thinking that it is all okay and no problems... 3 Months down the line Business B calls up saying that all of these clients are receiving marketing material but they dont know who they are I escalated Business B's issue the first day it was highlighted all the way up the 2nd line support then 3rd line support etc... so that was out of my hands I did not even know that both cases were related. 4th month down the line both business A and B are aware and now want to Sue my employer; my employer pins this all on me as gross misconduct and I must sign this later this week should i? I dont think this is gross misconduct as it is an accident and just mistaken identity along with checking with another member of staff, my employer says i should have challenged the member of staff because in teh initial call Business A advised tehy were not business B. Around the time of initial call we had Business C change ownership to a very similar name to Business A. Can I get some advice on this? I am not so good with legal things and when I had my interview with the "Boss" i had nobody present nor was i asked for somebody to be present. At the end of the day They put me down as Gross misconduct i will probably have to sign this and confirm i was at fault but they will not fire me due to my performance over the last 12 motnhs and they know its a mistake. I dont really want this on my file; but apparently it will be destroyed in 6-12 months, i am afraid on Thursday they will tell everybody in the company about this naming myself also would this be slander? Please give me some advice I really need to know if it is worth taking legal action and leaving or just keeping my job ang getting on with it.

Hi. Would really appreciate any advice please. I currently work for a public sector organisation. I initally started as an agency worker and in my attempt to try and good job whilst I was temping I emailed some documents to my home to work on them. Only this month (July) I was taken on permanently by the organisation. However last week (12 days into my job) I was suspend pending an investigation for gross misconduct as emailing documents outside of the orgaisaiton is against company policy. I explained it was an error on my behalf - and they understand that but I still broke company policy - hence the suspension. Today, 2 people from work came to my house basically 'without prejudice?' (what ever that means) to offer me the opportuity to resign immediately so I can get employment else-where. Or it wll go to a hearing where I won't be given the opportunity to resign and from the vibe I got Im going to be sacked. I know they won't take this into consideration but Im the only one working and supporting my family and can't afford to lose my job. The organisation want a response today as to what Im going to do - either resign or go for the hearing. Im tempted to dig my heels in and go for the hearing however I think they've got me over a barrell and I know if im sacked I won't beable to get a clear reference. and I don't know what to do? Can anyone offer any advise please!!!

Hi all, I stumbled upon this website from a Google search and I've been reading some historic posts and it certainly seems like you've been able to help a great deal of people. Story is: 8th June 2012 I was fired for Gross Misconduct because of "process, performance and brand". I joined this business on the 27th June 2011 (2 weeks short of being there 1 year). I realise I don't have any rights to sue my previous employer as I wasn't there for a full 12 months (even though they decided to may me in Lieu of Notice and had they served the normal 28 days notice that would have taken me past 1 year's service). I simply want to clear my name of this Gross Misconduct so they can provide me with a proper reference and I can say that I have left on my own terms. I do not want to work there again because I felt they were trying to get me out of the door and I have since found another job (I start tomorrow 10th July). Will it weaken my case if I say I don't want to work there again? - Note I work in the recruitment industry which is very incestuous so even though they can't give a 'bad' reference I have already put down on my reference contacts for my new position that my reason for leaving them is "currently under negotiation". I have sent a summary (I had to send email from my iPhone as laptop died on me) of why I want to appeal (I can attach/send as private message if requested). They have since emailed me back asking for all reasons for appeal and that's why I'm now in an internet cafe to send them more detail, once this is sent through we will arrange to meet or deal with the appeal by phone/email (which is likely to be only option for me as I've already started at the new job) I have looked through Acas and also spoke to their consultation line. I'm wondering if there are any sample appeal letters or templates I can use to strengthen my case? Also I have since joined the Union but they won't support with a current case and with the company being a sales company I doubt any of my previous colleagues will want to get involved because it's very easy to lose favour within sales environments. In short, the outline of my appeal is that the rule I broke isn't a written rule in the employee handbook or contract and that they didn't follow the process (didn't tell me I was going into a disciplinary meeting so I didn't have time to prepare). Many thanks for your help, Ed

Hi, I work as technical support staff for a reasonably large outsource call centre. I was dragged into an investigative meeting today to be accused of gross misconduct. The order to pull me in came from the client and not my direct employers. I'm not sure where I stand, so I was hoping to get some help. There are three grounds: -Firstly, I failed to follow a strict technical support procedure having incorrectly made the assumption that one had already been done. The customer had referred to something early on in the conversation which I know to be the direct result of the final technical procedure in almost all cases- so I didn't bother going through them based on that. This assumption turned out to be incorrect. This is the sort of thing that wouldn't normally even result in any form of disciplinary, more of a 'slap on the wrist'. -Secondly, I knowingly manipulated our system to achieve a result for a customer not strictly provided for. There are a select list of criteria for this procedure which results in the customer getting free replacement parts when they would normally have to pay for such parts. The customer was not far away from these criteria so I knowingly and willingly bent them to suit. These were flagged up. There are two problems I have with this, firstly, I was genuinely mistaken in what the correct criteria actually are due to lack of communication from on high and secondly, this is something that is an epidemic where I work. This would normally be met with a recorded file note, or first written warning. -Thirdly, as a misguided attempt to establish rapport with the customer I referred to a colleague as a 'jobsworth', despite the fact that he had diagnosed a problem correctly and I hadn't. There was a negative connotation to the way I said it, but it was a flippant remark and both investigators in my initial meeting agreed on record that no malice was intended. I've never seen a case such as this, but I imagine this would be grounds for a disciplinary. I have been informed of my rights and am expecting to receive the rest of the notice in writing. My contract is short and sweet and does refer to gross misconduct being a possibility in some cases but does not clearly state in which. I haven't been able to get a copy of my company handbook yet, but I expect more information to be held within. The company's policies seem to be largely in line with ACAS. I have not been suspended. Where do I stand? My line manager and I both feel that none of the grounds will stand up to an allegation this serious. Am I being naive? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

On fri my partner was called in office by boss they had a bit of heated argument both swore at each other, today he goes in to work and is handed a letter stating that you have been suspended on contractual pay to allow investigation to take place following the allegations of gross misconduct. Does swearing and shouting warrant gross misconduct? Any advice or help would be great Many thanks

I have been summarily dismissed someone for gross misconduct, we had an investigation and disciplanory hearings, and I was left with two options, demotion and final written warning, or summarily dissmissal, there were 5 alleged incidents of gross misconduct One I could prove and was admitted, and 4 I have great probable doubt to beleive that hes lying due to supporting statements from other staff. he has worked for us 7 months. Denied everything and tripped his self up numerous times in hearing. Said everyone was lying and it was a conspiracy against him. There has been two previous incidence of insolence on his file, though no action was taking other than mediation. Have I done the right thing?

Hello, Yesterday after 2 weeks of being suspended, I have gone to my hearing to be told basically they have no facts on who took 3000 pound out of a safe. On the day it could had happened there are many scenarios that could had happened. The problem I have now is, I have only been employed for 7 months on a contract. There was a serious lack of security with no cameras in the area of the safe. Ill explain how the whole nightmare has happened. I am one of the 4 people with a code which i required to do my job in the mornings when i had over the cash float to a security van around 9:30am. I was lumbered the responsibly regardless of my objections after another member of staff was laid off. At the time i took this as a sign of trust from my employer and still being on probation was a bit nervous that some one so new to the company had been given this must responsibly. None of the procedures were ever told to me and i had to work them out my self. The Friday before a sales man took payment part in cash for a motor vehicle, Which we brought over to me and another colleague after he had finished. Quite casually throw it on the table in front of us and made a bit of a joke about how this is 3 months pay. I advised him it had to be put in the green pods which can be dropped in to the safe with out its opening, at this point he just said its fine all it need is to be put in the safe as he had worked at head office before and that is what they would do. I asked him to witness me put this in the safe. Then told him he needs to call our accountant to let her know its in the safe. 4 days later accounts rang up asking about the money and where it was so i straight away checked to see if the same envelope was still in the safe with a witness which it was. later that day managers were also asked to check it at 5:30 that evening to which it was still there. This should had been counted on the Monday but was miss for what ever reason. I work 8am -7pm every weekday and i do my daily tasked in the evening which are to check cars are locked and the site is closed down correctly ready to active the alarm. On the day in question we had every member of staff in after hours (6pm) minus 2 people that had been laided off that day and 1 person that was fired.There was a company meeting with our area manager. every one was in one place including my self till 7:30 on this day talking to my managing director thanking him for the comment he made after I had came 3rd in the country for hitting prospecting targets and also won some money from the company as part of there competition. In his email he stated 'If every one had a (me) at there branch we would hit all our targets and would be much better off'. this was a week before the money went missing. I also had been given awards in branch for my hard work which was presented to me by my manager. The morning after this meet i was told one of the the managers who was laided off was in 7am before every one else to collect his stuff. When i came in later that morning and i was asked to get the cash float to give to the security man i took the bag and gave it to him assuming the money had been counted and was in the bag. later that day this is when everything had changed. The money wasn't in the bag and i was suspended after being interrogated by HR and accounts being treated like a criminal being ridiculed but staff treating it like a joke and pointing the finger and now i've lost my job to pretty much what I do every day, Which no facts of prove apart from the only cameras leading out of the building. I had been working very hard doing lots of over time and cross training in the company. Also I have my driving test on the 26 November which I could had received a company car, as well as being one of there top prospectors and being given praise through out I have just been dumped as a way to justify them self's and this has now left me unable to slept for over 10 days being extremely depressed and now signed off work due to my mental condition they have left me in. As well as leaving me in a very vulnerable position with work, which is going to be very hard to get back into now. I am going to appeal and going CAB on Monday to start a tribunal But i would like to know what you think on the topic and if im going to get any where. Many Thanks D.

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