first and last warning recieved from work

danniemcq

just a quick question; i got a letter from work last week about my preformance at work (which has really pissed me off but thats another story :mad:) anyway got chattin about it in the pub last night and one of my mates claims that they can't issue a final written warning without previous verbal/written warnings. is this true?

also off topic but still relevent in a way what is the story with pay on Sundays and Bank holidays? is it up to your employers wether you get a bonus or can they just still pay min wage?

kc66

with regard to pay, unless already included in the determination of an your pay, your employer must give you one or more of the following for Sunday working, etc:A reasonable allowance
A reasonable pay increase
Reasonable paid time off work

danniemcq

well i'm paid per hour i work there is no set wage per week so where do i stand?

eth0_

Are you on probation/there less than a year?
If so, they could be just doing you a favour by giving you a written warning, they *could* have just sacked you.

danniemcq

i'm there a year and a month or so. it's weird though i'm the one always covering shifts for people, workin the split shifts, comin in on days off and even lettin other staff members leave early if they are headin out that night then i get panned for not pulling my weight. :reallymad: (mad emotion not strong enough right now)

chump

Have a word with them about it and outline all the above...

If the warning is unwarranted I'd fight it til the death

danniemcq

haven't had a chance today and wanted to make sure i was not goin on a wild goose chase (hence the thread) thakns for all the replys though much appreciated

Suaimhneach

If you are working there over a year, and havent been given any previous verbal or written warnings [they handed you a signed copy of these warnings], and unless you have acted somehow that could be deemed as gross misconduct [as in being in work drunk, robbing something or being completely inept at your job] , you've been unfairly dismissed [fired wrongly].

You've three months to decide if you want to take this further ie. following as the unfair dismissals act deems, and taking your employer to court. If you win your case you'll most likely only get compensation for the money you lost while not working with them, but at least you'll have proved you were unfairly dismissed.

Another option is to go to the Boss person and ask them *why* you weren't warned previous to this... and hoping they realise the severity of how they've acted.

As far as their reason for firing you... is it just? I'm guessing here, but did they tell you you weren't achieving well enough, or something similar? Cases have been won in the past where someone was fired for not preforming well enough, but because they hadn't been given an apraisial, or at least informed they weren't achieving the arguement was made "how were they to know". And the employee won.

/me is *so* feckin' utterly shocked at the amount she learned from writing one essay for Human Resource Management

WhiteWashMan

danniemcq wrote:

one of my mates claims that they can't issue a final written warning without previous verbal/written warnings. is this true?

?

incorrect.

doesnt matter how long you are in a job, you can be given a final written warning at any stage.
it all depends on what you are being warned about.

there is usually some sort of disiplinary proceedure that will show what level of proceedure is to be used depending on the situation.

danniemcq wrote:

also off topic but still relevent in a way what is the story with pay on Sundays and Bank holidays? is it up to your employers wether you get a bonus or can they just still pay min wage?

also completely dependent on the employer.
if it part of your contract then you dont get anything for it.

if you are working unscheduled or overtime work, then you can be paid overtime if the employer deems it, you can get paid normal time, or you can get paid in time in lieu.

so yes, they can ask you to come in, and they only have to pay you your basic rate.
if they MAKE you come in, then you would normally get paid with time in lieu or paid overtime.


what exactly were given a warning for?

danniemcq

WhiteWashMan wrote:

what exactly were given a warning for?

haven't been told just got the note sayin that i wasn't pulling my weight and members of staff were complaining. there is only 4 of us here (not including managers) and one of them seen this thread and he couldn't understand he couldn't think of anything

Running Bing

Okay the way I see it one of three things is going on:

A) Theres more to this story then your saying
Your being set-up, either out of spite or as some sort of sick joke
c) your work does not have an ounce of appreciation for you

You have two choices, either quit the job (no extra on Sunday/Bank hols is seriously scabby not to mention quite possibly illegal) or approach your employer/fellow employees and get to the bottom of this. Dont under any circumstances just let this go. I still have to say something here doesnt seem to add up. Fellow employee says to boss your not pulling your weight=>boss issues you a final written warning. It seems liker your not being told something or your not telling us something.

Ps if you do quit make sure to contact someone about sunday/bank hol pay as you could be entitled to it.

danniemcq

honestly the only thing i could think of is after switchin monitors all day for the gamers (one of the systems with vent didn't have a workin monitor) so i had to switch 4 or 5 monitors (IT guy wanted all the white ones together and all that stuff) and didn't remeber to finish off one of them. which i know is poor workmanship but don't think thats the reason for it as the letter said member of staff and when the IT guy seen me that night we were chattin about it and nothin much was said he seemed happy enough.

also werid the manager who gave me the note seems to be stayin out of my way in a big way, i was workin with her all day yesterday and she was gone out of the shop nearly all day and today she went home just after i started work. usually she's here for a few hours after 5

chump

danniemcq wrote:

honestly the only thing i could think of is after switchin monitors all day for the gamers (one of the systems with vent didn't have a workin monitor) so i had to switch 4 or 5 monitors (IT guy wanted all the white ones together and all that stuff) and didn't remeber to finish off one of them. which i know is poor workmanship but don't think thats the reason for it as the letter said member of staff and when the IT guy seen me that night we were chattin about it and nothin much was said he seemed happy enough.

also werid the manager who gave me the note seems to be stayin out of my way in a big way, i was workin with her all day yesterday and she was gone out of the shop nearly all day and today she went home just after i started work. usually she's here for a few hours after 5

dannie is all fairness why don't you find out exactly what's happened. All you have to do is ask. They can't get away with this without at the very minimum a full explanation. Don't be farting about here asking for advice, just go and speak to your boss and get to the bottom of it.

seamus

Processes such as written warning, final written warning, etc aren't legal rights. They're standard in employment simply because in order to fire someone who has been there longer than a year you require proof that it was justified. So companies tend to use the verbal warning-written warning-etc procedure as a means of keeping a record of poor performance, should the need to fire you arise.

If a company fires you and can't provide solid evidence that it was warranted (i.e. a massive ****up or an ongoing performance problem), they can find themselves in legal hot water.

Running Bing

chump wrote:

dannie is all fairness why don't you find out exactly what's happened. All you have to do is ask. They can't get away with this without at the very minimum a full explanation. Don't be farting about here asking for advice, just go and speak to your boss and get to the bottom of it.

Exactly. Dont piss about with this and put it off or say "ah sure Ill see her tomorrow". Be strong and confront the manager asap. You should have got to the bottom of it the minute you got the warning, no if's or but's, and the fact that you have worked since and not raised the issue is silly. Its obviously on your mind since your posting here about it so talk about it with you boss.

keithclancy

I've had some experience with this:

In regard to working Sundays you can recieve a day in leu and normal pay as this is the minimum legal requirement unless its your seventh day working which entitles you to Double time and a day in leu, or normal pay and 2 days off.

Bank holidays - Legal entitlement is double pay and a day in leu, this has been brought to the labour court against a few companies and they've been forced to stump up. Alot of businesses (mainly callcentres) claim normal pay and a day in leu is legal, this is NOT the case.

With regards to warnings, leading up to dismissal, the law states that you must have at least 2 verbals, a written and a final written, then dismissal. You can be left go however in the case of gross misconduct, i.e. theft, assault etc.

As to going for unfair dismissal, this is not something that i think would really be worth it in your case, it is quite expensive and in most cases its just easier to get another job rather than face the risk of losing (even if you are in the right)

The best thing you can do with your employer if you do not understand why your performance is an issue is to ask them where this is documented, If its not documented then theres not much they can do as your were not aware you had to follow this condition in the first place and therefore cannot be accused of not following a performance goal that you were not given.

The point of verbal/written warnings is to give the worker a chance to fix whatever the issue is with their work, just giving you a warning for performance is not enough, they need to explain why, and what they did to help you overcome this problem.

If this was the case then you could just say, well i think your doing this because i'm gay/muslim whatever, this is where the legal "hot water" comes into it as they need to justify WHY your performance is a problem, not just have an opinion.

You can find more info at:
http://www.oasis.gov.ie/employment/employment_rights/

Keith