Constructive Dismissal???

Country-Bumpkin

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone could help me out here. My boyfriend works for a large company and 2 months ago some money went missing from his till. He was told that they would have to check him out & audit him and he would be on paid leave for a few days. He agreed as he had nothing to hide from them, he didnt take any money.
However, the next day, when he was off, the money reappeared and was found in the till by another member of staff. My b/f was told by his manager that the money had been found and everything would be fine because there was no money missing.

2 months later and he's still not back in work, although the audit was clear and they found nothing. He was given a copy of the audit findings which clearly states that he, at no stage took any money from them and his unprofessional behaviour is merely not counting his cash enough times during the day. They have given my b/f a written warning (which he hasn;t received) due to unprofessional behaviour and told him that he would have to move into their head office which is 2.5 hours away from our house.

He, with the help of the union has asked to appeal this sanction as he feels it is completely unnecessary and asked could he return to his branch which is closer to home and to date, they have scheduled & cancelled 5 meetings with him. At this stage he is furious as they are messing him around and basically treating him like he has done something wrong when he hasn't.

I've tried to read everything I can about constructive dismissal but was wondering if anyone had any advice about whether or not he has a case against his employers? he has kept copies of everything he has received so far and noted down every phone call.

Thanks

Kinetic^

Is he still getting paid?

Country-Bumpkin

Yeah, still getting paid

Running Bing

Country-Bumpkin wrote:

Yeah, still getting paid

Happy days then:D

Kinetic^

You've got records everything so you're fine that way.

Just wait till you actually see them in a meeting. I understand it's frustrating but they're wasting their own money.

Stick it out. (easy for me to say but have experienced something like this before and it takes time).

TheNog

The union should be able to help here as the company is trying to impose unfair restrictions on his employment by moving his place of work so far from his home without good reason. Also if they insist he moves and he feels forced to, then they are in essence soiling his characters in front of his colleagues.

This is my own opinion and not legal advice.

super_furry

If they insist he moves into head office, then yes, I think he would have a strong constructive dismissal case.

vandermeyde

from my understanding of how constructive dismissal works, he would have to resign from his position and then take a case against them alleging that he had no other option but to resign, hence "constructive dismissal"...

my bro went thru this and lost, the burden of proof lies with your boyfriend, not the company, and he will have to show that he did everything humanly possible through all the proper grievance channels and ultimately was left with no choice but to leave...

It doesn't sound like he's done that as of yet and I would guess his own union will be better able to advise him about what to do next...

ballooba

Babybing wrote:

Happy days then:D

While that may suit some, it would drive others crazy. Beinf idle is not pleasant whether you are being paid or not. The novelty soon wears off.

I've heard of this clause in a contract being used to get rid of people before i.e. relocate them to another office which is far away. You will probably find that he has signed a contract permitting them to do this.

If he's in a unionised environment I wouldn't have thought they would get away with this. In non-union environments I would think it's a common practice for getting rid of nuisance employees.

The situation you describe sounds like they were being unfair. It also sounds like a bank. Are they trying to reduce headcount at the moment? Closing branches and all that lark.

Country-Bumpkin

ballooba wrote:

While that may suit some, it would drive others crazy. Beinf idle is not pleasant whether you are being paid or not. The novelty soon wears off.

The situation you describe sounds like they were being unfair. It also sounds like a bank. Are they trying to reduce headcount at the moment? Closing branches and all that lark.

it is driving him crazy being idle all day (mind you things are getting done at home so I'm happy) and he also feels like his reputation is being ruined in front of the people who he works with.

And you're right, they are unfair and they are a bank. Enough said.

nesf

ballooba wrote:

The situation you describe sounds like they were being unfair. It also sounds like a bank. Are they trying to reduce headcount at the moment? Closing branches and all that lark.

I would advise the OP not to say anything that identified the company her bf works for. It would be bad for all involved.


Since it's a bank, not counting cash regularly enough is relatively serious as things go. It's not like a petrol station where it's a tiny float etc.

Kinetic^

Check his contract regarding the movement of his employment office. The union should be able to sort it out. If they can't then it's onto either a solicitor or the EAT (employment appeals tribunal), or possibly both.

Do not do anything drastic in the mean time, if you do it will jeopardise any possible case you've got.

Country-Bumpkin

nesf wrote:

Since it's a bank, not counting cash regularly enough is relatively serious as things go. It's not like a petrol station where it's a tiny float etc.

Thats true but as he pointed out he counts his cash at least 3 times a day and his colleagues all do the same yet they are not getting the same sanctions.

TBH I think he just wants to leave and to hell with them but he needs to clear his name so that there can never be any doubt surrounding him when he's looking for references etc.

Thanks for all the help guys, I'll pass it on to him and hopefully the next scheduled meeting will take place and he can try and get somewhere with them.

nesf

Country-Bumpkin wrote:

Thats true but as he pointed out he counts his cash at least 3 times a day and his colleagues all do the same yet they are not getting the same sanctions.

True, but they don't have cash going missing and that's what management will look at. When you've a lot of cash going through your hands every day you have to be extremely careful about this kind of stuff.

A written warning for unprofessionalism doesn't seem that harsh to me, it's as much the management covering their ass as anything else. The moving thing could be in his contract (I don't know tbh but I've seen/heard of contracts where in your first 6/12 months you could be moved to another location on very short notice).

I hope things work out well for you.