Told to Leave

Zeppi

Hi Folks,
Maybe someone can help me to the right direction.
Let me write my story as brief as possible.
I've been working with this employer for past 13 months and my position is Manager of department.
I always was loyal to the company and my time keeping is excellent. Since I have managerial position I do not expect that I work 48 hours a week but more(normally i work 60 hours a week). I've never had a verbal or written warning.

A few weeks a ago 3 different guests complained about a service that was given from another department(not mine). To my surprise I was called into the GM's office and he told me that these complaints were made because of me. I was surprised when I heard the story that I was the culprit. So after two weeks I was called again and the GM told me that the Directors told him that I have to leave within a month. He told me that this is unfair and I have the right to receive a written warning and it will be kept in my file for 6 months.
I told him that I need to discuss this issue with the director and he totally agreed. My GM told me that he has no problems working with me and also told me that I can mention this during the meeting with my director.

So I went 6 times knocking on his door but he never answered the door so I went back to my department and I've sent him an email stating that I need to meet with him, so far I had no answer from him, he is trying to avoid meeting me.

So my questions are these...
Does he has the rights to tell me to leave the employment within a month?
What type of rights do I have about this issue?

Regards
Zeppi

seamus

Zeppi wrote: »

Does he has the rights to tell me to leave the employment within a month?

Assuming that your contract states that the company must give you a month's notice before terminating your employment, then yes he can give you a month's notice before terminating your employment.

What type of rights do I have about this issue?

Because you have been in employment there over a year, you have the option of taking proceedings against the company for unfair dismissal.
In general, an employer has to show that the grounds for a dismissal are reasonable.

See more details here:
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/employment/unemployment-and-redundancy/dismissal/fair-grounds-for-dismissal

It's generally not a black-and-white issue; there's nothing in law that says that you have to do anything specifically wrong, or that a company must give you a certain number of strikes, but the protection is still quite robust.

layke

I'd ask your GM exactly how this is your fault in writing so you can a) contest it b) if it comes to court it's always good to have ammo.

The reason i'd say this is because it could be someone else who mad a mistake and is offering to serve you up to save their own hyde. Then again you may well know if it is or not.

padser

seamus wrote: »

Assuming that your contract states that the company must give you a month's notice before terminating your employment, then yes he can give you a month's notice before terminating your employment..

Not true.

You can not contract out of your rights under the unfair dismissals act.

If you have been there over a year the unfair dismissals act must be complied with in order to fire you. So in other words you need a host of things (unless its one incident of gross misconduct) such as a verbal warning, written warning - and then you can be fired. However even when following this its pretty difficult to legitimately fire someone.

Without boring you with the details suffice it to say that it would appear that proper proceedure has not been followed in this instance so you would probably have a case.

However the bottom line is that if they want to get rid of you - they will. And if they have to pay you four weeks wages (common fine in under the unfair dismissals act although it can rise as far as 52 or 104 (I can't remember which) weeks in some circumstances) after a hearing under the unfair dismissals act then so be it. There are plenty of companies who just regard these fines as a necessary cost of doing businesss.

seamus

padser wrote: »

You can not contract out of your rights under the unfair dismissals act.

I was responding specifically to the "Can he ask me to leave in a month?" question. See the rest of my post for the unfair dismissals stuff.

Zeppi

layke wrote: »

I'd ask your GM exactly how this is your fault in writing so you can a) contest it b) if it comes to court it's always good to have ammo.

The reason i'd say this is because it could be someone else who mad a mistake and is offering to serve you up to save their own hyde. Then again you may well know if it is or not.

Yes that what exactly happened the guy who did the mistake is a close friend of the GM and everyone knows that he is always covering him. The GM position is a bit awkward because he has no issues regarding me or my work.

If I take my case to the unfair dismissal court do I need to hire a solicitor?

rgds
Zeppi

seamus

It would certainly be recommended, particularly if this is a large company.

Many people will bank on an employee in such a situation chalking it up to experience and not taking it any further.

Just to add to layke's comment - as per the link I posted, you are actually entitled to a written document detailing the reason that you are being dismissed. This could be the most valuable document you get out of them.

As padser says, you may get a generous settlement from the courts, but beware that you may not get exactly the outcome that you want - last year (I think?) an air hostess brought proceedings against Ryanair and the judge ordered that she be given her job back :eek:

padser

seamus wrote: »

I was responding specifically to the "Can he ask me to leave in a month?" question. See the rest of my post for the unfair dismissals stuff.

I may have been scanning.....:rolleyes:

seamus wrote:

last year (I think?) an air hostess brought proceedings against Ryanair and the judge ordered that she be given her job back.

Yeah thats pretty much the worst case scenario for both you and the company (since obviously neither party really want to work together after a dismissal). On the plus side that almost never (I think the Ryanair case is the only example to date in Ireland) happens.