written warning

giardiniera

Can an employee be given a written warning for making a genuine mistake. It was not misconduct, it wasnt dileberate and it wasn't in relation to any other member of staff.
They have been with the company for almost 3 years and have never had a complaint about their work or their attitude from anyone.
They are being given a written warning based on a mistake they missed while processing an application. They are being accused of ignoring a problem in the application. However they have proof that no such warning was flagged during the process.
They have no contract and not copy of their terms and conditions and are not a member of a union.
They have been told that when they recieve the letter they can reply to it but i dont think they are allowed to appeal it.
Its a small family run company so they do not want to rock the boat. But as they have been there so long and have nothing in writting they want to know how to protect thier job.
Any advice.

Caoimhín

Its difficult to give a specific answer without knowing the details of what happened.
However, in general terms, any company who hires an employee without asking them to agree and sign a contract are leaving themselves wide open to litigation.

Your friend could always counter any disciplinary procedures with the fact that he/she was never given terms of employment or a job description that usually goes with that.

The Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994 and 2001 provide that an employer is obliged to provide an employee with a written statement of terms of employment within the first two months of the commencement of employment.

The statement of terms must include the following information:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/employment/employment-rights-and-conditions/contracts-of-employment/contract_of_employment

The full name of employer and employee
The address of the employer
The place of work
The title of job or nature of work
The date the employment started
If the contract is temporary, the expected duration of the contract
If the contract of employment is for a fixed term, the details
The rate of pay or method of calculation of pay
The pay reference period for the purposes of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000
*Pay intervals
*Hours of work
*Details of paid leave
*Sick pay and pension (if any)
*Period of notice to be given by employer or employee
*Details of any collective agreements that may affect the employee’s terms of employment

giardiniera

they dont want to rock the boat. they were told they were getting the written warning because one had been given to someone else when they made a similar mistake.
however the mistake was genuine and it couldn't have been spotted by the software, however the employer seems to be saying that it could have been and that the employee ignored the warning, even though they didnt and have proof of that.
They are happy where they are and even the boss seems happy that it was a genuine mistake but is still issuing a written warning.

Caoimhín

Well if your friend is happy in their job and the employer is happy then maybe its best to leave it alone.

The point i am making is that if your friend was dismissed then they may have a good case against the employer. Also, it this is the way the company is run then maybe your friend is better off out of there.

Just to be sure, make sure your friend makes a note of everything that was said and done to keep a record of the matter.

giardiniera

thank you for all that. i think he just wants to make sure that he's safe and if he gets another warning he wont lose his job. the company keep changing the rules and people are having trouble keeping up.
we'll keep a record of every thing and hope for the best.
thanks again

Dewie

giardiniera wrote: »

.... the company keep changing the rules and people are having trouble keeping up.
we'll keep a record of every thing and hope for the best.
thanks again

I would recommend that you certainly do keep written records. Every employer is supposed to have Disciplinary Procedures (which employees should be notified of) and cant just keep changing them to suit themselves. Not only could they land themselves in trouble with the Employment Appeals Tribunal, but they could find themselves in front of the Equality Authority.

Disciplinary Procedures should be fair and consistent and an employer can't just 'give' an employee a written warning on a whim. Every employee is entitled to a fair hearing with a representative present. There should also be an opportunity afforded to the employee to appeal any Disciplinary Action result.

Mrs OBumble

giardiniera wrote: »

Can an employee be given a written warning for making a genuine mistake. It was not misconduct, it wasnt dileberate and it wasn't in relation to any other member of staff.

Yes: if an issue is serious enough then a warning can be issued, whether misconduct was deliberate or not.

Having read your other posts, I think your friend does need to take the issue further, in case another such situation arises. If the boss thinks that the software puts up a warning message, when really it doesn't then either the software needs to be fixed, or the process needs to be fixed to manually check for the problem. This needs to be discussed very, very politely of course. But if it's a good relationship overall and the warning is being given due to precedent, and your friend has evidence that he didn't ignore it, then the boss will probably co-operate with doing some investigation.