off sick, can I be suspended??

shona o

Hi All,

''hypothetically speaking''

Mary is working for a firm & is currently 14 weeks pregnant, her employers know about her pregnancy as she has been out sick for a number of weeks, with pregnancy complications & PND.

In the meantime half of the office she works in were suddenly suspended & fired for gross misconduct (improper use of email & internet) some cases against ppl were for emails sent 2 years ago. (just excuse to get rid of ppl :mad:)

all had calmed for a bit but now more ppl have been suspended & more than likely will be fired.

if mary returns to work can they fire her even though she is pregnant??
as she definitely sent "joke" emails (against company policy)

or if she does stay out sick can she still be suspended??

seems like they are trying to get rid of everyone as there will be less than 5 ppl left out of an office that used to have over 40 agents.
seem to be out sourcing rather than keeping our dept. but getting rid of us the sneeky way.

any advice will be big time appreciated

Doom

For e-mails sent 2yrs ago! Thats seems mad, is anyone challenging this? It would seems like a case of construtive dismissal

Mr. Loverman

You can be fired for being sick.

harr

shona o wrote: »

Hi All,

''hypothetically speaking''

Mary is working for a firm & is currently 14 weeks pregnant, her employers know about her pregnancy as she has been out sick for a number of weeks, with pregnancy complications & PND.

In the meantime half of the office she works in were suddenly suspended & fired for gross misconduct (improper use of email & internet) some cases against ppl were for emails sent 2 years ago. (just excuse to get rid of ppl :mad:)

all had calmed for a bit but now more ppl have been suspended & more than likely will be fired.

if mary returns to work can they fire her even though she is pregnant??
as she definitely sent "joke" emails (against company policy)

or if she does stay out sick can she still be suspended??

seems like they are trying to get rid of everyone as there will be less than 5 ppl left out of an office that used to have over 40 agents.
seem to be out sourcing rather than keeping our dept. but getting rid of us the sneeky way.

any advice will be big time appreciated

yes she can be fired for gross misconduct when she is pregnant,i have worked in a place where a girl was 7 months pregnant and was let go for for some thing like this as in she used the office phone for personal calls,a lot of woman think that once they get pregnant they cant be sacked for any reason but i would make sure the company stick to proper procedure in this case as in suspending people with or without pay while a investigation is carried out and then letting them go i think someone needs to be suspended before they are sacked outright.the company will have to be very careful to follow the right steps or they could land them selfs with a unfair dismissal case.

shona o

main question if she stays out sick can she be pulled in for meeting to be suspended??
kind of guessed she could be fired as it was nothing to do with the pregnancy

Mr. Loverman

shona o wrote: »

main question if she stays out sick can she be pulled in for meeting to be suspended??
kind of guessed she could be fired as it was nothing to do with the pregnancy

Well they can fire you when you're off sick, so I assume that means they can suspend you too.

harr

shona o wrote: »

main question if she stays out sick can she be pulled in for meeting to be suspended??
kind of guessed she could be fired as it was nothing to do with the pregnancy

not sure on that one,i presume if she is to ill for work then the company would have to wait till she returned to work.its sounds like the company held on to the e mails as a back up plan just in case they needed to get rid of people in the hard times without having to offer severance pay which stinks.i have heard of people getting away with this kind of offence because the employers could not prove that the said workers had sent the email.i think the workers involved should seek some advice from someone who would know the ins and out of a case like this.

Mrs OBumble

Doom wrote: »

For e-mails sent 2yrs ago! Thats seems mad, is anyone challenging this? It would seems like a case of construtive dismissal

Not legal advice but ...

CD is when the company behaves in a way that makes you resign against your will (very broad description there, I'm sure there's more could be said but you get the idea).

This isn't CD, because people are getting dismissed, not resigning.

TBH, I'm not that sympathetic, unless there was some reason why people did not know the rules. Frankly, if you steal time or money from an employer, there's a chance that it will catch up with you one day.

wmpdd3

harr wrote: »

not sure on that one,i presume if she is to ill for work then the company would have to wait till she returned to work.its sounds like the company held on to the e mails as a back up plan just in case they needed to get rid of people in the hard times without having to offer severance pay which stinks.i have heard of people getting away with this kind of offence because the employers could not prove that the said workers had sent the email.i think the workers involved should seek some advice from someone who would know the ins and out of a case like this.

I have seen where an employee has been out sick for maybe months and when they return they may have 3 investigations pending and each one would be completed with the outcomes. But I have never seen this with a pregnant person.

rainyrun

if the issue has nothing to do with the pregnancy or not pregnancy related then the company can follow its own procedure in the case of percieved gross misconduct.
however in order to dismiss for gross misconduct the company must prove that it allowed for natural justice and that the decision is reasonable.
sacking for someone who sent a joke email two years ago is not reasonable...(natural justice would fall under ..did the member of staff get notice of any investigation did they have right of representation allowed to put case forward etc etc)
there could also be an argument that could be raised that as the company did nothing about the emails and internet use that this became common working practice..(even if it did stipulate in a handbook somewhere that it was prohibited) the fact that 40 plus people were doing it yet it had never been stopped by management etce tc.. then it set up a working practice..
from your post it does sound like a "cheap" way to get rid of staff and I think you should get legal advice.. would be worth a shot anyway..

xkariex

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

You can be fired for being sick.

No ya cant !!

Mr. Loverman

xkariex wrote: »

No ya cant !!

Yes you can.

I understand it seems wrong, but that doesn't mean it's illegal.

aidan24326

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

You can be fired for being sick.

xkariex wrote: »

No ya cant !!

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Yes you can.

I understand it seems wrong, but that doesn't mean it's illegal.

You can, but it's a tricky one. The company would have to be seen to have given you every opportunity to get well, referred you to the company doctor etc. You rarely see it happen (fired for being sick) as companies tend to tread carefully there, especially if the person is medically certified. I imagine it usually only happens where someone is serioulsy ill or injured to the extent that they are unfit to continue in employment, or where a person has been out sick for so long as to have effectively rendered themself unfit for work.