How hard is it to fire someone

Marymoore

I was wondering how hard it is to fire someone in the public sector? Say you knew they were dossing or taking much longer lunch breaks, could you fire them? Is it as simple as if you don’t want them you can let them go or is it hard?

Iscreamkone

Public sector?

They’d have to have stolen something valuable. I remember in my time in a local authority a lad was getting work done on his house and used an order book from work. How he thought he’d get away with that I don’t know. They didn’t sack him but gave him the opportunity to resign.

You’d find it very difficult to sack someone who was just doing their job poorly. Half the place could be sacked if that criteria was used.

Marymoore

thanks for the reply… what about if you were skipping work and only turning up half the days

standardg60

Make that three threads!

Marymoore

4 actualy..

Marymoore

go worry about ur own stuff

RonanG86

Unless they're relatively new, and whomever they're reporting to has had the minerals to refuse to sign off on their probation, the answer is it's possible, but will probably take ages.

That being said, if someone is literally not turning up (are they office based?) when they're supposed to, that might make it a bit more expedient. Is the person pulling sickies (6 uncerts in 3 years is the max), claiming they have COVID, burning up all their annual leave, or just shrugging when they're asked where they were yesterday?

SouthWesterly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122122013#Comment_122122013

You can be sure senior management already know and are unwilling to deal with it. You could of course ask your boss.

extra-ordinary_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122122025#Comment_122122025

oh the irony

Ted222

The answer is that it’s possible but it firstly depends on the will of the organisation to do so.

After that, it can be tricky if the person has been in place for more than 12 months. Underperformance to a level that warrants dismissal is a difficult measure to establish. Not turning up however is a fairly serious offence which could be escalated quite quickly if there’s sufficient interest.

It sounds like the individual has been given free rein over a long period of time and is taking advantage. It’s a failure of management as well as any personal shortcoming on the part of the individual.

Flinty997

I've seen it a handful of times. They were managed out. Given awful jobs and no promotion or increments. Almost all left eventually.