I handed in my notice three weeks ago (3 month notice period) and was told to work from home and given a project to do. The owner of the company made no attempt to hide the fact that they did not like the idea of paying me three months notice to work from home.

I have stuck to my side of the contract, given 3 months notice and I am in the process of carryig out the work required. I never received any bad comments re my standard of work and was offerred share options at a dicounted price at the end of February, this year, in a bid to tie me into the company. I have now received a letter from my employer stating that they are terminating my contract due to gross misconduct. This is based on the fact emails have been deleted from my email account -(all of which can be reinstated by the email provider) and the fact that hard copy files cannot be found. I have no idea which files or if missing where they are. I was not involved or told about these issues and it seems that these are all trumped up charges in a bid to avoid paying the full three months notice. What can I do now??

Hi Christian,

I am sorry to hear this, I am presuming that you did not attend an Investigation or Disciplinary hearing before the decision was made to terminate your employment.

This being the case they will have breached the statutory dismissal procedure, can you shed a bit more light on how long you worked for the company and when this happend.

Also, have you been given the right to appeal the decision?

Regards

Hi Christian,

I am sorry to hear this, I am presuming that you did not attend an Investigation or Disciplinary hearing before the decision was made to terminate your employment.

This being the case they will have breached the statutory dismissal procedure, can you shed a bit more light on how long you worked for the company and when this happend.

Also, have you been given the right to appeal the decision?

Regards

Thanks for your reply. In answer to your questions:

I did not attend any meetings re investigation or disciplinary prior to the decision being made.

I have worked for 16 months. I resigned 0n the 10th April 08 and received a letter notifying me of my immediate dismissal on the grounds of gross misconduct on the 4th April 08

I have not been given any right to appeal and have been paid upto the 4th April with P45 attached.

The charges of gross misconduct are grossly exagerated and in some instanced totally out of context.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am now without any income and have a bad reference when approaching new employers.

thanks

C

Well in answer to this, you have over 12months service so you would be able to claim unfair dismissal.

I would submit a grievance through the company procedure, claiming that they have not followed the statutory dimissal procedure.

I would also contact ACAS on 08457 47 47 47, they would be able to offer you advise on an individual basis.

You have a case and a strong one at that so I would advise seeking advise from ACAS ASAP.

I hope it all works out for you.

Regards 08457 47 47 47