A Holiday of Sun, Sea and... Unfair Dismissal.

When Katerina took annual leave to visit family in Cyprus it was a trip that threatened to be disastrous for her career.

The personal injury claims handler made the journey after taking two weeks annual leave from work. Her original request for three weeks leave was rejected.

Katerina was taken seriously ill with gastroenteritis and hospitalised near the end of the fortnight break.

While in hospital she was accused by her manager of faking the sickness and fired via text message.

The angry message from Katerina’s boss described the illness as a devious ploy to get what she wanted after her initial request was refused.

Shocked Katerina, who had just over two years’ service, so was entitled to make a claim for unfair dismissal, insisted she was genuinely ill.

She begged her boss via text message to reconsider. He stubbornly refused to do so.

When Katerina recovered and returned to England she contacted her boss immediately to see if he would change the decision.

The following day she received a letter inviting her to attend a fact-finding meeting as part of a disciplinary investigation.

The meeting was said to have been arranged to discuss Katrina’s unauthorised absence, and her abuse of the sickness absence policy.

The manager who fired her via text was to lead the investigation.

Worried Katerina asked about her right to be accompanied, as she wanted to take a colleague to the meeting with her.

She was correctly told there was no statutory right to bring a companion to a fact-finding meeting, and that company policy would only consider it in exceptional circumstances, which were not applicable in the case.

Katerina contacted our Employee Support Centre after attending the meeting on her own.

She explained to our representative that the meeting was a farce.

Katerina said it effectively amounted to her manager telling her she wanted three weeks off, she was going to take that time no matter what, and she was a liar.

While she was adamant she was genuinely ill and should be able to provide a letter from the hospital in Cyprus to confirm it.

At the time, Katerina was still awaiting written confirmation of her hospital admission after making a request for it.

Katerina did have a letter from her employer that she showed to our representative, which was sent following the meeting with her manager.

The one-page document described the meeting as a disciplinary hearing, and said that the allegations were considered proven and the outcome was summary dismissal.

You do not need to be an expert in the disciplinary process to see how grossly unfair the case was.

Katerina was not informed she had the right to a disciplinary appeal, so our representative contacted the employer on her behalf to insist she be allowed to challenge the outcome.

The employer said it would hear an appeal, which was submitted on the grounds the decision and process were unfair and did not comply with the ACAS Code of Practice.

Prior to being dismissed Katerina did enjoy her job, but she was left heartbroken and devastated by how she was treated, and felt she could not return.

At the appeal hearing our representative detailed everything the employer had done wrong from the initial decision to dismiss via text message through to failing to conduct a fair ‘disciplinary hearing’, and how it amounted to an unfair dismissal.

Prior to the appeal hearing, Katerina had also received a letter to confirm her admission to hospital and treatment in Cyprus, which showed the illness was genuine.

Katrina, understandably, did not want to be reinstated if her appeal was successful. Instead she wanted to be able to leave on positive terms with her appeal being upheld and the guarantee of a reference.

This was all agreed and included in a settlement agreement after our representative initiated the discussion at the appeal hearing.

Katerina was delighted to leave on the terms she wanted.