Challenging an unfair dismissal

When Ben’s boss decided to ignore all the rules and sack him in an act of retaliation, he could not see how the situation could ever be resolved.

The sales manager was fired after a number of allegations were made against him by his female manager, despite no tangible evidence ever being presented to  support any accusations.

It followed Ben raising a grievance against his boss on a number of grounds that included, setting unfair targets, unfairly denying him a bonus and not paying him sick pay while other colleagues received it.

Ben, who had worked for his employer for just under three years, attended a grievance meeting.

At the meeting Ben explained his grievance and provided evidence and details that he insisted demonstrated he had been subjected to unfavourable treatment by his manager.

Following the grievance meeting, the range of allegations made by Ben were investigated. His grievance was rejected.

Frustrated Ben still felt aggrieved, so he submitted an appeal against the grievance outcome, and later attended a grievance appeal meeting. The appeal was rejected.

When Ben contacted our Employee Support Centre he explained that a week after his grievance appeal was turned down, he was dismissed.

Ben discussed his case with our representative and provided him with the very limited paperwork he had in relation to his dismissal. It consisted of just a letter inviting Ben to a disciplinary hearing, and another letter confirming his dismissal.

He insisted his dismissal was unfair and that he did not get a fair hearing, which was a view our representative was in full agreement with.

Ben’s manager was the only witness against him. But she dismissed his protest it meant there was a conflict of interests in her chairing the disciplinary hearing, and given his recent grievance against her.

She subsequently dismissed Ben for failing to meet his sales targets, false expense claims and for disrespecting and undermining her in front of other staff.

Our representative helped Ben to submit a disciplinary appeal, and later attended an appeal hearing with him.

Ben’s appeal included grounds that both the decision to dismiss and the disciplinary process were unfair.

Prior to the appeal hearing, our representative quizzed Ben on what his desired outcome was.

He made it clear in no uncertain terms that he had loss all trust and confidence in the company and did not want to be reinstated. Ben’s view was the decision to sack him amounted to an unfair dismissal.

His preference was to reach a settlement agreement that would mean he would be compensated for what happened, and not have to pursue the matter legally.

It was fairly straightforward for our representative to assert and demonstrate at the appeal hearing that the decision to dismiss Ben, and the manner in which it was done was grossly unfair, and that his manager had acted in bad faith.

In doing so our representative referred to a number of factors that included the grievance, obvious conflict of interest in the manager being the only witness and chairing the disciplinary hearing and breach of ACAS Code of Practice in failing to provide any evidence to support what were extremely serious allegations.

At the end of presenting the appeal, our representative made it clear that as far as Ben was concerned the working relationship was irreparable. To her credit the appeal hearing chair appeared to accept and understand it, and reasons for it.

An initial discussion took place in regards to a settlement. The discussions and negotiations continued the following week.

A settlement was eventually reached, which included Ben being paid a five-figure tax free sum, which allowed the parties to part ways amicably.

Ben was delighted with the outcome, which capped a good week for him, with the settlement being agreed the same day he received confirmation he had secured a  new job.