Dismissal
Making a bad call with a decision to dismiss
When Clive faced an allegation of stealing a colleague’s mobile phone he did not think things could get any worse, but he was wrong.
The retail worker faced an alle...
The need for caution and less haste when dealing with employee misconduct
There can be outrageous acts of gross misconduct for which you believe an employee deserves to be sacked on the spot, but doing so is never a good idea.
There have been a number of repo...
Should I smile if caught on camera at work?
Revealing CCTV footage played a central role in the resignation of Matt Hancock, so it is worth focusing and taking a much closer look at the use of surveillance cameras in...
What can an employer do about an office romance?
Matt Hancock’s widely publicised breach of social-distancing guidelines put paid to his tenure as health secretary and highlighted the peril of workplace romances.
He handed ...
News 3 - 10 June May 2021
News 3 - 10 June May 2021
Here is the news.
We have much to catch up on so let’s get right into it. Our first story in this edition looks at...
Avoid paying the price for unfair pandemic wage cuts
The last 14 months have been financially challenging for employers of all sizes, but it should not be used as a convenient excuse to enforce pay cuts.
The coronaviru...
Skilled work needed to repair the damage of an unfair dismissal
Engineer Nathan was devastated when he was sacked, but he was determined to fix the situation and clear his name.
He was fired after being blamed for a safety breach that led ...
What can an employer do about misconduct outside of the workplace?
Dealing with misconduct in the workplace can be problematic - but it can be even more challenging when it happens outside of it.
The dilemma can often be: How much contro...
The use of settlement agreements to resolve workplace disputes in the right way
It’s always best to settle workplace disputes in the right way, as the manner in which it is done can often attract a lot of attention.
Two high profile cases and the resolution to the breakdown...
Millions of workers need urgent protection from unfair dismissal
There are fears that in the coming months more jobs will be lost and one in four workers will not be protected from unfair dismissal.
It is reported that about 7.5 million employees began this y...
Monitoring remote workers in the comfort of their own homes
Employers have the right to observe employees at work, but they may need to adapt if they wish to do so for those now working from home.We are well aware that CCTV is fitted throughout workplaces, ...
Successfully challenging a decision to dismiss.
When bus driver Scott was dismissed for refusing to take a drugs test the outcome appeared a forgone conclusion.The bus operator that Scott worked for carried out random drug and alcohol testing ac...
Adapting a dismissal process during the pandemic
Life goes on as normal as it can do in the current employment climate and it will unfortunately mean that employees will lose their jobs for any number of reasons.Hundreds of thousands of jobs have...
A helping hand to make a good recovery after the sickly feeling of being unfairly dismissed
An employee can be dismissed for any number of reasons but there are some decisions, such as the one in Dane’s case that can leave you dumbfounded.The medical sales worker was sacked for failing to...
Sacked During the Probationary Period and With Less than Two Years’ Service
When Frank contacted Castle Associates for help with a dismissal appeal he admits he did not expect too much – but he did get his desired outcome.Frank, a carer, was distraught when he was dismisse...
The thin line between banter and bullying.
There is a current trend for comments that cause serious offence to be dismissed as banter – or ‘bantz’ if you were probably born in the 1990s or thereafter.The fear is banter is becoming a friendl...
Losing your job but maintaining the right to be treated fairly
If you were told you were at risk of redundancy and made redundant the following day, what would you do?In recent months tens of thousands of employees have lost their jobs by way of redundancy.Man...
Sacked for being pregnant
The bad news that can follow the good news of a pregnancy announcement at workFor an expectant mum the thought of a new arrival can be a joyous time but unfortunately the response of an employer ca...
The aim of disciplinary action and factors to consider
Most people are likely to agree an employee deserves to be punished if they do something wrong - but is it how disciplinary action should really work?The disciplinary procedure is the formal ...
Challenging if a redundancy proposal is being used as an excuse to dismiss
Most of us will have been in a position where financial concerns have caused our employer to review how it operates – and the impact of that can be extremely serious.In Davina’s case she was told s...