Law and work

[cris r]

Can anyone give some advice on a problen a friend is having at work. This is the story as I know it. She is eighteen and has worked at a solicitors office for eight months she has had three days off in that time one of those for a hospital appointment. Which she had a written letter of notice issued . A while ago she made a complaint about a lady in the office and since then she feels she has been bullied. Especially by the boss. Last week she fainted whilst in the gym and was taken to hosital. But had no time off through fear of loseing her job. She has just been to the doctors who has sent her for blood test and signed her off through stress, does she have any rights here as she has only been in the job for eight months she feels that they will now sack her . BY all accounts she does work hard in her job. many thanks

[sue11]

I will try to help based on how my company operates. Anyone who is employed for less than a year can be dismissed by their company without the company having to give any reason for why they have decided to dismiss. An employee can appeal against this if the dismissal was made on the grounds of discrimination or harrasement, be it racial, sexual or bullying.
While I have said that a company can dismiss without any reason in an employee's first year, if a company decides to take an employee through a disciplinary process during the first year of employment, they must continue to go through the proper disciplinary procedure, they cannot suddenly invoke the 'less than one year rule'. If they do this, the employee will have grounds for an appeal against their dismissal.
Is your friend back at work yet? There is a danger that if she takes too much time off sick, the company can decide that she is too much trouble and effort to continue to employ, it sounds very unfair but it is their right to do this. However if they do this, there may just be some grounds for appeal on this, dependant on if she was asked to sign any medical questionaire at the start of her employment and if her sickness can be proved to be a pre-exising condition that they did not bother to ask her about.
Also has your friend put anything in writing to her boss about the bullying episode, even if she feels that the boss has been involved? My suggestion would be that she emails the boss asking for a meeting to discuss some of the above issues. Then once the meeting has finished, she should email him again stating that the email is to clarify the points discussed and raised at the meeting. Any emails like this can be held by her if she needs any written evidence of any harrassement by her company.
(continued in next post)

[sue11]

(continued from last post)
She should also record the time and dates of any instances of bullying or unfair treatment she feels she is receiving. If she is going to try to appeal against bullying she must raise a grievance for this with her company, she cannot later claim this at a tribunal appeal without having lodged any grievance, which is why I think the meeting and written email response will help her.
My company dismissed an employee who had taken a lot of time off sick in her first year (she was off 11 times for minor illness in a 2 month period). We did this without any disciplinary meetings or prior warnings. The employee was outraged that we had dismissed her in this manner and tried to claim that her manager had bullied and discrimated against her. She never got anywhere as she had not raised any grievence against her manager with us in her time of employment.
Your friend is in a difficult position, having been in the job for less than a year, but I hope that I have been of some help to clarify things a little more for her. I would also suggest that she should get further advice if she feels things are not getting better at work.
Good luck
SueSue

[cris r]

Thanks for that Sue it was very helpfull and I will pass it on to her I only got involved as she seemed so down about the whole thing. She has been signed off now her Boss is not happy about it at all. I can not see this having a happy ending I did not think she had any rights in the first twelve months anyway we will see. Thanks again Sue x

[sue11]

Glad to have helped, I will keep my fingers crossed for her!
Cheers Sue