A question about : Dismissal advice please!!
Hello everybody
this may turn out to be a bit long but I want to be precise, some may seem irrelevant but i feel i should give all facts as to events
I had been working as a sales rep for a catering butchers(since 30/03/2014), supplying meat to pubs, restaurants ect, but normal business was NOT to supply to private individuals just to business(relevance of this will become clear). In addition to sales duties I also deliver my own generated orders, so have a company marked van. The company offices and factory is located some 70 miles away from my home address, so it was decided when I started that it was more efficient to be home based and communicte with the office via email in the form of daily reports, plus the van has a tracker so they can(and excessivley did) monitor me. I was paid Ј18000 per annum and no provision for private use of van(considerably less than the Ј30000 + Car the job was advertised at, I needed the job so was pretty much forced to accept the offer). There were no major targets to hit and was told if I generated Ј100000 worth of trade in my first 12 months they would be ecstatic. At the end of jan 2015, after 10 months in the job i had generated Ј135000.
Last Weds(11/02/2015) I recieved a phonecall from my boss(finance director who I reported to). He stated that a large customer who I was interested in talking to had been in touch and wanted to discuss giving the company their business. He asked me to travel to the office for 8am the next morning to discuss it and give my input. Upon arrival the next morning(12/02/2015) at 8am I was taken into an office with the finance director, MD, and facory manager under the impression this was a meeting about the customer. I was then told that this was NOT about the reason I had been given, instead that they had been informed that I had been handing out product lists for another company and asked if this is true....
[I had been suffering from financial difficulties for a long period and through a friend I was offered a small extra income by selling via a website, meat products to home customers only, essentially an online butchers shop. I agreed to do this as it did not interfere with my primary employers customer base. It was clear my friend was struggling and there were a couple of ex customers who no longer wanted to deal with my primary employer, who had said they would love to deal with me, but refused to deal with products from the primary employer. So initially I made introductions and negotiated prices(prices and specific cuts are fairly standard in the industry and were set according to what the customer currently paid, again standard in any sales negotiation). The customers agreed and I was their point of contact via phone, I have not, despite accusations, dealt with any of these during my primary work hours, nor were they current customers of primary employer. After this success I was made an attractive offer, If I brought in the customers I would be offered a 40% stake in a new catering venture and I had put out feelers among my customer base to guage interest, at the time of 12/02/2015 interest was high and I had planned to gain agreements over the coming weeks and leave primary employer. I have never, or would ever deliver products in my primary employers van or whilst wearing their uniform and this can be witnessed. All deliveries had been undertaken by my friend upon my insistence]
....So back to the meeting under false pretences of 12/02/2015, upon being presented with the allegations(bear in mind that I had been there under a false impression and had no prior warning that allegations had been made, therefore no time to prepare a case), I decided it was fruitless to deny that I had handed out product lists(I had done that and it was a fair cop), I admitted I had done that, but denied that I had done it on work time. At this time they became aggressive and intimidating and was told it is gross misconduct and instant dismissal and i was to leave the premises immediately, leave the van and make my own way home. the exact quote is Ok, so you admit you have, that is gross misconduct and you are instantly dismissed to leave immediately, get your stuff and f**k off now, and you can make your own way home.I was then given a letter of confirmation of summary dismissal, the finance director had signed it and he had it in his hand at the start of the meeting, so that indicates the decision had already been made, can i correctly assume this?? I stated I had no cash on me to make the 70 mile trip, to which they replied that they dont give a s**t, and I would have to walk. I then requested access to the van to recover personal items, it was granted but only when i was accompanied by them and they were making snide comments and being aggressive and intimidating(I suspect they were attempting to make me lose my temper as they know i suffer from depression). I asked to be able to wear the company jacket i was given as it was cold (between 1-2 C according to thermometer in van), I was refused and told they didnt care how cold I was walking home I was harrassed to get my things and leave and was severely intimidated by their constant demands to inspect every item to prove it was in fact mine. I got my things and left the premises, though I have since realised 2 items were not recovered.
In order to get home I had to get a taxi into the nearest town(I did have approx Ј8 in cash to cover this), I had to phone a friend to put some money into my bank to complete the journey (Ј40 as being thursday before being paid weekly salary on friday my bank had nothing in), by bus to nearest town with a rail link, train to Huddersfield then bus to home, total cost including taxi Ј43. I do not dispute the dismissal but the manner and non following of procedure and the aggressive and intimidating nature of how it was done was surely not allowed??
I should have been paid my usual weekly salary on 13/02/2015(wek in hand , therefore this would be for the preceding week), followed next friday 20/02/2015 by remaining holiday entitlement and salary up to 12/02/2015, I was not paid on the 13/02/2015 and have recieved no reason as to why or when I can expect payment, if at all.
Not being paid has resulted in 3 standing orders not being paid which will cost Ј10 per item in charges.
I would like to appologise for the essay but I wanted to be exact and give the whole facts, but I would really like to know how to proceed, as I said I dont really contest the sacking, I did wrong and I admit that I just want what im owed but it seems they are unwilling to pay and as they know my financial worries and mental health issues it would seem they are being deliberately difficult and seem happy to see me suffer and humiliate me as much as possible.
On saturday 14/04/2015 I sent an email requesting payment, I also went and did some hours for the secondary job(not officially part of this company in reality, yet). While I was there a friend of mine, and the owner of this secondary employer, came into the unit, supposedly to visit, however this friend is also a very good friend of the ex employer, or rather friend ofthe factory manager of ex employer. Are they checking on me??, and would it make any difference that I was there after the contract has ended??
Any help and advice on what to do now would be very welcome and really needed.
Best answers:
- It is tempting to go for wrongful dismissal, as I do think the manner in which it was done was way out of order, but I would settle for just what is owed in order to draw a line under it, the willingness to settle comes from the point of view of not wanting the hassle and im really not sure where i stand, but if this community could look it over any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Are there any circumstances in which they can withold payment, or come up with any deductions?? - Afraid I agree, you were competing with your employer and, worse, canvassing their customers for your new venture.
Sorry. - I don't understand, can you please clarify.
You are generating sales whilst working from home, delivering those sales in a company supplied van and communicating with your employer by e.mail because the offices and factory are 70 miles away.
Could you please explain how the product that you are delivering is getting into your van? - If you sue your ex-employer in a county court, they may counter sue for losses they've suffered as a result of your breach of contract.
How much money are you talking about? As others have said, they can't legally withhold pay for the work you've done (assuming you were actually an employee), but if they don't pay it'll cost you to try to do something about it. I suspect it won't be worth it. - Could you work on a commission basis for the 2nd employer ?. you have a good knowledge of the ex-employer's customer-base, so could take a lot of trade from them.
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