Suspended then made redundant

A question about : Suspended then made redundant

I'm looking for some advice...

I'll give you some background of the story - in January my employer hired one of his friends to work in the office (to take place of his brother who was struggling with the work) and for some reason she didn't seem to like me much. On 7th May this woman took me aside and told me that if she would 'find a different solution to the problem' because she was there to stay and there was nothing I could do about it - which in my view, while I couldn't care less if she works there or not, was a threat.

On 9th May I emailed my employer, who was on a business trip, stating that I felt she had threatened me to which he replied i'll speak to you on friday. That Friday he didn't bother to speak with me.

The next week (Monday 14th May) I was called into the office and told I was suspended on full pay until further notice and asked me to leave. This woman had went through my company email account and had found some emails which she deemed to be a conflict of interest with the company - my employer does not have an email policy, a monitoring at work policy or anything in the employee handbook stating that they can do this.

Whilst suspended I got a text message asking me to go in for an investigative meeting, to which I did. I then mentioned the threat and was told to raise a grievance, which I did the next day. I was called in for another meeting regarding the investigation (all meeting were arrange by text message for the same day) to which I attended. At the end of the meeting I was handed a first redundancy consultation letter stating that individual consulation meeting would be scheduled within the next 7 days (date of letter 24th May, 2012) but I did not get one of these meetings. The grievance was still not mentioned.

My partners father deals with this company through his own work and the manager spoke to him regarding the situation with myself. The manager threatened and shouted at him, stating that he didn't want me back at work and if I didn't drop the grievance things would be worse for me. He then proceeded to text my partners father saying that if I just resign now none of this would follow me and my record would be clean.

I then sent a letter to my employer to withdraw the grievance and stated on the letter that it was at the advice of my partner and his family.

I went in for a final investigative meeting on 31st May and later that evening received a text message saying that I had to return to work the next morning (31st May). I went back to work.

On 12th June, I received a letter stating that whilst my explaination of the emails wasnt satisfactory they had decided that no formal action would be taken. Later on I spoke to the Manager who was dealing with these meetings and he stated that they couldn't fire me as they didn't have any evidence against me and that the letter had been worded by the woman who threatened me.

On 18th June, I received a second redundancy consulation letter and was told that I would most likely be made redundant. On 22nd June I received my redundancy termination notice. My leaving date was 22nd July, 2012.

Do you think it is worth pursuing a case against my employer? I feel that my redundancy was mainly down to this woman having a personal vendetta against me hence going through my emails...I look forward to hearing from you.

Best answers:

• How long have you worked there? You could have appealed the redundancy, but I imagine you would be outside the allowed period by now. You could still go to tribunal if you feel you have grounds, but your position has been significantly weakened by not appealing.
• I would pursue this as you where, bullied, threatened, had your email account hacked by someone who works for the company and has no right to access your emails.
  Seek professional advice on this and do it asap.
• OP Has three months to put the matter to tribunal, I believe. That seems to end next week so if I am right they had better move fast.