Gross misconduct? Being dismissed? HELP!

A question about : Gross misconduct? Being dismissed? HELP!

I really need some advice and quick....I am a teaching assistant at a secondary school and have recently been suspended pending a disciplinary hearing. According to my headmistress I am guilty of gross misconduct and bringing the school into disrepute..... I was down the pub with a few work colleagues and got into a conversation with employees of another school (the content of this conversation is being questioned) also on the night I threw a drink over one of the other party. The issue I have is that a number of employees from the other school have wrote statements and although they all say I said a few things which I shouldn't have A. they are lying and B. their statements are all contradicting...... My union rep has told me to resign however as most of what they are saying cannot be proved and some of what they are saying is lies I don't know where I stand. I have never been in trouble before at school, at work or with the police....and ideas??

Best answers:

• Puoring a drink over someone is common assult.
  Put it down to experience, how you behave outside working hours can have a detriment opon your employment, I'm semi certain that is in your contract.
• Irrespective of what you did or did not say, you threw a drink over a fellow LA employee. That in itself is sufficient for gross misconduct - you have brought the school into disrepute.
  Do you have anyone willing to support your version of events?
• As part of any teaching/school work post, you are expected to uphold your responsibility in and out of school. Regardless of whether they are telling the truth or telling lies, you threw a drink over someone who works in the same LA, which does bring your school into disrepute.
  Act on the advice of your union.
• When did you start employment there?
• To throw a drink you must have been under the influence of alcohol. Are you certain that what they are saying is untrue?
• Thanks for all of your replies. As far as I'm aware my headmistress doesn't seem to think that the throwing of the drink was the issue, her main concern was the content of conversation.
  -There is no-one to back up my version of events.
  -I've been an employee there for just over a year.
  -And yes I had had a drink but there was a series of events that led up to me throwing a drink it wasn't because I was under the influence and I'm 100% sure of what everyone said that night.
• Throwing a drink when you were associatable with your school would in itself be seen as boorish yob like behaviour if it made the press and would certainly bring the school into disrepute.
  That they have decided to pick this up and turn it into something else is out of your control and as you appear to have decided to be "one of the lads" and stay out after your colleagues had the sense to call it a day, you've left yourself open to a number of them versus one of you when it comes to witness statements.
  If you choose not to take your Unions advice, then you might just gain some credibility in going to the hearing, restricting your protestations of innocence to a statement like "I dispute their version of events" before spending the rest of the time making it clear that you understand how serious this sort of behaviour in public is, how you were naive to get into a situation where allegations of that nature could be thrown at you with no real means of contesting them, and that you have learned your lesson big time. They will probably still fire you but if your general work has been good, and you generally come across as someone that might grow up into a decent employee you might just get away with a final written warning.
• 1. My colleagues had not had the "sense to call it a day" they had in fact been told to leave the pub.
  2. I did not decide to be "one of the lads" I in fact was sticking up for myself as I had been bullied all night by a large group of women who were clearly out to make trouble (of course it was not the best way to go about it but there you are).
  3. And it is not a case of "growing up into a decent employee" as I have already been told that I am a model employee and my work has never been faulted.
  My employer has already stated that what I get up to in my own time is my own business and as I have already previously stated she is more concerned with the nature of the conversation NOT the drink throwing. I need to know where I stand with regards to that.
• Where you stand is very much on the wrong side of the balance of probabilities. In order to dismiss you they need to establish that on the balance of probabilities (not beyond reasonable doubt as would be the case in a criminal trial) you did what you are being accused of. With a number of statements against you and none backing you - that balance of probabilities is horribly stacked towards being disciplined.
• Have you apologised for throwing the drink?
• Yes the drink has been apologised for...
• If the statements contradict each other, then which one is the head believing? She can't believe them all so presumably you can call to have them all thrown out.
• I have to say that I am surprised that the union rep is advising you to resign, as the usual advice to someone with an otherwise unblemished record would be to attend the hearing, explain that what happened, apologise for your conduct, show remorse, and hope that you would be given a final written warning (along the lines of what WestonDave said in his post above).
  Which leads me to think that what you are alleged to have said in the conversation is very serious indeed, in the context of a school employment?
  Your union rep should have explained the procedure to you, but just in case...
  The person conducting the hearing does not have to prove that you did in fact say what you are alleged to have said.
  What s/he does have to do is to conduct a thorough investigation - which includes taking statement from other people involved, meeting with you to hear your version of events, and making any follow up enquiries. S/he then must come to a reasonable conclusion based on the facts revealed by that investigation, which s/he honestly believes to be true.
  As someone else has said, this is a long way from proving beyond reasonable doubt that you did in fact say what you are alleged to have said.
  As regards what your headmistress has said - if she really has said that you are guilty of gross misconduct and bringing the school into disrepute, that is a serious breach of procedure, as this suggests that a decision has already been made before they have even had the disciplinary meeting. However I suspect that is not quite what has been said, but how you have interpreted the letter informing you that you are required to attend a disciplinary meeting?
  If that is the case, then you should understand that because the conduct complained of is capable of amounting to gross misconduct, the letter must warn you that your job is at risk. This does not mean that it has already been decided that you did what is alleged, or that it has already been decided that the appropriate sanction is dismissal. What it means is that these things are being considered.
  As I say, I am surprised that you are being advised to resign, but this may be that the union rep has access to information that you either haven't told us, or don't know yourself (which should not be the case).
  But if your best defence is effectively 'they can't prove I said it'.... that is not going to take you very far, because they don't have to prove it.
• With all those written statements from other people present at the pub, who do you think your headmistress is going to believe? It's your word against the word of many others. Which is why you have been advised to resign by your union rep.
• I would of thought
  a) If you resign, you may still get a job at another school.
  b) If you take the gamble on the hearing and you are sacked for gross misconduct, snowball in hell chance.
  Hope this helps.