Client was an 18yr old employee, abruptly dismissed by her supervisor from her employment on grounds of lack of punctuality, citing two recent incidents of lateness. The client had notified her employer on the two occasions she would be late to work due a burglary at her residence and illness. After lodging a personal grievance, Paul guided her through the personal grievance for unjustified dismissal procedure.
During his investigation into her dismissal, Paul uncovered the supervisor, also since dismissed, had been instructed to draft, seal and reopen a final warning letter to the client for an invented misconduct issue and place it in her work drawer. This was inteded to be presented at the hearing for her unjustified dismissal to show that the dismissal was justified. At a mediation hearing, the employer initially denied the false letter placement. After learning this was potentially a criminal matter that could be referred to the Police, the employer quickly agreed to settle the claim by way of substantial financial settlement.
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Client is the owner of small family run courier company. An employee was regularly delivering goods, intended for a retail customer of the client, to a friend to resell. A stocktake audit revealed the extent of the missing and the retailer appointed a private investigator to discover how, when and who the goods were being stolen by.
Subsequent enquiry into the GPS tracking system onboard the delivery truck revealed which employee was deviating from his specified route to deliver stock to a 3rd party. This employee admitted to the private investigator that he had stolen the goods and given them to an associate. He later denied making this statement. Having previously advised them on restructuring and related employee issues, Paul was engaged by the courier client to guide them through conducting a complex employment investigation. This included dismissing the employee from his employment and navigating the procedural process after the same employee lodged a personal grievance of unjustified dismissal. The dismissed employee eventually sought proper legal advice, who explained that the employer had correctly undertaken all the necessary legal steps to ensure their desired outcome, which coupled with his admitted guilt, significantly reduced his chances of success. The employee dropped his claim of an unjustified dismissal. |
AuthorPaul is an employment lawyer guiding both employees and employers through employment law procedures they face. ArchivesCategories
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