Help or advice for a workplace disciplinary

Hi and welcome to the community.

You might find the advice in these resources helpful:

Citizens Advice - Dealing with disciplinary action at work

Which also includes links to further articles on:

• Preparing for a disciplinary or dismissal meeting
• Where to start
• Who can accompany you to a disciplinary meeting
• Appealing against disciplinary action

NAS - What can I do if I’m having trouble at work?

• Autism, discrimination and UK employment law
• Conflict, bullying and harassment
• What can I do if my employer thinks I’m not able to do my job?
• Dismissal from your job (being sacked)
• Links, resources and article sources

ACAS - Disciplinary and grievance procedures

Companies cannot discriminate against an employee for having union membership and using union support such as legal advice whether they recognise unions or not. But I do see your point about being a multi million pounds company. It wouldn't stop you from seeking advice from a union though, the company wouldn't need to know that you'd asked advice.

As for the general issue. I agree with Iain that it does depend somewhat on what your job is.

Fraud seems particularly extreme. Yes you should have informed someone if not at the time but afterwards, even if it was just an email. But as soon as it has come up you were honest so I don't see how they have a chance in hell of that standing up. 

As for the wages, they surely just take that out of your next paycheck and then that's taken care of.

Breach of trust I kind of get. You left without permission.

Breach of health and safety I assume is they wouldn't have known you weren't there if there was an emergency situation.

I think your best bet is to hold your hands up and acknowledge that you should have informed them and emphasise the difficulty in communicating when you hit that point. If they seem cooperative suggest there be a plan put in place for how such a situation could be managed in the future and if there are any other reasonable adjustments that could be put in place.

In all honesty though, what your describing does not sound like a supportive environment for an autistic person to work in.

LexTalionis said:

I can't afford legal representation

Given the cost to you of losing your job I would think the cost of a few hundred pounds for a solicitor / lawyer would be worth considering.

The fact you are bringing in the "big guns" to the meeting will automatically make the HR team become ultra careful not to let the management make rash decisions that could expose the company to a lawsuit.

I have used this before and often just getting a letter to the company from a solicitor to ask for detailed explanations on why they want to punish a staff member on the basis of a disabled trait is sometimes enough.

This has been very effective for me and resulted in an immediate backing down from the company, the manager being put on warning and a large payout being made. All for less than £200 in costs to me.

Read the company policy on complaints though - I found that the company actually would pay for my legal representation in cases like this.

Trying to be your own legal counsel while under significant stress with a history of meltdowns seems like a recipie for disaster to me, but that is only my opinion.

It is slightly irrelevant now, as you aren't a member anyway - but had you been, and say you were dismissed for gross misconduct, a Union could get you legal representation to either fight that decision or to claim compensation from a tribunal decision, irrespective of whether the company recognised unions in the workplace. 

You don't technically even need to be employed to join a Union and garner some benefits of solidarity with others.  

Thank you for your reply Jalapeño, fingers crossed, I can't afford legal representation but have looked into the law myself plus my counsellor knows his stuff, nobody wants to be the one to sack the disabled guy because of something caused by said disability ie rational decision making due to asd and extreme stress , plus they wouldn't want to risk a tribunal costing tens of thousands and a long timely legal mess, and worst case they have to pay me compensation on top, i just need to get it across it was a one time incident caused by extreme stress and that a solution based outcome would be better than a punitive outcome would be better for both parties

I think if you can get some legal advice ahead of the meeting so you have a good idea of what would be appropriate action, that they should come to based on the facts given your length of service, what led to this one off event and that they are aware of your ASD/ADHD.

Also the lay-offs/redundancies should be completely separate and it would look very bad on your employers part - if it seemed to be in their minds - am sure the disciplinary could potentially be viewed as unfair dismissal if they go this route (again legal advice will help - if this is their decision)

Hopefully the disciplinary will be a lesser sanction, and actually may educate them on the events that resulted in your action.  Wish you well !

LexTalionis said:

what is PIP please?

PIP stands for Personal Improvement Plan - essentially a set of criteria you have to achieve over a probation period in order to demonstrate you are still able to perform your job to the required standard.

Previous performance does not relate here as it is all about how you perform now.

With all the stuff going on in your personal life now I do strongly recommend a therapist - they worked wonders for me.

Poi tless when my workplace doesn't recognise them, and let's face it, they don't rally have any power against a multi million pound company turning over 190 mil a year

Also, thank you for the reply 

Also what is PIP please? My counsellor is attending with me who specialises in ASD and ADHD, will that help to explain my case?

Just to clarify, we had 2 weeks holiday that's why I didn't say anything before, my relationship was inthe toilet and I was panicking about spending 2 weeks with my partner amongst a myriad of other problems 

LexTalionis said:

I left, we had 2 weeks off then when I came back I was asked if I'd left early that day and I admitted I did

In practical terms you should have notified them within the same day or the next working day, but given the circumstances it is understandable to us why you didn't.

If you left it 2 weeks before pointing it out then it does look to them like you were hiding it in their eyes. In your shoes I would apologise and point out that it was your disability that was preventing you from being able to notify them sooner.

Looking at this from the company point of view, they now see you as being potentially unreliable, able to fail at a moments notice and be out for several weeks without contacting them - this is not a behaviour they will want to tolerate if they can.

This is just to manage your expectations of what is to come - you are starting to look like a liability to them so interactions need to be carefully considered in future.

My approach in your situation would be to go heavy on the disability aspect wih your lawyer present in the disciplinary meeting (check this is allowed before doing it of course) and thank the company for their support so far, and say "I hope I can continue providing the level of results I have done for the last 7 years" to remind them of your clean history.

So long as the meeting is not combative but respectful and apologetic then it should calm tempers and make them take your seriously (largely thanks to the lawyer being there) and you can work out a way to deal with things in future with maybe a PIP in place to give them a sense of "that'll teach you" petty vengence.

They will think twice about taking it further as you are not an easy target now and they know you are likely to make an effective legal case against them if they just sack you.

Your biggest challenge in getting your own mental health under control to avoid a repeat so I strongly recommend you engage with a psychotherapist with lots of autism experience and get to grips with whatever is causing the meltdowns at a minimum.

It is well documented thatvi have these conditions at work, and the whole matter stems from me leaving work without informing anyone, i had a fight or flight moment during what felt like the start of burnout and I left, we had 2 weeks off then when I came back I was asked if I'd left early that day and I admitted I did and gave my reasons, they paid me after I admitted I wasn't there after 13:30, I finish at 3 so it was only an hour and a half, I didn't do it to be deceitful or cause harm or breach of trust it was an extreme response to an overwhelming situation totally out of character and up to that point I had a good record within the company 

LexTalionis said:

I have a disciplinary for gross misconduct coming up at work, I left work 2 hours early and didn't inform anyone

This in itself is not such a big deal unless in doing so you endangered others (eg if you were the "spotter" for incoming trains for a rail track repair team) or if you caused the company to suffer a significant loss (eg they lost a multi milion pound contract because you missed a deadline).

I assume you notified your manager as soon as you could - if you didn't then it is going to look like you were trying to hide it which makes it harder to defend. If you did thell them then it is their resposibility to amend your attendance record and adjust pay accordingly, so this could explain the 2nd and 3rd charges.

I would make sure you have the record of contacting your boss to back up your case.

Did you notify your employer that you are autistic? This would cover you to a degree for the situaiton as you can claim it is a known aspect of the condition.

I see only 2 practical approaches for you here - one is to apologise profusely, point out your perfect record and ask for mercy. The other is to lawyer up and defend youself with them as your representative in disciplinary meetings. This can be done on a video or audio confetence.

The lawyer / solicitor approach will be expensive and if you didn't notifyy your manager of your early finish or advice the company of your autism then you will be at a disadvantage already.

I would also check the company handbook about disciplinary processes and understand the details on how these processes work so you are educated going into it and can have all the defence you can muster.

From their reaction to this (ie attacking rather than being supportive) I get the feeling they want you gone so I would already be looking for another job to get ahead of the curve. Keep all communications between you in case you decide to sue but expect the worst while hoping for the best.

I think I managed to avoid making explicit legal advice here because that is forbidden by the NAS rules, but hopefully it has been of use.

Good luck

Just one further point, anyone can join a Union, and you are not obliged to tell your employer.   Being a Union member qualifies you for a raft of benefits including legal advice in many cases.  

Also my workplace doesn't recognise unions and anyone suspected trying to involve a union tends to disappear 

Thank you for your reply, no there's nothing more to it, and no I have a good record at work up to that point, but there are lay offs and short hours at the moment and it seems like an attempt to get rid of me rather than lay me off and pays years redundancy, 2 people at my workplace have already taken their own lives because of financial pressure and job uncertainty

I think it is good that you have your counsellor attending.  I'd hate to speculate as to the result of the disciplinary, but just from what you say it does seem like overkill to lay four charges and potentially sack someone for this one offence, unless there was more to it, aggravating factors, or perhaps similar things have happened before (not that I am saying they have).  It seems heavy-handed, but I don't know the detail of your employment, nor why they'd be punitive in this fashion. 

My advice would be to accept what you've done, and adopt a conciliatory tone if possible, rather than one of someone who has been wronged. 

I also think it is a pity wherever you work appears not to be Unionised but that's another issue.  They could have potentially helped you greatly, especially if you feel your mental health was the cause of this lapse. 

I wish you good luck with the outcome.