Employment Law Scotland - Help needed

[tiachica]

We'll find out on Monday. He's made a list of questions to ask and things he would like to say.

[tiachica]

The second conversation never took place.

He received his letter today with 2 weeks of garden leave.

Please keep us in your thoughts so that he will soon find a new job.

[Glutton4...]

B*st*rds!

((((HUGS)))) to you both.

[SarzWix]

Ditto what G4 said

Such a cowardly way for the company to deal with this Your hubby shouldn't allow this to 'bring him down', although I know that's easy to say... But he will definitely end up in a better place that!

Best wishes to you both, fingers crossed that this is the beginning of something better xx

[Jeanied]

This has constructive dismissal written all over it. I hope this is in Scots law as well.

[bigt1888]

i would suggest he joins unite the union and asks them for advice.

he can join online and even if they cant help in this case at least he will have them if he moves elsewhere

[Croila]

Oh dear, the poor guy, what lousy treatment he's had. I so hope he gets something much, much better very soon!

But, just to reiterate, as he's in the first year of employment he can't do anything. Constructive dismissal is a stinker to prove at tribunal too. Only about 5% of cases win, and it can take up to 18 months for the case to be heard and a verdict reached. The success rate of winning is appalling so I wouldn't contemplate going down this route for a minute, particularly as he's in the first year of employment.

Incidentally, I don't think Scots law differs from English/Welsh law in employment matters. Certainly all the training I've had as a union Rep has been generic for the whole of the UK.

I'd also recommend he joins a union though. You never know when you'll need them and they'll fight your corner and keep you right. On an individual basis, I mean. Don't even get me started on the collective benefits, you'll need to get me off my soap box ;-)

But seriously, best of luck to Mr Tiachica, and try and keep your chin up ...

[zazen999]

Constructive dismissal is when the employee resigns as their position has been made so bad that they have no option.

Unfair dismissal would be the case here; but not in the first year. Painful as it is; the only way he would be able to bring any case is if he could prove that they didn't follow their procedure.

Chin up Mr T. There are jobs out there; it's just the long slog of finding one that's hard.

[Hilary B]

Politely pointing out that he was not given fair warning, so could they give him a glowing reference by way of compensation, is probably the best he can hope for (they may well decline to do so, but it can't hurt to try).
If he was not given work, they can't honestly claim he wasn't doing it properly; put something polite to that effect in a letter and ask for the reference.
It always pay to be polite for as long as possible. Quite apart from anything else, it will probably confuse them!

[burnie]

Employment law is the same in Scotland as is in England,for the first twelvemonths you have no call to a tribunal unless the grounds are racial,sexual,gender or age.The company does not have to give any reason and does not have to follow any procedures.They do not have to give a reference either,they can just refuse.
I know all of this as I had to do a refresher course on this and live in Scotland.You can join a trade union,but they will not take on a case that is to be back dated,at least that is certainly the case in the manufacturing and engineering unions.I have been a member all my working life,I treat it as employment insurance and have unfortunately had to use it on more than one occasion.
Not so long ago that nice Mrs Thatcher doubled the time scale to two years,but Blair halved it when they first came to power,when tribunals were first introduced the period was six months.

[Glutton4...]

Politely pointing out that he was not given fair warning, so could they give him a glowing reference by way of compensation, is probably the best he can hope for (they may well decline to do so, but it can't hurt to try).
If he was not given work, they can't honestly claim he wasn't doing it properly; put something polite to that effect in a letter and ask for the reference.
It always pay to be polite for as long as possible. Quite apart from anything else, it will probably confuse them!

I completely agree, Hilary. Good idea.

[Croila]

You can join a trade union,but they will not take on a case that is to be back dated,at least that is certainly the case in the manufacturing and engineering unions.

My full-time job is working for a financial services trade union (yeh, you can imagine how busy I am at the moment ..!!!), and we have a three month exclusion clause for new members: we'll only advise, not fomally represent. Too many folks unfortunately come to use once something has gone wrong and they need our help. I liken it to driving a car and only phoning up to get insurance once you've crashed ... It's not on, really.

I'd definitely recommend everyone who's employed by someone else to join a union!