Yeah man. I'm pretty rammed at the moment but up for it, trying to get back to normal working hours after a month or two of working evenings and weekends.

Here's a link to the gov info on dismissals.
https://www.gov.uk/dismiss-staff

You can't claim unfair dismissal because you have been there less than 2 years (stupid but them the rules).
However there is also wrongful dismissal but what is eligible for that doesn't seem to be as well outlined.
Although it seems to suggest as long as you are given notice or pay in lieu of notice it wouldn't be wrongful dismissal.

First of, sorry to hear that Nick. SOunds like a shitty situation.

Yeah, if you've been employed less than 2 years, you can't claim unfair dismissal, which frankly I find insane. It sounds like you've been given pay in lieu of notice, which they can do, as long as it covers your notice period. They don't quite have carte blanche to fire though. Some things are automatically unfair (firing you because of a disability for example)

What I would say is that if you were dismissed in a meeting that you were advised was about something else, this may be a fuck up on their part, and where you might be able to make a case. Really, you should have been given written notice of a formal meeting. Does your contract state a disciplinary procedure?

Did they offer any support on under performance, or was the first you heard of it this meeting?

Cheers dudes. Means a lot to have support on a shit day like today.

Dants, we had talked about underperforming before today but nothing official. What they were was them telling me my probation being extended a couple of times, then when it was going well telling me I’d passed.

Oh mate, that's shit, especially given the circumstances of a third party waiting in the wings.

It's very likely you would be able to claim wrongful dismissal, without knowing any details, your employer has very probably screwed up the process of managing an underperforming member of staff (please excuse the term), in terms of proper documented meetings, agreed improvement plans, notice of underperformance, etc.

The problem is, you now have to pay tribunal/court and solicitor costs up front then wait for the case to be heard, etc. Even if you win, you have already been paid notice period wages? so any compensation would be quite low.

Your local CAB would probably be able to point you in the direction of a local solicitor that will have a low one off fee charge to go over the high level details of your case, but honestly, it may not be worthwhile. Time may be best spent putting the feelers out to get a new post and taking some time with the family, have a bit of a smoke, play some games, cook a bit and consider this a bit of a holiday from the madness of work.

Write off today though, just try not to have a heart attack. It may not feel like it, but things will turn out ok. Promise.

SPD your boss on the way out Nick. Sounds like bullshit to me.

Onward to bigger and better things mate.

Ah shit news nick.

Start a bbq pop up stand Nick.

That’s not a bad idea.

Absolutely what stoph says mate, then you've a completely clean slate. At interview if asked, make something up depending upon how the culture feels (work family balance, flexibility to work at home, etc)

Stopharage wrote:

fullspectrum wrote:

Do the Stophs and Mostlies know if I should be looking to lawyer up here, if I feel it was unfair? Can’t acutally claim unfair dismissal it seems.

Mostly has given you some terrific advice there. In terms of legal measures I’m not sure how worthwhile that would be. Presumably you wouldn’t want the job back now that you (likely) feel stabbed in the back. In terms of payouts, they’re already giving you some money so can’t imagine you’d get much more.

I’d imagine that the whole targets monitoring period has been pretty stressful so perhaps look upon this as a way to rest and refresh.

Personally, I’d email them as professionally as my anger would let me and say that whilst you’ve been advised that their conduct may not have been strictly legal you are not interested in proceeding through a tribunal. But, you expect them to write you a positive reference and that you chose to leave rather than were dismissed. They have nothing to gain in disagreeing with this and it may make your job hunting easier.

Big hugs buddy.

I'd say this is good advice. To elaborate on that, focus on procedures to tackle improvement, signing off probation, and unrealistic targets. But of course any emails you sent you will have lost access to.

Wow, that's more than rubbish. Big hugs, Nick.

Nick's not half bad either. Hope things straighten out soon.

Yossarian wrote:

FWIW, I look back on the one time I was fired as a very positive thing in the end, it got me out of a job I wasn’t happy in and caused me to re-evaluate my life. Fingers crossed you’ll feel the same way too. .

I'd just like to second the above. I got let go many years ago but it was a job I hated and was only doing for a pretty crap salary. Made me realise that I needed to set my targets higher and led to much better things. I've no doubt you'll move onto better things.

Gav I wish we could have salty beers right now haha

Cheers Dave, everyone else who’s dropped a few words of support. There’s a lot of us here who understand what a difference that can make.

Rob, H. Nicki took over when I needed her more level head to look at the facts here to assess best next move, then wrote a post of thanks. We’re both super grateful for the laying down of practical knowledge. Liv, massive shout out to you, staying in contact about the agency world would be grand.

I’m no expert in CVs, but the basic thing with this and the application form is to use the job description and person specification as a guide; in those two documents they tell you exactly what skills and experience they want to to tell them you have.