Girlfriend just got fired!

zoomee said:
I'd take that to court tbh - pretty sure they can't pull a stunt like that without proving she was underperforming or causing difficulties for the firm. Name and shame the gits
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Unfortunately UK employment law is pretty weak, especially if you don't meet the current 2 year qualifying period for service commencing since 6 April 2012.

However, there are some exceptions where you don't need the qualifying service period. For example if she can demonstrate that the dismissal was really due to discrimination (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation), whistleblowing, trade union or health and safety activity or asserting a statutory right.

Disclaimer: IANAL
 
This might interest you..

Even though you may have shorter notice periods whilst on probation, you still need to follow the basic three step process when dismissing an employee. You need to put in writing the nature of conduct that gives rise to potential dismissal, call a meeting with the employee to discuss this conduct, and then confirm the decision in writing, giving the employee a chance to appeal. These regulations apply to all employees, regardless of length of service, or if they are still within their probationary period
Failure to follow these regulations does not automatically give rise to an unfair dismissal claim as unfair dismissal claims can only be brought after two years of service. However, if you did fail to follow these regulations and a discrimination claim was brought against you, the Employment tribunal can increase the compensation by 10% and they also have the discretion to increase the award by up to 50% where the correct procedure has not been followed. Therefore, dismissing an employee who is still within their probationary period without following statutory processes can end up being very costly.


It is important to get your employment contracts right, for example, if you want to place a probationary period in the contract, you may also want to state the terms in which that period can be extended, otherwise you have no legal standing to extend the probationary period of a new employee. You may feel that you need just a little bit more time to assess their productivity and interaction with the team before removing the right to dismiss following a shorter notice period. If you place such a provision into the employment contract at the outset, then you are well within your rights to extend a probation period, should you need to do so. It is also important to make sure that you inform the employee when they have successfully passed their probation period as this can be good for staff morale.



http://blog.rmandco.co.uk/blog/bid/...What-you-need-to-know-about-probation-periods
 
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zoomee said:
I'd take that to court tbh - pretty sure they can't pull a stunt like that without proving she was underperforming or causing difficulties for the firm. Name and shame the gits
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It depends on the terms of employment. Assuming she was ona 6 month probabtion period, I beleive they can terminate at any point during the 6 months, although woul dneed that verified by someone conversant in employment law.

Its a crappy thing to do this side of christams though. They should have at least seen it out untill the start of 2014 and then said sorry e have to let you go as there is no work to justify the current FTE and apply last in first out principle
 
What an absolute *******!

Better to know know rather then later and potentially save yourself over indulging over christmas though...

I'm just getting a mortgage now and i'm worried about loosing my job and money but its how you deal with these issues, its a part of life!
 
zoomee said:
I'd take that to court tbh - pretty sure they can't pull a stunt like that without proving she was underperforming or causing difficulties for the firm. Name and shame the gits
Click to expand...

Thanks to Osbourne and Cable you can't take any employer to court for 2 years now, probationary period or not. The only exceptions are for things like racial, gender, religion, age and disability prejudiced sackings.
 
I remember hearing that probation periods allow employers to do this sort of thing because employees on probation are exempt from a lot of employment laws, that's why a lot of companies have been getting rid of staff at the end of the probation period and just take on another. It's a bit of a loophole that is being abused.

Given that she has only been there 6wks though I guess they are just restructuring or something?
 
What a crap time to do it. Don't know what type of firm it is but those dealing with sole traders and small businesses are about to hit one of there busiest times of year with year end accounts and tax returns so they must have thought they had a good reason for letting her go.
 
^I don't see why this idiot is still allowed to post on this forum. 95% of his posts are utter tripe.
 
If she's a wheelchair bound, black, muslim bisexual then I think you've hit the tribunal jackpot OP.

If not, then better start brushing up her CV, especially to gloss over the six week job issue.
 
My problem with threads like this is this. We only get one side of the story. The OP's. Now I'm not saying the OP is wrong here but logically, to accurately evaluate any give circumstance, both sides of the story should be heard.

For all I know, the OP's GF could have been a complete **** at work and maybe that is the reason she was binned. I'm not saying it's true here, but it's plausible.

I would feel more able to offer an objective opinion on this if the employers could post too giving their reasons for her dismissal.

So for now, no sympathy from me but no condemnation either. I'm just not in a position to give a reasoned and valuable opinion.
 
Thanks for the support folks. Some of the responses although inappropriate made me smile :)

We'll get through it, just means some people won't be getting anything from us this year.

She got news from other people within the building that this particular firm does indeed use people especially graduates desperate for jobs! At least she got paid for what she did.

There is never a good time to be made jobless.
 
Its more common than you think. Rather than the company being honest and saying that they need someone to help them catch up and pay a contractors wages, they just let the person go knowing they won't make a fuss.

It happened to me a few years ago, but strangely I got invited for interview recently. Basically as I said, you dig them out of a hole and then they can legally shaft you.

The Tories brought in this two year rule to facilitate companies being able to do this. Along with this, you have to pay to bring a case before the tribunal and another if it goes to court. If you are out of work, this is designed to discourage even legitimate claims.
 
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