Girlfriend sacked, need advice.

Skully · 8 Dec 2007 at 00:54

Yeh I will push for a doctors note to attach to her CV for future applications.

I just think it is ridiculous that they would do such a thing when she has done nothing wrong!

Plus she was the hottest one there!

Surfer · 8 Dec 2007 at 00:55

she had a lumbar puncture at the hospital??? ouch :/

How did they sack her?
Has she shown them the Doctors Note to say why she was off.

A letter written to the firm explaining this might help.

other than that a letter written to your local newspaper? "Girl sacked from law firm for being ill once."

theres more to this i think.....

Skully · 8 Dec 2007 at 00:57

Over the phone, the doctor ordered her to stay off work and to rest for the next week before returning.

She is still very ill and unable to stay conscious for a prolonged amount of time without severe pains.

Her mother has been the intermediary with the company as she really is unable to do much other than mumble at the moment.

There isn't much more to it, she loved that job and did everything she could to be there!

Surfer · 8 Dec 2007 at 01:19

get GP to speak to company. What did her mum say to the company ? Did she say that it was an Emergency and your gf was critically ill? Thats what she should have said.

Has the company yet received any official note from the GP ?? i doubt they would have sacked her just for being ill once.

Cybermyk · 8 Dec 2007 at 01:22

Is it possible that something at her workplace caused the illness?

Kreeeee · 8 Dec 2007 at 01:30

Skully said:
She was good at her job, well liked and did everything she needed to and more.

Well someone didn't like her.

romperstomper · 8 Dec 2007 at 01:36

Jon Frost said:
Maybe she wasnt very good at her job and having time off within her 1st month was the cream on the cake.

I've not had a day off for the last 4 years, what illness did she have? A cold?

Your surname suits you well

James07 · 8 Dec 2007 at 01:46

I wouldnt want to go back if they couldnt sympathise over being taken to hospital ill, muppets, id keep away but contact some government agency to make sure their in their rights to do so because she may be able to do something about unfair dismissal etc..

SiriusB · 8 Dec 2007 at 01:55

Surely at some point someone has informed her manager of the situation, ie - seriously ill.

If I were you I would be trying to find out what is going on. I find it hard to believe they would sack someone for taking time off if they knew it is/was/could've been a very serious or life-threatening illness.

If indeed she was well-liked, I am willing to bet someone at the firm can explain.

Edinho · 8 Dec 2007 at 02:09

Sounds like a nightmare employer anyway. Dont think anyone ever has a problem with genuine sickness. Find a job somewhere else and explain what happened.

titchard · 8 Dec 2007 at 02:26

DRZ said:
She hasn't worked there for more than a year, so she has pretty much no rights at all sadly.

Erm, you do - you don't have to work for someone for an entire year to get all of your rights.

Skully, Was she a full time employee?

Currently working on fair/unfair dismissal in my Law for Managers module at the moment - i'll have a scan through my books for you.

Rich

Angilion · 8 Dec 2007 at 06:09

Skully said:
Over the phone, the doctor ordered her to stay off work and to rest for the next week before returning.

She is still very ill and unable to stay conscious for a prolonged amount of time without severe pains.

Her mother has been the intermediary with the company as she really is unable to do much other than mumble at the moment.

There isn't much more to it, she loved that job and did everything she could to be there!

It may be a misunderstanding. A new employee has an extensive period off sick and her mother phones in instead of her. That's often fake. Many companies have a standard procedure in which the employee must phone in themself, regardless of circumstances. Ridiculous in some cases, like this one, but you know what businesses are usually like when they Have A Policy.

It may just require bringing the seriousness of the situation to the employer's attention, backed with a note from a doctor.

However, the employer would have to admit they were wrong, which I think is unlikely to happen.

mattyfez · 8 Dec 2007 at 07:57

Skully said:
Plus she was the hottest one there!

If theres a lot of women there, thats your answer right there.
Jealous women are pure evil.

A new starter at our place was driven away by the miserable witches in our admin office, purely, im sure, because she was bright and breezy rather than stuck up, bitter and miserable like the rest of them.

It was awfull really, she got the silent treatment a lot in her department, which was a major dissadvantage as communication with her immediate collegues was vital to her job.
personally I blame management for allowing the existing staff to be so cold and ignorant.

I felt really bad for her, but I did make sure I told her It was a shame to lose a friendly face from an otherwise awfull department

Third Opinion · 8 Dec 2007 at 08:01

First thing is your girlfriend needs to get better. To be honest it would probably be better to find another job. I mean after that bad experience will she really want to return there?

If you go along the legal route she is going to find it more difficult to find another employer wishing to offer her a job. Companies are very cautious about people who have taken legal action in the past.

Skully · 8 Dec 2007 at 09:16

She worked fulltime, about 43 hours a week I believe.

The office was mostly men also.

Is it worth going there in person with her to see if it is a misunderstanding? Only problem I see with this is if they are rude/horrible and upset her even more...

afraser2k · 8 Dec 2007 at 09:20

Skully said:
She worked fulltime, about 43 hours a week I believe.

The office was mostly men also.

Is it worth going there in person with her to see if it is a misunderstanding? Only problem I see with this is if they are rude/horrible and upset her even more...

They might be more defensive if you're with her. Just get the girlfriend to arrange a meeting to hand over a doctors note to say that the sickness was legitimate and ask for another chance as she really enjoyed working there.

Vanilla · 8 Dec 2007 at 09:55

Don't go there is person unless she specifically asks you to. I'd advise doing what afraser2k says.

tonym · 8 Dec 2007 at 10:39

Skully said:
If she had the sniffles and stayed away then yeh I'd be ripping into her - but seeing as she was actually ill with the risk of it being meningitus (she had this last year) I think it is ridiculous.

Did she sign any sort of medical disclosure, because that statement above could imply regular sickness issues. Ok, Once a year isn't exactly off ill all of the time, but I'm sure the new employer would be concerned.

P.s., Just tell her to find another job. She might have loved it, but if they are prepared to sack her for having what could have been a major illness, they aren't worth working for, irrespective of whether she liked it or not.

LordSplodge · 8 Dec 2007 at 11:27

Law firm. They probably know exactly what the law allows them to do. Anyway, employees don't get too many rights during the probationary period, so I don't think you can do much apart from encourage her to get better and get a job that does not involve blood sucking scum bag solicitors.

I would not want to work for a firm that doesn't understand that people can get seriously ill without warning. I mean she was in hospital having a very painful procedure and could have had meningitis for crying out loud.

Never liked solicitors and this just affirms my view.

Hope things work out for her and you.

PikeyPriest · 8 Dec 2007 at 11:34

To be honest, i`m not sure telling them that it was severe migraines would relieve them in the slightest. With a risk of it happening again, it doesn't make for an attractive employment prospect in the employers eyes.