Dismissal

[horselady]

My daughter has for the last 3 years been employed as a carer looking after a lady in her 20s with severe learning difficulties. This morning the employer, the young woman's mother, phoned and told my daughter that she has been amazing, supportive, invaluable, but she feels her daughter needs a change now and not to bother going to work tomorrow! She is paying her a months wages. Daughter is stunned, and upset as she is quite fond of the young woman. Is dismissal in this way legal? Been told she will get wonderful reference as her care has been exemplary.

[kvalidir]

Well that does sound fishy. It certainly wouldn't hurt to pop round with a leaving present and a card to make sure the young lady is okay I think, because that sounds really peculiar.

[Tilly2]

Does your daughter not work for an agency?

[fiction-factory]

Assuming it is a formal employment relationship where the mother is the employer, what is the contractual notice period? A month sounds fine unless the contract stipulates longer.

[horselady]

No Tilly, the mother works full time and she pays her, whether she receives financial assistance or not I don't know. They must already have someone new lined up to go in tomorrow.

[horselady]

I didn't think anyone could be dismissed with no warning whatsoever.

[Old_Geezer]

Need to look at the job contract. I suspect a month's notice on either side. But if she has been paid for a month from the date she was told, that'd probably cover it.

[Davemano]

Something isn't quite fitting about this if she is having another helper.

[Old_Geezer]

She'd have had a month's warning, but simply told she isn't required to actually work it.

[fiction-factory]

I think the situation is a little bit different than working for a company in that there is a one-to-one relationship. There should in theory have beena process of redundancy or dismissal and if the needs of the employer have changed there should have been discussions with the employee to see how she could have adapted to the new needs. It depends on what the next step is. If theya re just going to replace you with someone new doing a very similar role then maybe you have a case. What outcome would your daughter like- her job back? An explanation (she deserves that)? More compensation?

[Canary42]

Pay in lieu of notice is quite legal. Was there an employment contract ?

[fiction-factory]

From ACAS
Unfair dismissal
Dismissals are classed as 'automatically unfair' if the reason for dismissal is connected with an employee exercising specific rights relating to:
-pregnancy: including all reasons relating to maternity
-family reasons: including parental leave, paternity leave (birth and adoption), adoption leave or time off for dependants
representation: including acting as an employee representative
trade union membership grounds and union recognition
-part-time and fixed-term employees
-pay and working hours: including the Working Time Regulations, annual leave and the National Minimum Wage.

When is a dismissal fair?
Dismissal is normally fair if an employer can show that it is for one of the following reasons:

a reason related to an employee's conduct
a reason related to an employee's capability or qualifications for the job
because of a redundancy
because a statutory duty or restriction prohibited the employment being continued
some other substantial reason of a kind which justifies the dismissal.
And that they acted reasonably in treating that reason as sufficient for dismissal.

She could ask the employer to justify it against the above

[fiction-factory]

She should read this. Then she could consider asking the employer to reconsider. She could go to an employment tribunal. Although it looks unfair I'm not sure she would succeed given the specialist one-to-one nature of the role but Barmaid will know better- hopefully she sees this

[horselady]

Certainly not compensation, the explanation is that the mother feels her daughter is becoming more unmanageable and should have a change, which is fine but my daughter and her had a lovely relationship and now the poor girl has to get used to someone new. Oh well, their choice.

[fiction-factory]

^This;
https://www.gov.uk/dismiss-staff/fair-dismissals

[Maydup]

She cannot just be given her notice. Either she is being made redundant which is not the case here as a new person is going in, or she has been dismissed for misconduct. Again not the case. Or the role is being chnaged and she is offered new terms. Again not the case.

I suggest you daughter uses the ACAS help line for a bit of advice, and in the meantime signs up with an agency for another role, but with better terms.

[horselady]

Thanks for your help everyone. I shall show her this tomorrow when I see her. She's upset today, she's a single mum and in a panic about job/money today. She will be calmer tomorrow.

[Jackdaw33]

The problem is that today the description 'learning difficulties', severe or otherwise, is used as a blanket term to cover all sorts of conditions. As we do not know what the young lady's problems are we cannot really come to a reasoned assessment.

[jno]

if the young woman's needs are changing because she's getting worse, then the work's changed; from the mother's point of view it's not unreasonable to look for someone to do the different job. Whether legal requirements have been met, I don't know, but if she's had an explanation and a month's notice with pay, I'm not sure she's been badly treated.

[THECORBYLOON]

Just seen this but either party can terminate the contract providing the longer of notice period in the contract or that legally required is given.

The notice period is a week for employment of less than two years but more than a month and a week for each complete year, up to a maximum of twelve weeks.

In this case, the employment had been three years so at least three weeks' notice had to be given and she was given a month's notice.

[thugulike]

Not a redundancy situation as the need for a employee continues. Therefore it is a dismissal. Employer should have gone through a dismissal procedure but there can be no legal reason for this dismissal. On the other hand a good reference is certainly helpful. Speak to ACAS