Legal Notice

[Sweetie77]

I have been working as a Sales Manager for 6 months and i have just been "let go" .

I was called into a meeting this morning and was asked about my projected figures for September. They then said that the numbers were not good enough and they would have to let me go.

According to my contract I am meant to receive 1 weeks notice which I have not had. I have had no formal warnings .

Any advice as to where I stand? I don't want the job back but I feel that I should have had more warning etc

Any advice would be appreciated

[confused79]

It depends on your probationary period, they are obliged to pay you a weeks money in leiu but dont have to have you working there for that week, if that makes sense.

Im not that clued up on legal things but my partner lost his job recently and they had to pay him a week in leiu and his probabtionary period was 6 months. They dont have to give you notice but they have to pay you for the week.

[Sweetie77]

My probation period was 3 months and I was never told at any stage that I had not passed

[confused79]

Well thats a different matter then as after the 3 months you are not obviously probationary period, do you have a contract or a HR department you can contact. If not and i know you said you dont want it back anyway, quite rightly, then maybe go to a no win no fee solicitor for a tribunial to get sme money out of them.
They were being unfair not giving you any warnings etc., the same happened to my partner, but he was still in his probationary period.

[Sweetie77]

It is a very small company and the lady that deals with HR is on holiday. One of my (ex) colleagues thinks this has been done this week whilst she is not here because she would not have let it happen. She is back next week so I will try and get in touch with her.

What makes it worse is I am going on holiday in 3 weeks, it is all paid for but I don't have any spending money etc!!

Thanks for your help!

[confused79]

It really makes you feel sharfted doesnt it and taken the pee out of, but i would definatly not let it go and look through your contract and contact the HR department when she is back.

Good luck.

[Twenty20]

It's perfectly legal to be dismissed in the first 12 months of employment without the employer actually having to give a reason. The only provisos are that its not discriminatory, pregnancy based etc which it doesnt sound in your case. You should get paid your 1 weeks notice, I would presume at the end of the month if that is when you usually get paid. In sales jobs especially youre not usually expected to work the notice period.

The probationary period doesnt come into it I'm afraid. Please dont waste time with solicitors etc as what they have done is perfectly legal from what youve told us.

[buildersmate]

Yup, Twenty20 is spot on, and makes exactly the points I would have done - including not wasting time with solicitors.

[Fish the Mod]

Not to rub it in, the same thing happened to me. I was working for a Specialist neon company in the West Midlands. I was dismissed just before the year was up and there is nothing one can do. I wrote to my MP but he just passed it on to the TUC who said that they felt a year was fine. I was due a thousand or so in bonus ( no commission). The first thing I did was created a website using theirname. I then took an ad in the specialist trade mag with just the web site address and sat back. 6 months later the Manager who loved the Company resigned after it lost sales in the region of what my bonus was. The Company is still going but never really recovered and lost it place to the market leaders.
Today I run my own mobile disco, I teach drama and sale LED signs ( one or two a week) and have never been happier. My lover had my baby last week and my own family are doing well.
www.specialistneonsupplies.co.uk

[Twenty20]

Dear oh Lord!


And the reverse of all that is that any employee can simply put in their notice at any time, in the first 12 months or anytime after, and just leave without giving it a second thought. It works both ways.

Please, just put it down to experience and move on, dont get dragged down by it, its not worth it.