Can I Claim Unfair Dismissal

[HongKongphooey]

I started work in January as a carer for a firm which houses and looks after severely mentally disabled adults. I work in a block of 11 flats. Its very short staffed and employs alot of mainly agency, often foreign workers who I got on well with. I mainly worked looking after 4 ladies who I will call by their initials. I was employed 20hrs a week. I got on really well with all the ladies They were all non talkers and although didn't have physical disabilities were easy to look after and I got quite fond of them and their personalities and little ways. However on Sunday I was due on an 8hr shift looking after SE who is serverely autistic, often incontinent, and her flatmate, a very timid girl who just had some kind of mental incapacity. When i got to the flat at 8.30am due to lack of staff, SE (who is up by 7am) hadn't had any carers come to see to her needs until I and a house manager walked in at 8.30. Naturally SE was distressed because she was left with her sleeping flat mate for probably an hour and half in the flat. I reassured her and carried out the normal tasks of her daily routine. What SE loves most in the world is going for a walk. However as she pushes people hard as a way of communicating she wasn't allowed to go out without 2 carers so she didn't push the public. A house manager assured me we could take SE out that morning. However morning and afternoon came and went and nobody came to help take SE out. By 4'OClock SE was in a state of high agitation, so much so that she had pushed me hard about 30 or 40 times in frustration about being indoors. She also pulls off socks and shoes of her flatmate over and over, and takes off clothing many times, again in frustration. I realise shes totally not to blame for these outbursts, but I was really fed up with the fact I been on my own all day. Finally at 4pm my house manager got another carer at my insistance so we could take SE out for a walk for just 20 mins. My shift finished at 5.30 when I was expected to write a log but wouldn't get paid for doing this and could only do it on the company computers so I went home exhausted. I know the company get paid for 6 hours 2 to ! care with SE but she never gets that. On Thursday I went to company head office for training, where I had an argument with a receptionist about not parking at the back of their premises. I admit I had had enough and asked to make a complaint about Sunday and an incident the previous evening where I arrived at AG and AF's flat to start their tea. The girl on shift before me told me their was very little in the cupboards to make an adequate meal so she had made savoury bread and butter pudding out of bread crusts and found some tiny cocktail sausage rolls left over from a party and was heating them up. She left me to it. I served this up to the ladies and naturally they were not happy. AF kept trying to take AGs sausage rolls because there was so few and the bread crust pudding looked inedible. I ended up making AG my own microwave meal I had got for my tea and found a packet of crisps to give to AF. There was a tin of meatballs but the ladies were getting distressed and I had to think fast calm them down. The shift went on until 9.30 when I left them with another carer having safely got them undressed and ready for bed. I was too tired to do a log. I had a half hour drive home on a dark road. The senior manager didn't like me complaining and asked why I hadn't complained before or written logs. I said it was cos I was frightened of loosing my job and I wasn't paid for writing the logs in my time. She asked me to leave, I said the incidents were unacceptable both on me and SE an the other ladies. I said I was within my rights to inform social services. I told her I knew SE should have 2 to 1 care for 6 hours every day and never got it. She told me I was threatening her and after a while another staff member came in and said they were sacking me for the argument earlier about the car space.

[Buenchico]

>>>I started work in January

Then you can't claim unfair dismissal. With limited exceptions (relating to discrimination on illegal grounds, such as age, gender or sexual orientation) an employer is free to fire an employee on any grounds whatsoever (or, indeed, on absolutely no grounds at all) for the first 12 months of their employment.

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

It's 24 months now Buenchico

[Buenchico]

That shows how out of date I am then, MJJ.

I knew that there was a proposal to change the qualifying period to 2 years but I'd missed the fact that it had actually been brought in (as I've now found out) on 6 April 2012.

Thanks for bringing me up to date.

[lcg]

it does not matter how long you have been working there if you feel you have been unfairly dismissed - however, you will have to pay £1000+ just to take your case to a tribunal. as such, it is very expensive and not assured you will have any (if at all all) guarantees of the outcome of such a case. because you are an agency care worker, it can be very difficult to prove your claims, as you have no evidence of what happened, probably just your word against someone else. yoiu are certainly reporting extremely poor care and you can report this to social services and the cqc - a regulatory body that will be responsible for investigating poor care and neglectful behaviour. it is probably best that you don't work for such a crap outfit, and should consider how you would get references for this period of work - as any future employer will be interested in what happened and may see you as a trouble maker (rightly or wrongly). you may have to chalk this one up to experience. life isn't fair and it can be very difficult to prove allegations of this nature.

[HongKongphooey]

Thanks ICG and everyone. I am tempted to report them to CQC and or Social Services but as you say its my word against theirs. I felt sorry for the ladies, particulary SE because she never did any activity other than go for a short walk. She would have loved to go to a sensory room or go out at night to see the lights that were up twinkling in the trees ( our town leaves them up all year). i am very upset about the whole business but worried they won't pay me the 7 weeks they owe me if I report them

[factor-fiction]

They can dismiss you and in law you have no claim for unfair dismissal, but they must pay you the notice you are due plus any other money you are owed

[lcg]

yes.....i should have made myself more clear here too - you will not get any damages or 'lost income', only the amount of wages you woulld have earned while serving a notice period. if you did this it would be nominal only and not worth it - that was my original point. speaking to the cqc, local authority and any owners/management firm would be the place to start. someone has to blow the whistle.....but they will tar you with the 'troublemaker' brush.....good luck x