Son's problem at work

[noxlumos]

My 18 year old son has a part time job (Co-op) and was wrongly accused of stealing a can of coke. This was given to him by one of the news boys and the management now accept having spoken to the news boy that they were wrong. However, instead of following normal proceedure when they approached him about this initially, the Manageress discussed it with all the staff first ( and some of the customers) and told them he was a thief and that she was going to sack him.She then finds out she's made a mistake, but that's all rather late considering now half the town thinks he stolen something.He felt so uncomfortable that he tendered his resignation today as he felt so awful. He's a very honest lad who has no need to steal and indeed did no such thing. One of the other members of staff were so incensed at what happened to him that they called the employee complaints division to complain about the Management's handling of this and she thinks that the way the Management handled it is grounds for a constructive dismissal claim as he was literally in tears about it (particularly as she refused to apologise) and felt unable to continue there after the Manageress' conduct.Can anyone advise us if this is correct please, ahead of us contacting ACAS? Many thanks in advance for any advice/ thoughts.

[dot.hawkes]

straight to a solicitor, the manager committed gross misconduct too, the company should compensate your son and they will settll out of court i reckon, plus, you as he is under 18 there had to be an adult present at any disciplinary meeting, if it was an investigatory meeting then there had to be a whitness too.

[dot.hawkes]

oh sorry i thought it said 16, never mind, the manager is totally wrong in all the procedure and there is still a strong case. The company are liable for the employees mistake and should pay

[buildersmate]

Constructive dismissal may be either classified as wrongful dismissal or as unfair dismissal. Unless he has worked there for at least a year he would have to show wrongful dismissal. Based on the evidence above he would appear to have a reasonable case. See here http://www.direct.gov.uk/Employment/Employees/ RedundancyAndLeavingYourJob/RedundancyAndLeavi ngYourJobArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=10026696&am p;chk=jfaLoD

[Loosehead]

Forget the contructive dismissal.

As dotty says straight to a lawyer, defamation, slander etc. compensation, public retraction, apology, humble pie in spades.

[Catso]

I disagree. Go for the constructive dismissal and use it as an opportunity to 1/ clear his name, 2/ give the manageress a lesson. I think you have a reasonable case.

Her discussing it with other people is just dreadful. What an earth was she thinking? How did she get to be a manager?!

I feel really sorry for him, at 18 he must feel terrible about it.

[gammaray]

She works for the CO-OP, that says it all really. Sue the ar*e of her, and the CO-OP.

[Fulton]

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Have a look on the above website, I know that they can offer advice on this matter.

Apart from wrongful/constructive dismissal, you seem to have a good argument for defamation of character. Go for both!

[buildersmate]

The trouble with the above ideas from the amateur lawyers is that require expensive real lawyers to kick start them into action. And then there's no guarantee of success. The reason why I suggested constructive dismissal above is because you can start the process yourself using the Employment Tribunal process. You perhaps have to ask yourself what outcome your son is seeking. He has been wronged and that deserves to be put right - publicly and in terms of reasonable compensation for the wrong. But he is doing a part-time job for a few pounds an hour so the sums of money aren't realistically going to be massive. When 'head office' find out about it, if they have any sense they will seek to deal with the situation and probably seek to settle by a letter of apology and an offer of a sum of money rather than getting embroiled in the ET process.

[noxlumos]

Many thanks to all of you for the excellent advice. Still waiting to hear from Co-op's head office and if we haven't by the end of the week we'll get a solicitor's latter sent to them and see if we can't kick start them a bit.Thanks all.

[spaced]

always throw in the famous words "watchdog" and tell them that you will also be speaking to them about Co-Op's cr@p policy of how to treat their staff.