formal disciplinary procedure

[jayney 12]

my husband is contracted to work mon to fri 39 hours per week after which he has the option of working overtime. he was sent a text from his supervisor to tell him he had to attend a safety meeting on a saturday for a four hour session, he would be paid for four hours but not for travel time or expenses, it would have been a five hour round trip without the session in total nine hours overall on a day he is not contracted to work unless he accepts overtime, he refused to go and has now been told he must attend a disciplinary hearing of which the outcome could be a formal disciplinary warning or dismissal he has worked for the company for nearly 3 years and never had any problem before can they do this to him.
thanks for any advice in advance

[factor-fiction]

Does he normally have a 5 hour round trip to work or was this meeting at a different location. If it was a different location most good companies would pay travelling expenses. If it was his normal place of work it wpuld be unusual to pay expenses and HMRC wouldn't like it.
He could ask HR or union to clarify whether he has to come in on a Saturday but it's worth checking the full conditions of employment handbook- there could be a requirement to come in when required.

[jayney 12]

he normally only has a 30 minute journey to and from work, and it is in his contract to work 48 hours not including weekends, if he has ever been asked to work weekends he has always had the option of refusing which he rarely does its just on the day in question we were going away

[terambulan]

A Safety meeting is probably a Gov directive which the company is obliged to fulfil. Your OH, as an employee, is obliged to attend for his own good; the company were generous to offer him payment for his time.

If he continues to work without the Safety knowledge then he could sue the company so the employer is quite right to dismiss him or risk being sued by him later.

[jayney 12]

my husband takes safety in the workplace very seriously and is in fact a health and safety card holder through the c.p.c.s this safety meeting is an in house thing that was supplied to other staff at their usual place of work and within working hours, i dont know if this makes a difference

[terambulan]

Have you done this question before

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Jobs-and-Educat ion/Question627060.html

[jayney 12]

i have just not sure where to look for help and we need all the help we can get right now the way things are in the money market .....sorry

[thugulike]

In my opinion this wasn't a reasonable management request and certainly would not be classed as gross misconduct. You can only be dismissed for a first offence for gross misconduct. How does the company know that your husband would be available on that day? He may have had other things to do, i.e. caring duties.

Have a look at the ACAS website.