Sacked For "lifestyle" ?

[RATTER15]

A friend of mine was suspected of theft from her workplace, she had a meeting with the manager this morning and she has been dismissed, the reason for her dismissal was "her lifestyle" she has been employed by the company for 16 months.

Can this be right, she is a good worker but not the most reliable.

[ummmm]

Was it her lifestyle making her unreliable?

[woofgang]

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/work_w/work_work_comes_to_an_end_e/dismissal.htm
scroll down to have you been discriminated against?

[RATTER15]

Thanks Woof, according to that, as she hasnt been working there for 2 years they can sack her for anything with no comeback.

This actually is a concern for me also: I have raised a few issues of abuse within the home I work in, nothing major, mostly to do with paper work and deprivation of liberties etc. CSSIW (the governing body for Wales) and Social Services adult protection team are involved.

My employers are really *** off with me right now, so they could sack me and I can do nothing about it as I have only worked there for just over 12 months? It seems like madness to me!!

[RATTER15]

This is why there are so few whistle blowers in care homes, they are afraid of losing their jobs!!

[thugulike]

If you are dismissed for making a public interest disclosure you don't need any qualifying length of employment. Just make sure that the PID meets the criteria.

[Maydup]

Its true that you need 2 years service now to be protected from unfair dismissal.

https://www.gov.uk/dismiss-staff/eligibility-to-claim-unfair-dismissal

[Hypognosis]

What exactly is "lifestyle", in any case?

If it's about stuff she does outside the workplace, on her free time, how is the employer even privy to whatever it is she's doing that they object to? Has she been under surveillance, or something?

[Cloverjo]

Perhaps the manager is just naming the dismissal as a result of "lifestyle" rather than "theft", which she was accused of, but probably couldn't be proved. As she is unreliable, this could come under "lifestyle" problems, I suppose.

[Hypognosis]

It would be fascinating to see the word "lifestyle", as applied by this particular employer, thrashed out at a tribunal.

Theft suspected but, as yet, unproven? We're all at risk of sacking if excuses that flimsy can stand up in dismissal cases.

Poor timekeeping is trivially easy to document and use to fire someone. As are the results of random drugs testing, which is the only thing I can think of which fits the word. If they're falling out of a nightclub at 3am, they're hardly going to be effective in the workplace by morning.

[RATTER15]

//how is the employer even privy to whatever it is she's doing that they object to? Has she been under surveillance, or something?// its a small town, everybody knows everything. They also plaster everything all over FaceBook, they can't keep anything quiet! These young girls phone in sick on a Saturday afternoon from their deathbed, then they are posting pictures of themselves at the local night club all over Facebook.