Some of you may not know me. I'm an infrequent poster but love this forum and am on it every day. I'm searching for some wise words on this situation I find myself in.
I have just had my contract of employment terminated having failed my probation review. Not sure if I can say much about it but I was working supporting young people within a London borough (not through the local authority). I absolutely loved it and developed great relationships with the majority of the twenty or so young people I worked with. I'm 26 and married and a bit concerned about the immediate future. I believe that there is sufficient grounds to make an appeal. I was wondering if anyone has any advice or could tell me whether they've had or known of a decision for dismissal being overturned on appeal? Would appreciate any comments.
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I was made redundant and was considering an appeal. My friend asked on what grounds I would be making the appeal and any reasons I came up with she shot down. She said I could spend up to £500,000 on a case for unfair dismissal with a very small chance of it going my way. From what I told her, she felt that my former employers had followed procedure so basically I needed to move on.
Your case may be very different but you need to have clear reasons why you feel the decision should be overturned. If you are convinced you've got a case best get some proper legal advice, which will cost (of course). Good luck.
I am also 26 and engaged so know the kind of fear you have, I had it myself all too recently...
I was made redundant last year after having spent nearly 5 years in a company working my way up the food chain. I loved that job and was devastated. All things happen for a reason though.
I had to take a crap job as I hadn't found a job for over a month affter being made redundant. I stayed for 8 months whilst I continued to search for the right job or at least one I could be a bit happier in, I was underappreciated and thought I hated every day.
I eventually found the company I work for now and have been here since the beginning of March. Don't go trying to find the best job straight away, go for a job now to cover you whilst you find that right job.
I'm so glad I used that 8 months to find the right fit.
Too many I this I that's in there, sorry about that!
You will make the right decisions, if you choose to contest it make sure you're right. You can't afford to be wrong.
I'm afraid you would need 2 years service before you could have a claim for unfair dismissal.
Is there a procedure that the organisation has which would give you a right of appeal?
With probation questions a lot depends on the reasons why they say you've failed. I appreciate you might not want to get into details here, but I have some initial questions (I'm a union rep where I work). Have you had any meetings during the probation period where they have indicated that you might be at risk of failing? For example, where I am there are meetings after 1, 3, 5 and finally 6 months to ensure everything is on track. You should have been warned if there were any concerns so that the employer could discuss with you what needed to be put in place to ensure you didn't fail - this could be additional training, more regular supervision meetings with your manager (eg once a week) and then if these weren't working then they should have discussed extending your probation period as they have a legal obligation to avoid making you redundant if it possibly can be avoided. Did any of these things happen? If they didn't, you might have the beginnings of grounds for an appeal, though as others have said it really depends on the specifics of your situation. Of course, if you've fallen foul of any disciplinary procedures, code of ethics etc during your probation period than that would usually be grounds for failing probation.
Happy to discuss if you want to inbox me directly.
Legally you could appeal if you feel you were discriminated against. It would be very difficult to prove and be extremely stressful and time consuming as well as not going down too well with your next employer.
My view would be to ask if your probation period can be extended along with a more support and training as you feel that you can still do the job but just need more support. point out you did make mistakes but they were the type of mistakes an inexperienced person would make, you've learnt from them and have otherwise done a good job.
The breach of confidentiality is a big issue though so I can see why they would let you got, harsh as that sounds.
Inbox me if you want to talk it over privately.
Appeal, you have nothing to lose and someone higher up might take a more lenient approach.
Did you have a 6 week, 12 week and 18 week probation review? If so, were there any indications that you were underperforming? Were these interviews carried out by your line manager?
I don't think you are in a great place to be honest as the probation period is there for a good reason. I think it may be worth an appeal to either HR or someone further up the ladder than your line manager, at the very least you need to be told the reason you are not being kept on. It is also posible to have the probation period extended with maybe extra training provided. It's a difficult one, but good luck.
I'd say you have zero grounds for appeal!
Of course you should "give it a go" but make sure you are prepared before hand, so sit down and put together a log of all the meetings you can remember and the positives and how if they extended your probation you would contribute. Give them a case for for why they must keep you.
As Henry said the confidentiality issue is a big concern and your comment
"The person whose confidentiality I broke couldn't really care less as as far as she's concerned, it's a meaningless piece of information and she's revealed far worse things about herself."
Worries me, if you said that in your meeting. Your approach to this should be "I realise that this is an important issue and whilst it was an aberration, I have learnt from it and can assure you I would not make such an error again."
Good luck.
As Kap say it doesn't really matter if the person whose confidentiality you breached cares or not as it the fact you did it at all that will concern your managers.
Still, appeal. Show you realise you've made mistakes, you've realised how important they are and have learnt from them. The sacking has been a big wake up call and you realise now what is needed to be a success. The organisation you work for is about giving people opportunities (the mission statement or values will say something like that) so what you are asking for is another opportunity. Quoting the values always sounds good to senior managers.
Email it to your manager, HR, your managers' manager etc (but read the appeal procedure first and follow that) and see how it goes.
I was desperate to train as a Rabbi when I was younger, but the rabbinical school wouldn't have me.
Apparantly you have to be Jewish.