Sacked For Gross Misconduct: After One Minor Offence?

Q.

My nephew has been sacked for gross misconduct. He was dismissed for a picking / despatch error where he picked 2 orders for 2 customers but put the despatch labels on the wrong orders. He had no previous warnings for this and he was not serving any warnings at the time. The value of the order was £120.

Having made the error, he was advised of the mistake but not taken off the job or offered retraining or an improvement notice, he remianed in the same role for another week until he got a letter on Friday at the end of his shift advising he was to attend a disciplinary meeting on Monday at the beginning of his next shift. Is this reasonable? Is it really gross misconduct?

A.

Thank you for your letter. I’m sorry to hear of your nephew’s current situation.

I would first like to clarify if he has actually been ‘charged’ with gross misconduct, as you say that he was asked to attend a disciplinary meeting but not that this had actually been the situation. For the purposes of my answer, I will assume that he has been given notice of gross misconduct.

It is worth bearing in mind that although to an ‘outsider’ some types of gross misconduct can seem over the top, for the employees and employers who understand their role in far more detail, it may not be the case.

It is important that your nephew looks at his employment contract in detail before making any assumptions as to the fairness or unfairness of the situation as this is essentially what an employment tribunal would do, were he to choose to go down that route. He would be entitled to appeal under the Employment Law regulations.

The details of the contract will usually highlight the nature of the types of gross misconduct that are present with his particular role and company. For example, a salesman coming in a little hungover is probably no big deal once in a while as he’s probably encouraged to socialise with clients, but a train driver in the same situation could be practically sacked on the spot.

So, your nephew must see what his employment contract says first of all.

There are two ‘core’ types of gross misconduct; a further illustration of behaviour that has already been given the appropriate warnings and one major event that is considered serious enough in its own right. It would seem as though your nephew falls into the second camp, so he needs to clearly understand exactly why his actions were considered so awful.

Now, this is not for you and I to judge – it is to be cross-referenced with his employment contract, considering both the ‘letter and spirit’ of the law. This may give your nephew the answer he needs, although I’m sure it will not stop him feeling terribly frustrated. If he does not feel that his mistake warrants gross misconduct in reference to his employment contract, he could appeal against the decision. He could start by approaching the Citizens Advice Bureau or speaking to the HR manager at his former employers.

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