Employment issues - disabilities - advice?
Discussion
Hi Guys,
Need some help from the PH experts:
I have links to a small company that is having some issues with one of their employees.
Basically, he is a developer for the company and is causing them all sorts of grief at the moment.
He has been saying that projects are complete and working and is later found to have been lying (current project is 15% complete with 50% of allocated time used) He cannot justify where he has spent time on the project - he even takes code home to work on yet is still a lot further behind on the project than he should be.
He is causing problems with clients by sending out programs as complete when they aren't, leading to him putting contracts in jeopardy.
He attends networking meetings atwhich he isn't networking, thus giving a bad representation of the company!
He has made comments about and to the MD which are basically slander.
He has been slacking at parts of his job such as not putting the phone on divert when he is out of the office, leading to lost calls from clients at a time when the company is on a marketing drive.
He arrives late, leaves early (though dnies it, yet he has been caught), and takes excessive breaks during the day - he disappeared for about an hour and a half this morning.
He is rude to staff.
He is actively job hunting and has told the manager so - not a problem in itself, but as a result he isn't putting the necessary work into the job, and his current attitude and actions have led to the company being concerned about him having access to their software, especially the one currently in development which they obviously have intellectual property rights to.
All of this seems to the manager (and everyone else in the company) to be reasonable enough grounds for dismissal for being unfit for the job - indeed the employee has said - in his ownwords "I am not right for the job"
Given that he is activelyseeking employment and not happy in the position, he is not making any signs of walking, is kicking up a fuss about the fact he is getting written warnings and has been invited to a disciplinary on monday regarding his conduct, which he feels is unfair and that 5 days notice was not enough (eh? its in working hours?!)
The problem facing the company is that the employee has a physical disability, and they feel that the employee is going to try to claim for unfair dismissal.
Given what I have stated above, does the employer have sound grounds to relieve him of his position given his conduct, or is the employee likely to be able to bring a case against them?
I must point out that the employee's disability has nothing to do with the possible dismissal, allowances have been made for things like his typing speed in the time allocated to projects, etc, and he is perfectly able as a developer.
Any advice gratefully received
Need some help from the PH experts:
I have links to a small company that is having some issues with one of their employees.
Basically, he is a developer for the company and is causing them all sorts of grief at the moment.
He has been saying that projects are complete and working and is later found to have been lying (current project is 15% complete with 50% of allocated time used) He cannot justify where he has spent time on the project - he even takes code home to work on yet is still a lot further behind on the project than he should be.
He is causing problems with clients by sending out programs as complete when they aren't, leading to him putting contracts in jeopardy.
He attends networking meetings atwhich he isn't networking, thus giving a bad representation of the company!
He has made comments about and to the MD which are basically slander.
He has been slacking at parts of his job such as not putting the phone on divert when he is out of the office, leading to lost calls from clients at a time when the company is on a marketing drive.
He arrives late, leaves early (though dnies it, yet he has been caught), and takes excessive breaks during the day - he disappeared for about an hour and a half this morning.
He is rude to staff.
He is actively job hunting and has told the manager so - not a problem in itself, but as a result he isn't putting the necessary work into the job, and his current attitude and actions have led to the company being concerned about him having access to their software, especially the one currently in development which they obviously have intellectual property rights to.
All of this seems to the manager (and everyone else in the company) to be reasonable enough grounds for dismissal for being unfit for the job - indeed the employee has said - in his ownwords "I am not right for the job"
Given that he is activelyseeking employment and not happy in the position, he is not making any signs of walking, is kicking up a fuss about the fact he is getting written warnings and has been invited to a disciplinary on monday regarding his conduct, which he feels is unfair and that 5 days notice was not enough (eh? its in working hours?!)
The problem facing the company is that the employee has a physical disability, and they feel that the employee is going to try to claim for unfair dismissal.
Given what I have stated above, does the employer have sound grounds to relieve him of his position given his conduct, or is the employee likely to be able to bring a case against them?
I must point out that the employee's disability has nothing to do with the possible dismissal, allowances have been made for things like his typing speed in the time allocated to projects, etc, and he is perfectly able as a developer.
Any advice gratefully received
Well I'm no legal eagle but if they are going thru the correct procedures and getting the written and verbal warnings put onto his permanent record then they are OK. Quite simply gather the evidence, follow procedure and then present p45. or if hes cocking up big style sack for gross misconduct. Don't be the nice guy and offer redundancy or anything like that as it could come back to bite you.
If hes vindictive then he will be no matter what they do! But its likely to be by a solicitor chancing it more than anything.
If hes vindictive then he will be no matter what they do! But its likely to be by a solicitor chancing it more than anything.
Do companies not follow the warnings thing where he could be warned for his lateness, and then if he is late again and again, they have grounds for dismissing him as they have given him a chance. It is very difficult i must agree though when an employee has a disability as there are so many ways, like you said, that he can have the company on unfair dismissal, but surely if he has got written warnings and its noted in his employee file and the company has evidence from other employees of his lateness etc... then there is nothing he can do?? (although you do say there is other things that warrents him being sacked) also surely he is breaking his contractof employment if he isnt doing the job he is employed for ie the networking etc.... another way there to get him out!
Where disabled people are concerned, discrimination occurs if the company treats the disabled person differently to a non-disabled person, because of his/her disability.
The company should not tolerate this behaviour from anyone. Dismissing the employee is not discriminatory - the reasons are to do with his behaviour, not his disability.
Not dismissing this employee is favourable treatment for the disabled employee and discriminates against other workers. The company has to be careful it doesn't set a precedent by tolerating too much bad behaviour.
The company should get advice from a lawyer familiar with Part II of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
The company should not tolerate this behaviour from anyone. Dismissing the employee is not discriminatory - the reasons are to do with his behaviour, not his disability.
Not dismissing this employee is favourable treatment for the disabled employee and discriminates against other workers. The company has to be careful it doesn't set a precedent by tolerating too much bad behaviour.
The company should get advice from a lawyer familiar with Part II of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
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