MJW

Had a bit of a 'fracas' at work yesterday, which resulted in one of our employees getting wound up and resigning verbally, in front of other members of staff. Our MD, being fed up with the employee in question decided to accept this resignation and has written a letter to the employee saying so. Does a verbal resignation actually count, or is the employee able to rescind it ?

PeteBrant

You can usualyl come to some form of agreement. A similar situation happened with a friend of mine the other month, where he rather foolishly told his boss he was going to leave in a conversation (after having received an offer of a job, somewhere else, verbally). Of course the job offer fell through and the Boss basically had accepted his resignation.

He didn't actually leave through resigning, but guess what, was made redundant about a month later.

I would say your employee has a very limited future at the company.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

I don't know for sure mate, but generally an employment contract will state that termination requires a written statement and a notice period, but perhaps this can be waived at the discretion of the employer under circumstances such as these.

I would suggest your boss seeks legal advice to be safe

MJW

He doesn't actually have an employment contract I don't think. And yes his days here are numbered, but he seems to be the architect of his own downfall !!

[edit] ah we do have a written statement of employment particulars which i guess is a contract, and here's what it says :

Jer

I had this last week with one of my staff. She texted me on a Saturday morning ten minutes before starting work to say daughter was ill. I needed to cover for her so on the way up to work I called at her flat. I knocked on the door, no answer, so phoned her up. She answered and said I sent you a text my daughters ill. I asked her to answer her door and she said where are you. At your front door, can't you hear me knocking (small ground floor flat) she hung up on me.
I new she was out on the **** the night before with other girls from work and had stopped out all night.
On the Monday I got her in asked her about it and she admitted it but then told me she was leaving anyway as she had a new job. I asked her to give it to me in writing and she did. We had been trying to get rid for ages and her job fell through.

Clarebabes

Is that appropriate to be knocking on an employee's door?

stilover

Last place I worked, the MD would drive round your house to check if your car was there.

He used to try it on too. When you got back, he'd call you in to his office saying that he or someone else had seen you down the town instead of being in your sick bed.

He once threatened to sack me because the saw me driving on my sick day. I tried to explain that I had to drive to the doctor's. Got written warning.

TBH though they meant sh*t. At that point I was on about 5 written warnings already
I got one once for being 10 minutes late after my car was broken into.

Boss: Why are you late?
Me: Car was broken into.
Boss: OK, so why are you late?
Me: I only realised when I went to the car to drive to work, so had to clean up as I didn't want to drive sitting on glass, and also to phone the police.
Boss: So why are you late?
Me: What?
Boss: My office now.

Written warning

Yet I had a hand in knocking down half a isle of racking with about 60 tonnes of materials on, and recieved nothing

EddScott

In some contracts theres a clause thats gives a boss the right to check.

Its my wifes contract as a hairdresser. If its there and signed for its allowed.

Clarebabes

If it's in a contract, I would be very suspicious about working for a company like that!

DCI Gene Hunt

I always 'quit' when I need a payrise .......

Clarebabes

I'm thinking your boss had far too much free time on his hands. If he was doing his job properly, he wouldn't have needed to check up on people.

EddScott

Why? Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Especially in the case above. The boss obviously had a feeling the girl was pulling a fast one so went to check. Hey presto she was and was fired for telling porkies.

I'd want to know if my employees were dishonest.

vindaloo

Yup! If you're a caring employer.

BlkKnight

just send them some flowers by courier. . .

Clarebabes

Gosh, well I'm so glad I'm not one of your employees then.

Trust is earnt from trust.

PeteBrant

And medals

EddScott

Trust is one thing, being a naive employer is another. To think that you'll never employ someone who will try it on is rather looking at things through the old rose tints.

For 99.9% of the people employed, that clause is meaningless. But as an employer I'd rather that clause is included should I end up employing someone who tries it on.

I'm not suggesting that the minute an employee calls in sick, you should hurtle round their house banging on the door demanding evidence. But an employee is still ripping you off if they blag time off when they aren't ill yet still expect to be paid.

There is of course a simple answer, if you don't like the rules, you need not apply

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

HR deparments often phone and call round when someone is off sick !

GC8WRX

I wouldnt work for a **** like that! he sounds like a total pr1ck to me!

Brick his windscreen on sunday night, and when hes late in on monday, ask why?

That should prove a point

GC8WRX

Everyone chucks a sickie now and then, you saying you never have?

My last employer had "duvet days", you were allowed two a year, and if you felt like not coming in you could phone up 1 hour before start time and it was cool!

Surely thats better than an over enthusiastic boss with too much time on his hands, playing mini hitler and coming round to your house to try to stop you pulling a sickie?

MJW

Well, I checked with the Federation of Small Businesses legal advice line and apparently a verbal resignation is acceptable as long as its confirmed in writing by either party, which our MD has done. The employee did kick up a stink about it and has said he'll take it to a tribunal, but as far as I'm aware the company has done everything above board. Just have to wait & see what his solicitors say I guess !

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Duvet days are a sign of a good employer. Honesty is a sign of a good employee though. If you have been on the sauce and are feeling rough say that it is you that's feeling bad, don't make up some rubbish about the daughter like the person above. The fewer lies you spin the better.

5t.

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

We had those at my last place.... 6 days in a rolling year.

You could phone up and say "can't be arsed, I'm staying in bed"

As long as you didn't leave people in the deep stuff it was never a problem.

Clarebabes

And a slap up meal in the canteen Pete

Luan Pra bang

I have done it once in my whole working life.

Jer

Not really but she was at it, and I new she was. The first thing she said on Monday was "I hung up on you because I was not expecting my boss at my front door, I was in bed with my daughter". I said "you texted me just before work so why were you not ready to leave the house."
I was really annoyed with her, it was my sons 5th birthday party that day and she new we had a lot on.
It's quite a small company (15) staff and my wife has looked after her kid before, that was my excuse for going round to her house as my wife was going to offer.
We treat our staff very well and this one has taken the **** from day one which it's hard not to take personally. We were going to sack her when she first started but she got pregnant and so on.
It's her leaving night on Friday woohoo.

Sonic'

I once resigned, handed my letter in, and they wanted me to finish earlier than my intended leaving date (all in accordance with their terms & conditions) basdically they didnt want to pay me for the xmas holidays, so I told them that they have refused to accept my notice, so therefore I am still employed by them, and by the time had passed with them debating it, the extra days on my notice had passed so they had to let me finish on the date I orginally stated

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

i have never had a day of sick, even when some guys broke into my house and stole my car at knife point i went to work, i have pride in myself plus id rather be at work then home with wife :P

philbr

i recieved a written warning this morning for 'timekeeping'.
although the past two weeks i have yes been late on a few occasions these 'lates' were pre-empted by a message before the shift started to let my boss know why i would be late and at what time to expect me.
just so you know, my three kids have been sick with a tummy bug that is goin through school, my boss knows this as i had two days off with this horrible thing myself. my wife is a care worker and has responibility for a young disabled man in his twenties, so if she is late/he is late or misses college/work. so i had to drop off two kids to school and one to my mothers for her to babysit; on three seperate occasions over two weeks.
can i be warned for what i would class as an emergency?
i do not get paid a salary or sick pay, so therefore have not been paid for any hours lost.
discuss!

PeteBrant

To be honest mate, in strict terms then yes, I would say you can be warned for lateness in this regard - But obviously it depends on your relationship with yo9ur boss/HR dept as to whether you actually get the warning.

You obviously have a set of circumstance at the moment that makes it difficult for you to get into work on time, and the the somewhat cold hearted view of this would be, "so, not my problem, you should be here at X o clock regardless".

I would say that maybe it might be an idea to ask for 10 minutes of his time to talk about your situation. You might find if you involve him in what is going on, he might be more sympathetic than when he gets a message before you start your shift saying "i'm going to be late"

Just my two-penneth, for what its worth.