A friend has been in her job about 18 months. On Wednesday and was called in to see her manager and told she was being fired as her performance was unsatisfactory. It was completely out of the blue, she’d had no previous appraisals, 1-1s etc that had raised any issues.

They’ve said to her that they’ll pay her Feb salary, and in March pay her two month’s salary, on the proviso that she’s available for handover questions until the end of Feb.

Now, I have a suspicion that whilst it’s pretty shit, they can pretty much do what they like as she has less than two years service, and that she’s getting effectively three months salary/notice is about as best as can be made of a crap thing.

Am I right, and/or is there anything else she should be making sure happens?

I went through a particularly unpleasant experience at my (former) employer nearly five years ago, I joined a union who were next door to useless, the advice I give to anyone in a similar situation now is to get legal advice from someone specialising in employment law.
Good luck to your friend, funnily enough my daughter has gone through exactly this this week, despite ending extremely efficient at her job, her line manager has got it in for her. She’s taken the farewell cash and booked a flight to Australia!!

Now, I have a suspicion that whilst it’s pretty shit, they can pretty much do what they like as she has less than two years service, and that she’s getting effectively three months salary/notice is about as best as can be made of a crap thing.

That’s my understanding as well.

There a few very unusual exceptions but she pretty much has no comeback with less than 2 years in position.

From a employment lawyers site;

You may be aware that if you sack an employee, they only have the right to claim unfair dismissal if they’ve been employed for more than 2 years. … This means that it’s relatively safe to sack someone who has not yet been employed for the qualifying period, even if you don’t have a fair reason for dismissing them.

Take the hint. Take the money. Go work somewhere decent

Be available to answer questions, but make a special effort to answer them unsatisfactorily

She’s basically stuffed, legally

Unless she has grounds for a claim under protected rights (sex discrimination, disability etc) then she’s essentially stuffed.

As per some of the comments above – take the money and look for something else. BTW I’ve been in this situation and it’s horrid but I am now in one of the best jobs I’ve had – no pressure, no shit and working with people I genuinely call as friends…

The only out ( ‘cos as others have said less than two years no recourse to tribunal) is if they are a big outfit with proper HR and not followed procedures and then you might be able to do something via internal procedures.

They are actually being fairly generous with the money from what you say. Get the payoff in writing then malicious compliance

They’ve said to her that they’ll pay her Feb salary, and in March pay her two month’s salary, on the proviso that she’s available for handover questions until the end of Feb.

Looks like she may be rather unwell from 9 February with ANXIETY, causing depression and stress.

Looks like she may be rather unwell from 9 February with ANXIETY, causing depression and stress.

A good way to lose 3 months wage.

NOt if she has the payment in writing first and what her duties are during that time.

I would go for chinese rebellion / malicious compliance ie do exactly and only what they ask you to do. Ask for detailed instructions for anything.

NOt if she has the payment in writing first and what her duties are during that time.

How? They just sack her immediately for whatever reason they want, e.g. gross misconduct.

Terminate her contract immediately and she has no tribunal to turn to to dispute it.

She will not see the promised two months salary at the end of March unless she gets it in writing.

(From personal experience. Although Her employer may be more decent than mine was at the time?)

Gobuchal – if its written down it becomes a contractual entitlement and thus not paying it becomes breach of contract for which she can sue in a fast track court.

thus not paying it becomes breach of contract

Not if she is in breach of contract due to gross misconduct.

Hence she should comply, but do it in a pointedly shit manner.

Since that is why she is being binned, there won’t be much of a case at tribunal.

Similar happened to me once, and my wife twice. On her first occasion, she wrote a carefully worded letter (she has a law degree) and they shat themselves as they’d broken quite a lot of employment law, and she walked out with a six months salary in settlement. Latest time, right on six months probation they got rid of her, no notice, no challenge to her performance. Se wasn’t that bothered as the staff were horrible there.

Tell your friend, take the cash and go and work for a decent employer.

Sorry for your friend, I think if you are on a months notice its 23 months service plus the months notice, that triggers the 2 year security.

I remember having a coffee with the then hr director saying I was nearing my 2 year service, he told me i had passed it as I was on 1 months notice. Unless I did something really stupid to get instant dismissal.

Things may have changed as this was ages ago

If your friend has house insurance and paid the £19 legal cover always good to have an expert opinion which tends to be free of charge or a small fee

Always thought 2 years seemed like a long period. 6 months or even a year would seem a fairer period to ensure the person you have employed is good.

Still, we now have a government that will be all over this type of stuff…

It used to be 12 months, another thing we have Cameron to thank for.

I’m assuming they have went through their own procedures with this gross negligence thing?

It’s been 2 years for a long time – I know it happened to me 30 years ago when I reached 23 months.

No,2 years is recent

Quality workers rights for the 21 century. 🙁

Looks like she may be rather unwell from 9 February with ANXIETY, causing depression and stress.

Doesn’t look great on a reference though does it

Doesn’t look great on a reference though does it

Why would you ask for a reference from a company which fired you?

Plus most companies only give factual references now, for fear of being sued. All they say is ‘we can confirm person X was employed as Y between these dates’.

Not sure there’s a lot the OP’s friend can do in this situation, the pay off is fairly generous but I’d be concerned about being fired rather than being made redundant, it’s not going to look good on a CV and probably rules out getting a decent reference. But it’s certainly a shit thing to do to just fire someone for poor performance with no prior warnings at all – sounds personal (did she piss off her supervisor/manager)?