suspended from work (need help) :)

[jackvdbuk]

right basically i've been suspended from work today for the following reason:

i start at 12 but arrived slightly late as i was busy in the morning and would of made it on time if it was not for that the fact i did not have time to eat till i had to leave which is at 11am so sadly i arrived about 4 minutes late and said the apologies e.t.c (no one asked why).

then as i only ate a very small breakfast (had no time for anything really) i started feeling a hypo coming on (i'm diabetic) and when im low i NEVER think straight and im all over the place wobbling and whatnot for all the non diabetics, its like being drunk without the alchohol!

now heres the naughty thing, as i had a couple of pounds on me (didnt have time to empty my pockets) i went to the nearest food place which is of course McDonalds, now this is only down our escalators to the right (literally 30 seconds away) and i ordered and ran back up stairs to eat it behind where i was (no customers can see its a windowless room!).

now i got caught and he has suspended me and i basically was wondering if theres any places i could get help from to support my case and fight it.

he has suspended me on the grounds of :
- having money on me (cash handling policy) and where i work Everybody has their phone & money on them even if it is against their "policy" which not even management follow.
- leaving the site without approval (i.e if there was a fire i wouldnt be able to evacuate the screens...) this is only 20 seconds away in the same building!! and can easily hear the fire alarm.
- breaking "H&S" i dont know why this is but yeah... the room is basically a foodless room with the syrups and gas in the corner..

now the management often go for a smoke about 5 minutes away in the car park and leave us for about 20 mins sometimes alone!! how they can do that and suspend me for this.

now tell me if the chances of getting away with this are zero (though IMHO hes taking it too far considering the professionalism at work), ill start looking for a real job tomorow...

[Behemoth]

Surely they know about your medical condition and understand why you needed to go and get something to eat. Unless you've done something really bad in the past like this then I can understand it, but if its a one off then I think they are being pretty unfair and unreasonable.

Are you in a union that you could go and take advice from ?

The fact you were 4 mins late may not have helped your case though.

[Lucio]

Employement law is fairly complex but the basic gist of it is that companies must apply their policies to everyone or not at all. So you'll have to prove that they're ignoring other members of staff's violations, and that if someone else had done what you'd done they wouldn't be recieving the same punishment.

IMO, it's the money policy that they'll get you on, that one's the easiest to prove and can easiest to cite "an irrevocable breakdown in trust". Having money in your pockets in any job where you handle cash is always been a no-no.

[Unique]

i suggest you phone ACAS as without knowing a lot more information it's hard to give advice. being late 4 minutes isn't grounds for instant dismissal, the money in itself probably isn't either, but if you have been disciplined for either before it could potentially lead to dismissal

each item has to be handled seperately, not bundled together. the incident of leaving your workplace may be considered gross misconduct. cases of gross misconduct are usually handled by suspending the employee pending an investigation, the suspension is because the issue is serious enough to warrant instant dismissal, thus serious enough not to let the employee work until the issue is resolved

i'm guessing you work in a shop, and i'm also guessing you may have left the shop unnattended whilst you bought food. i make this presumption as if you weren't alone you could have said you were ill and asked permission to leave. if you weren't alone and didn't ask permission, that also goes against you, as it would be reasonable to ask permission, but unreasonable to leave without doing so. leaving your workplace without permission could be grounds for gross dismissal, but leaving a shop or workplace unnattended, or the shop floor unnattended could be grounds for gross dismissal

it's up to the employer to handle the disciplinary procedures in an appropriate way, moreso than the decision they make, as if you are dismissed and raise a tribunal complaint, it's the way the case is handled, more than the decision, but if the decision was not based on solid grounds or it wasn't appropriate to the complaint, that would go against the employer. in other words, if it is a serious incident and they handle it properly, they would likely win, but if they didn't handle it properly, regarding of the seriousness, then it reduces their chances, but if the incident is particularly bad then the employee usually has little chance. an employer can't sack someone for gross misconduct for a minor offence such as being late 5 minutes, that's when a tribunal would likely award against them, minor offences should be dealt with a series of warnings, more serious with one final warning, it's only very serious incidents that can be treated as gross misconduct which means you can be dismissed without any further warnings (this is usually for things like stealing, fighting, fraud, drinking, drugs, etc)

the medical situation may help your case, i'm sure it would be considered unreasonable to leave without asking. if you can think enough to leave and buy food, you would surely have been able to ask to leave, is something i'm sure will be mentioned