How to face a disciplinary process: Ask the Expert
A. Go to the HR department today and lodge a written appeal against your disciplinary warnings. Then tell them that you are following your doctor's advice to take time off work for depression, and that you will be sending them a medical note to this effect. Go home!
Don't worry about "compromising your position". The stark truth is that your position is already about as compromised as it can be. You need to accept that you have no future in this organisation because, for whatever reason, your boss doesn't want you anymore, says recruitment expert Tony Tucker. Trust has broken down.
What is ominous for you is that the company appears to be going through a proper procedure to sack you. If you don't contest the disciplinary case, you will be out of a job very shortly, without a penny and with a big black mark on your record.
However, although your departure is nigh on inevitable (and why would you want to stay on in an organisation that has treated you so shodily) it may still be possible for you to leave on reasonable terms, with a pay-off and, hopefully, a decent reference. This happens all the time.
The starting point is recording your disagreement with the disciplinary case. You then want to negotiate an elegant exit, relying on the fact that the company will not want you to sue them for unfair dismissal. It is probably a good idea for you to speak to an employment lawyer, who can give you a proper idea of the strength of your case against your employer and who can negotiate exit terms on your behalf.
To find someone suitable go to the website of the Law Society. There are plenty of solicitors who offer an initial consultation free of charge or for a fixed fee. Some also operate on a no-win, no-fee basis, taking a percentage of whatever settlement they get for you.
So, go to HR, go home and go to a lawyer. Good Luck.
Readers advise...
Yes, it sounds like you're being set up. There are two possible reasons for this: they might think that you are rubbish at your job, or they might be looking to save costs. I'm afraid to say I think the former is more likely.
The sheer hassle for management of going through the disciplinary process means that it is avoided wherever possible. After all, who wants to spend time in HR? Although making someone redundant costs more, this is a minor concern to all but the most corporate minded manager - it's not his money, is it?
I advise the following:
1) In general, you should always appeal against warnings. Not doing so won't make a hostile management dislike you any less, but it will make it easier for them to boot you out without compensation if they want to.
2) At the very least, you should take your doctor's advice and take leave. No job is worth damaging your health for.
3) Be honest with yourself: is your illness affecting your performance? If it is, then your superiors could be justified in starting the disciplinary process against you. Try telling your boss that you are suffering from depression, and that you need a few weeks off to recover. This could be enough for the situation to blow over.
4) If you feel that it's all gone beyond the stage at which the situation can be resolved, you could go to HR, bless them, with a chit from your doctor saying that your illness is work related, and ask for leave / help. Turn the screw a bit by mentioning that your current management's behaviour is the cause, and, although, of course, you'd be reluctant to do it, you think you might have no choice but to go to an employment lawyer. As an alternative, you'd accept a transfer to another department on equal pay and terms when you get back from your recuperative leave. They'll probably bluster a bit, but as long as you behave in a reasonable way the chances are that they will cave in pretty quickly.
5) Keep a paper trail. Send an email requesting the meeting and summarisng what it will be about. Then send another after any meetings you have, recapping what was said and any conclusions that were reached. Make sure that you keep copies of these - you'd be amazed at what could go "missing" from the company's records if it does all come to blows.
6) As an old-fashioned alternative, simply get out before you get even more ill. It's always easier to find a job when you have one, so if this is what you decide, start looking now.
Finally, don't be too put out by being disciplined. It happens to the best people. I once thought it would be a good idea to give a talented but, in my view, idle and even more than usually egotistical analyst in my department a boot up the backside by giving him a formal warning. Not much later, he resigned to go to another firm, where he was recently voted top in his sector in the Extel Survey.
Good luck, and don't let the b******s grind you down.
W. V., London
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I was dimissed from my job one week ago. I live & work in Zurich, Switzerland and was with JPMorgan Chase Bank for two years. I get paid until August, 2005.
They said that after 2 years with JPM, they felt that I did not have the right profile fit for either the team or to take over my manager's position. Furthermore, they said that I had had issues with colleagues which went against JPM's values of trust & respect. Certainly, I did have an issue with a colleague; there were faults on both sides, but, it was dead and buried, and since then we have had a good working relationship. As far as other issues with colleagues is concerned, this is a blatant lie, despite them saying that they had heard & seen emails testifying to this. At no point in time was I ever approached by management about issues with other colleagues prior to being dismissed.
In addition, I was performing very well in a business sense, and in a meeting one week prior to the dismissal, this was reiterated. What was said was that I needed to improve on certain things, namely communicating better with my manager, and as such, an action plan would be put together, which I accepted.
What shocks me more than anything is how this occurred completely out of the blue, with no prior verbal or written warning, and that they have lied to push me out. Incidentally, I always felt that there was a "campaign" against me, i.e constant under-handed criticism, no compliments/acknowledgement for good performance, etc.
Do I have a case against them?
S. R., Zurich
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Next week's question: I am an emerging market fixed income trader from a CE4 country. I have been at a small bank in London for a year and am disappointed with my job, but I don't know the job-hunting conventions here. Should I approach one leading headhunting company or several? Should I wait for a headhunter to call me? Or should I use informal channels like friends? How do I stop information getting back to my employer?
What would you advise? Send your answer to: expertadmin@efinancialcareers.com
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