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Ben Jones
Ben Jones, UK Lawyer
Category: Law
Satisfied Customers: 50157
Experience:  Qualified Solicitor
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I have been dismissed from the Home Office on the basis of

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I have been dismissed from the Home Office on the basis of Gross Misconduct.
In my case I was abused verbally by a colleague and made my line manager and my agent aware of my issues but they took no action and let me in my own devices. When eventually ended up having an argument with this colleague in the office they dismiss me on gross misconduct. The argument lasted less than 1 minute, it was not personal and I was trying to protect my self from false accusations. On top of this after the argument I received messages on my iphone, calling me mad, crazy and swearing at me. I tried to make the line manager aware but refused to look at it. His attitude was work with her, its your problem! I offer my resignation as I could not work any more but they dismiss me on gross misconduct.
Is this right?
Ben Jones :

Hello, my name is ***** ***** it is my pleasure to assist you with your question today. How long did you work there for?

Customer:

From November 2013 on a contract basis. The contract was renewed twice

Ben Jones :

What are you hoping to achieve in this situation?

Customer:

I just dont want to have it on my record that I ve been dismissed on gross misconduct. I was checking the definition of GM and having a disagreement in the office is not included in the list.

Ben Jones :

was that a list provided in the employer's policies?

Customer:

No, funny enough I cannot find it in the Home Office site and I was never given any list of guidance on that subject.

Customer:

I found a list on wikipedia

Ben Jones :

Well there is certainly no list of what gross misconduct amounts to - there are examples but legally no official list exists so technically anything can amount to GM. It has to be something serious enough which means you are in fundamental breach of contract and your continued employment is no longer possible. A disagreement/argument could easily be a GM event as long as it was serious enough. So for example if you used foul language, physical threats or this was something witnessed by someone else and affected the reputation of the company - many examples can make this Something that can be GM.

Also there is no official record of your employment and this is something which will only come out if the employer mentions it in a reference. So if they do not or you do not use them for a reference, no one will find out about this.

In terms of challenging this you have the option of making an appeal directly with the employer but if that does not help then you can only take the matter to an employment tribunal

Customer:

Ok I see. So the fact that they knew about the abuse and did not act on that , it does not matter

Customer:

Also the fact that they refused to look at the messages on my phone ?

Ben Jones :

It does matter to an extent but does not provide an excuse for what happened.

Customer:

Ok thank you

Ben Jones :

you are most welcome

Customer:

is there anything else you need to tell me? I cannot rate you

Ben Jones :

Apologies for that, there is a bug in the system which we sometimes get and it prevents you from posting your rating. Instead, you can just type your selection on here (e.g. OK, Good, Excellent) then we will process it manually later. Thank you

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