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Sacked from work for being late?

I am possibly going to be sacked on Monday for coming to work 15 min late on a regular basis at my office job for a small company in London. The issue I have is virtually everyone, including the directors, comes in late frequently, yet they have picked on me because I have only been there 18 months?

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Reply 1

Pinkberry_y

Original post by Anonymous

As unfair as that is that's the deal with hierarchy. The more senior figures get away with more than the new people.

Reply 2

jonathanemptage

Original post by Anonymous

If your not there on time then it's seen as a being unreliable I'm sorry it happening to you but thats the way it is as a junior member of staff you don't get away with things and that's the way it is in every job you'll ever have.

Reply 3

loooopppyyy

You should probably stop focusing on other people at work, the more worrying concern is the fact that your turning up 15 minutes late everyday.

Reply 4

Sephiroth

Sounds like a case of discrimination to me. There shouldn't be one rule for you and one rule for other employees.

Reply 5

Duncan2012

It might be too late now but in future stop showing up late. Regular late attendance without good reason is just asking to get sacked. No sympathy here, I'm afraid.

Reply 6

999tigger

If you havent figured it out you arent a director.
Have they ever warned you about it?
Do you make up the time?
As said focus on yourself

They might just be seeking to downsize and you dont really have many empliyment rights before you hit the 2 year mark.

Reply 7

zabveniye

Regardless of what other staff are doing, yes, you could be fired for this.

While it is unfair that others get away with it, that doesn't make it acceptable for you to be late so frequently. Two wrongs don't make a right, and etc. First and foremost you need to focus on your own work ethic and upholding your work responsibilities, such as being there on time.

I hope you don't get fired, though. If you have a chance to explain yourself to your manager, apologise and accept responsibility, mention any valid reasons that caused you to be late if there are any, and explain how you will change this if they keep you on. Get up and leave home half an hour earlier; being fifteen minutes early from now on will show them that you've learnt from your mistake.

Do you dislike your job, or just struggle to get going in the morning? Or are there other circumstances that cause you to be late regularly?

Reply 8

Napp

If you havent learnt that a director in a company is god com[pared to you you're going to have some issues in life. You loose them money through not bothering to set the alarm forward 15 minutes you get fired.

Reply 9

Tiger Rag

Original post by Sephiroth

Sounds like a case of discrimination to me. There shouldn't be one rule for you and one rule for other employees.

It's not, because they don't have a protected characteristic.

Reply 10

meenu89

Being late a few times would probably be pushing it, but on a regular basis? Something stopping you from getting to work on time? The rest of us are able to do this, why can't you?

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 11

Judge Judy

Original post by Anonymous

I am always late for everything, even when i had a job i was late most of the time.
I hate getting somewhere too early and having to wait around so i never leave my home on time.
But what i try to do now is put the time on my watch, clock and mobile phone
10 minutes earlier than the normal time and try to leave home earlier.
But in your case you should set your time 20 minutes earlier and leave home 30 minutes earlier just incase there was lots of traffic as i hate it when that happens even though i only get a bus & train.

It's very important to always be on time for work as the managers judge employees for it. I always felt really stressed and angry with myself every time i was late so i did try to get to work on time but i did not try hard enough like leaving home earlier.
Plus the jobs i had i hated so did not care if i was sacked, although that never happened to me.
But don't worry about it because i think it is very easy to get a job through an agency so even if you are not sacked on Monday turn up to work early and in your lunch break ring up employment agencies or just turn up at a few on the high street and sign up with them. Bring your cv and i d and don't tell them your always late.
If you are reading this now then just type employment agencies in your area you live in on google and write their phone numbers and address to contact them.
Only sign up with good agencies like Reed, etc. I don't know the names of any other good ones. If you choose crap agencies that only get people jobs filling envelopes they are the crap agencies and they do not get people jobs that pay good money

Also apply for jobs like Trainee Recruitment Consultant or Foxton's estate agents as they require no experience and you can make good money. Look up Foxton's on google and recruitment jobs are advertised online on Reed, CV Library, Indeed, Monster websites or tell the agencies you sign up with that you want those type of jobs but even if you don't really want those jobs they will try to find you something similar or better but i find that people who tell agencies they are looking for cleaning, retail, catering jobs only get offered those or other low paid jobs and the agency won't try to get you a higher paid job that's why i said to tell them you want Trainee recruitment or Trainee estate agents jobs even if you don't really. They might not have those type of jobs on their books anyway but least they will try harder to get you a high paid job if you mention it. I don't know of any other good jobs that pay well, only those two that's why i try to tell other people about them if they did not already know about it.
Or ask agencies to get you office jobs or Receptionist jobs as some reception jobs pay a lot

If you are sacked the company you worked for still have to give you a reference and i don't think they will mention in your reference that you are late but i'm not sure.
You can just pretend to other employers at interviews you were made redundant
You seem like you don't like your job or the people anyway so it's best to look for new one through an agency even if you were not sacked.
But the trick is to sign up with lots of different agencies because if you only go to one they might be very slow at getting you a job and i know lots of people especially who have a degree give up on agencies because they did not get them work but they did not realise they should have signed up with a few different agencies and not just rely on one agency as you have more chance of getting a job quicker if you sign up with more than one.

Reply 12

Anonymous #1

Having done some research on UK employment law, there are some things which an employee can do in this situation:-

1) Reject the terms given for the termination of contract by the employer (yes, an employee can do this, it is a two way process with the employer);

2) Appeal the decision if there are reasonable grounds to do so (the appeal meeting has to be done by a more senior manager than in the termination meeting);

3) Make it clear to the employer that the employee is available to work until a final decision is made by the employer, meaning that he/she remains on the payroll until the appeal meeting has been completed.

Also, an employer cannot treat an employee less favourably than anyone else, otherwise it becomes a breach of trust and confidence between the relationship of the employer and employee in question, and a case for constructive dismissal may be made by the employee.

Reply 13

doodle_333

you should never compare yourself to others you work with... for a start you don't know what others may have arranged with their manager (e.g. get in 15 mins late to drop the kids off at childcare and then have 15 mins less at lunch), other people may work enough overtime that no one minds them being 15 mins late, they may be more senior and therefore people don't mind, they may be managing to complete their workload to a high standard with 15 mins less time but you aren't

if you haven't yet been given a formal warning ask if they can consider that and say you will be in 10 mins early every day just to be sure you aren't late again and you have realised you assuming it was okay if others did it but now realise you were wrong

it's not discriminatory unless you're being targetted because of a protected characteristic (disability, race etc)

Reply 14

Magic Streets

Did you read the earlier post? An appeal can be made, and it is likely that a senior manager would overturn the decision.

Reply 15

Tiger Rag

They can sack you for any reason they wanted within the first 2 years, as long as it's not discrimination.

Reply 16

Helg

British labour market and employment law is ridiculous

Reply 17

Dez

Original post by Magic Streets

Did you read the earlier post? An appeal can be made, and it is likely that a senior manager would overturn the decision.

It really isn't.

Reply 18

bethwalker85

Ummm why are you always late? Set off earlier? Just because your bosses are late does not mean you can. You're their employee and it's in your contract your working hours so you need to abide by your contract.