All in good time...

Timing is not just crucial for comedians. It’s pretty important for managers too.

In a recent Tribunal case involving the theft of stock, an employer dismissed two employees summarily, i.e. without notice or payment in lieu of notice, following an investigation which proved their involvement. The termination letter stated that the date of dismissal was 5 October 2010. The employees appealed, and after hearing their appeals, the employer reconfirmed the original decision, but stated (for reasons that are not clear) that the dismissal was now effective from 4 November.

Both employees submitted claims to an Employment Tribunal on 27 January 2011. The employer sought to argue that their claims were out of time, because they were not made within 3 months of their original dismissal date of 5 October. However, the Tribunal ruled that the claims were in time, because the employer had changed the dismissal date to 4 November. So the case went ahead.

Sometimes, decisions to dismiss are overturned on appeal, or changed from summary dismissal to dismissal with notice, in which case the original dismissal date is invalidated or superseded by a new one. Maybe the employer in this case mistakenly thought that it had to extend their employment until the appeals had been heard. This is not the case – employers should stick with the original dismissal date unless and until their original decision is overturned.

All this reminded me of the events surrounding a tribunal case many years ago, where my employer was accused of unfairly selecting a woman for redundancy because she was pregnant. In fact the decision had been made purely on performance grounds and had nothing to do with her pregnancy, but she took the opportunity to try to get some additional compensation. The case turned on a key piece of documentation which she produced as evidence of her performance: an appraisal form which stated that she was a good, effective employee. The manager explained that the form related to an appraisal meeting held several years previously, whereas she claimed it was recent. The form was not dated. The company could not prove that the form was out of date and that her performance had deteriorated, and she therefore won her case. Another example of the importance of getting dates right.

The moral of these two stories is this: always date every document you sign, and be very careful not to change key dates without a good reason - otherwise the joke may be on you!