QLD Employment Disciplinary Action with No Formal Interview

[kenzi]

I have been working as a receptionist for a college for over two years with A+ performance reviews. I had a recent disagreement with another staff member over issues with student enrolments and emailed my manager. The staff member later resigned.

I was then called into the managers office and informed that the state manager had received complaints about students being treated poorly and being discouraged from attending the college by me. I was told that I didn't need to know who made the complaint or where the complaint had come from but that disciplinary action in the form of coaching and mentoring sessions were to commence immediately to improve my customer service skills.

I requested further information regarding the complaint and was told not to ask questions. I followed the internal grievance policy and emailed HR for more information. HR replied that my manager had all the information and they would not be getting involved. When the state manager attended the college I confronted her about the complaints made against me. She stated that the complaint was not from students but from another staff member.

I questioned my manager about the validity of the disciplinary action when clearly no formal complaint had been made. I also questioned why HR wasn't complying with the company's own grievance policy and investigating these false allegations. She stated that her job was on the line if I wasn't "managed".

I then emailed the CEO as per the grievance policy when no final outcome had been reached. The CEO acknowledged the receipt of the email and instructed HR to investigate. A week later I was sent a letter from the State Manager informing me that I was being relocated to another location (as per a clause in my employment contract) where there are no students under the guise of improving my customer service skills.

I have contacted Fair Work Australia who advised seeking employment law legal advice. The disciplinary action taken against me is totally unwarranted and to further escalate it an employment transfer, I feel is unlawful. No such clause is contained in my employment contract.

 

[Paul Cott]

Kenzi,

I think there is a lot of issues here. But the one which strikes me most is the lack of procedural fairness to you as in not having the allegations and their details put to you, so that you can or could respond. A look at the contract may be useful, too, by a qualified lawyer.

I would advise legal advice, formally, would be a good idea. It seems you may well have been hard done by.

Paul.

 

[kenzi]

Thanks Paul for your response. Procedural fairness for all intents and purposes, seems to be just documented lip service for this company. I have sought legal advice and was informed that it may be hard to fight upper management if they really want me out. He stated that its hard to give advice whilst I am still employed but did state to request a formal meeting with all parties involved.

I do find it hard to believe that in this day and age where HR and IR laws are in place to protect not only the employee against being treated unfairly but also the employer against litigation for unfair dismissal, that any company would resort to cowboy tactics of coercion and bullying.