Sexual Harassment

[pr1]

She was signed off for two weeks with work related stress and has just been sacked via email. She's taking legal advice.

Wow that's brave of the company, presumably she's got offline copies of any emails etc?

[TheBA]

You could hit them with a Subject Access Request for all data relating to her, and it only costs £10. They will need to disclose the emails about her if she's personally referenced.
Plus it'll be a nightmare for them

[LondonManc]

The good news now is that it's done. The timescales are completely open and it's time to build a case.

TheBA has nailed part of the strategy, but I'd potentially talk to an employment lawyer to seek advice about an overall plan.

[northernladuk]

Am not so sure sending an email is the worst case. I seem to think its the only way you sre allowed to communicate with someone when they are off with stress. Didnt think you were allowed to ring them let alone to sack them due to making their condition worse?

[eek]

The good news now is that it's done. The timescales are completely open and it's time to build a case.

TheBA has nailed part of the strategy, but I'd potentially talk to an employment lawyer to seek advice about an overall plan.

+1 speak to an employment lawyer to work out what you need to get and how to legally get it - especially as you probably want to access items that may have been deleted from the email server and you need the requests phrased in such a way that we've deleted it looks not just bad but intentional (albeit amateurish) covering up of evidence.

[mudskipper]

You may find ACAS helpful.

[LondonManc]

I'd imagine that they'll want to settle out of court and, more importantly, out of press.

[eek]

You may find ACAS helpful.

True but given that as contractors we have money for proper legal advice I would* be spending some of my money on said legal advice. It will be the letter from a solicitor showing that you mean business and won't walk away that will scare them far more than anything else.

*In my case I don't. I just got my sister in law (who alongside my brother both have masters in employment law) to scare the issue away but I doubt that option is available to others...

[SlipTheJab]

She was signed off for two weeks with work related stress and has just been sacked via email. She's taking legal advice.

Email! What a bunch of twunts...

[northernladuk]

Email! What a bunch of twunts...

How would you expect it to be done?

Interesting article here that points out the issues of contacting employees while on sick but a very pertinent bit of information the OP. Did then include anything else in the email that could cause distress?

http://www.footanstey.com/bulletins/...ckness-absence

Having taken legal advice and spoken to HR, the CEO contacted the Claimant in early November 2013 suggesting a meeting before the end of the month (at a flexible location). However, the letter also went on to set out six areas of concern that the Respondent wanted to discuss with the Claimant. Upon receipt of this letter, the Claimant resigned stating she considered the timing and nature of issues raised were intended to elicit her resignation.

She brought claims of constructive unfair dismissal, discrimination arising from disability, harassment and failure to make reasonable adjustments.

The tribunal found that she had not been bullied and that she was not a credible witness as she was over-sensitive and exaggerated issues. It also found that the letter was not part of a campaign to intimidate her as the issues had already been raised with her. However, the tribunal found that the employer should have known that the letter would have caused the Claimant distress. Consequently it held that the letter amounted to an act of disability-related harassment and entitled the Claimant to consider that she had been constructively unfairly dismissed. The failure to implement two of the OH recommendations was also discrimination arising from disability, although it did not consider there had been a failure to make reasonable adjustments.