Need some advice - anyone in this field?
Have an employee claiming for hours worked when they’re not actually doing the claimed work. PC logs can confirm this. What muddies the situation is that I had a handshake agreement with this person that they are a partner in the business but we never had anything official drawn up. It was to be made formal at some point in the future. I am the sole director of the business and the business is a partnership with another person. Any advice from someone experienced is appreciated as I am wanting to terminate their employment instantly. There is nothing in their contract that discusses this situation.
The advice would be to probably go see a lawyer first, but I’m not in the fields you listed
H Mackster,
I think you need a commercial lawyer specialising in employment law.
How much revenue does this employer produce for you?
How easily are their skills replaced ?
Could you be mistaken in some way?
Employing a solicitor and going to court could be a very costly affair, but is there was some way to resolve the issue and keep this person, assuming they are valuable to your business?
If they aren’t valuable, I would seek a solicitor for a paid opinion confirming the process to remove this person. If the recommendation is to go to court this will be very expensive. It may be better to make his role redundant and pay him 3 - 6 months income reflecting his experience, revenue generation and skills - that is if it’s cheaper than going the legal
I suspect it may be cheaper.
Anyway that’s just a few musings from me on an interesting employment dispute
Best of luck
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Well I guess you don’t want them for a partner. Handshake agreements hardly ever end well.
If it was me then I would immediately terminate any contract, pay them what you owe them and move on. Being a thief are grounds for dismissal and as long as you can prove it with real evidence then you are in a strong position.
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Do you have an employment contract in place? My gut feel is that the commitment to make them a partner, if not in writing, is just a non-enforceable promise, and even if he was considered a partner, wouldn’t have an impact on the employment relationship.
If they are genuinely saying they have worked and have not completed (and by not completed , I mean didn’t even clock on for work at all) you’d still need to go through a disciplinary process, give them notice of meeting to address the concerns, give them an opportunity to respond, then consider that info and make a decision as to what you want to do
If they haven’t been employed for more than 12 months (I’m assuming you have less than 15 employees), then they don’t have access to unfair dismissal (doesn’t stop them making you attend an unfair dismissal conciliation though, which may give you the opportunity to give them some money/ sign some settlement terms), but you can raise an objection to it going any further from there and the Fair Work commission won’t want to hear it and will stop their claim progressing further. The objection is pretty simple to lodge and probably doesn’t need legal assistance to prepare if you are somewhat savvy.
I think the risk is pretty low tbh based on a couple of assumptions, but definitely consult with an employment lawyer or consultant so you can tell them the full story and get their perspective.
I’m happy to chat further over DM if you want as this is in fact my area of expertise.
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I can confirm im not John setka
Thats something John Setka would say
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I’ve allways imagined Alex as
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Alex isn’t a woman bashing scumbag
That isn’t my body, but that is my face
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Any lawyers reading this post? Gagf.