Just been suspended

[B.D.O]

have they got proof the mail was left ? photo copies.maybe a long shot

He had photos of mail I have absolutely no knowledge of.
I did not see any photos of the mail I left behind.

[BT2010]

BDO, write a diary of events mate.

at least its ammo to give to your rep.

[bag69]

Why has everyone missed the fact that he was not allowed a witness to start with, Follow the wrong procedure line. Gets them every time. Best of luck mate. Got to a school today and i had left it behind. Easy to do, especially when bits of mail for me are all over the office. If they want you gone, your gone. Go tribunal and site wrong procedures.

[ElvisGaddafi]

[.

Yes I still had 20 minutes left on my duty, not long enough to take those 6 houses back out and deliver it.

When I said I'd make sure I told everybody within earshot that I would deliver it on the way home, that doesn't necessarily mean that I would deliver it.

[MinisterofCucumber]

It sounds like you didn't wilfully delay the mail, you simply made a genuine mistake and forgot to take out part of your round. If you had been able to get in to the building when you finished, you would have had enough time to deliver the mail you accidentally missed.

Are you charged with wilful delay?

[hatetheboss]

Why has everyone missed the fact that he was not allowed a witness to start with, Follow the wrong procedure line. Gets them every time. Best of luck mate. Got to a school today and i had left it behind. Easy to do, especially when bits of mail for me are all over the office. If they want you gone, your gone. Go tribunal and site wrong procedures.

That would be right Bag69 if it was a genuine fact-finding interview, that would need to be established,the first part is to do a informal interview to establish what happened and why If the Dim is not happy he would then have a fact-finding interview, you would be invited to this by letter.

If in this case a charge interview is the next step then the correct procedure would not have been followed.

Good luck in your case B.D.O

[postie222]

Suspension should only occur when it is necessary to prevent the risk of further breaches of conduct, to protect employees, property or mail, or to protect Royal Mail’s good image and standing in the community. It should only last as long as is genuinely necessary and will be reviewed after 48 hours and at reasonable periods thereafter
Wilful delay of mail is classed as gross misconduct, which if proven could lead to dismissal. The test to determine whether actions may be considered as wilful delay is as follows:

Deliberate action taken by an employee that causes mail to be delayed is called wilful delay. Where proven, such breaches of conduct can lead to dismissal, even for a first offence; indeed Wilful Delay is a criminal offence and can result in prosecution.

UNEXCUSED DELAY TO MAIL

The responsibility for safeguarding the mail and giving it prompt and accurate treatment is one of the most important duties of all employees.

Various actions can cause mail to be delayed, e.g. carelessness or negligence leading to damage or loss of customers mail, breach or disregard of a rule or guideline. Such instances are to be distinguished from wilful delay although they may also be treated as misconduct, and in more serious instances could also result in dismissal.

Furthermore, Royal Mail does recognise that genuine mistakes and misunderstandings do occur and it is not the intention of the Business that such cases should be dealt with under the Conduct Code beyond counselling for the isolated instance. The key is that employees should do their job to the best of their ability and, if in doubt, ask for their manager’s advice and guidance.

[fishtank]

How long can I expect to be suspended for ?

When you were first suspended you should have recieved this letter....

Date
Ref Employer Number (---/----)
Address In Confidence
Dear
I am writing to confirm that you were placed on precautionary suspension with full pay on (date) for alleged misconduct (provide details).

NOTE TO MANAGER
Ensure reason(s) for precautionary suspension is/are stated

You will be contacted in due course, but in no circumstances should you attend for duty or visit Royal Mail premises unless instructed to do so. You should note that your suspension will be reviewed after 48 hours from the date the suspension took place and at reasonable periods thereafter.
Please acknowledge receipt of this letter by signing one copy and returning it to me in the envelope provided within three working days of receipt. The second copy is for your retention.

Yours sincerely
Signature
(MANAGER’S NAME IN FULL AND IN BLOCK CAPITALS)
REPLY SLIP
TO (MANAGER’S NAME):
..............………………………………………...........................
I acknowledge receipt of this letter and understand its contents.
SIGNATURE:
..............………………………………………...........................
DATE:
.…..........………………………………………...........................

No later than 48hrs after the original suspension you should have received this letter....

Date
Ref Employer Number (---/----)
Address In Confidence
Dear
You were suspended with pay on (date).
I have now further considered the matter and I have decided that you should remain suspended with pay / return to duty* as from (date).
The reason for my decision is (provide reason(s)).
The suspension will be reviewed again on (date).

NOTE TO MANAGER: * Delete as appropriate
Ensure reason(s) are fully stated

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter by signing one copy and returning it to me in the envelope provided within three working days of receipt. The second copy is for your retention.

Yours sincerely
Signature
(MANAGER’S NAME IN FULL AND IN BLOCK CAPITALS)

If you haven't received either of these letters get on the phone to your Area Rep immediately.

[B.D.O]

UPDATE
Yes, I received my letter this morning, by hand, to my home address.
It is alleged that I:
Intentionally delayed mail.
Use of foul language.

My rep is very confident the foul language will be quashed.

And between myself and my rep, we found a nice piece of defense.

As part of a supervisors duties, it his job to clear the office down, as in check that all mail has gone.
If he finds anything and that postman/women has a contact number, he should phone the postman/women to give them the chance to come back and deliver the mail.
My supervisor failed to do this.
Even if he says "I did not know he had left mail in the frame until after he had gone home", then the supervisor failed to preform his duty.

Also, the supervisor should have used the first van to return to the office (and one did arrive back at about 1:30pm) and then use the spare postman who still had plenty of duty time left and get him to deliver the mail.
But the supervisor choose not to take that action.

My rep put this to my DOM and she has now lifted my suspension.

I still may need to attend a formal interview, but my rep is now a lot more confident I will get off with this.

[fishtank]

Excellent news B.D.O.

[post_bitch]

[wandle]

Well done in getting this suspension lifted BDO. Your case highlights two important things:

This union may not be perfect, and maybe we can all argue on here about the 2010 BT agreement, but when it comes to fighting individual cases, it is ESSENTIAL to be in the union. Even though I've sometimes thought about quitting the union now that RM seem to be breaking the 2010 agreement on a daily basis , I know in more sober moments that I'd be tempting fate..

Any of us could make a mistake and find ourselves in the position you were in. Without your rep bringing his knowledge of your supervisor's responsibilities, you could well have been sacked. OK, so you might have won a tribunal eventually... but you might not. And RM have no legal obligation to re-employ a sacked worker even if a tribunal finds that unfair dismissal has happened.

[tetley smooth]

Wonder if the willfull delay charge is now aimed at the supervisor? When did he discover the mail in your fitting? What did he do about it? apart from get a hard on for your suspension, and getting his bad ass reputation a boost.

[Post Off]

YAY! Well done, there B.D.O. I'm really pleased for you.

...And that was great how your rep was able to nail the fugging barstewards.


You know, for a while there I thought it was over for you, and yet in the same breath there were also some very good tid-bits of useful knowledge and pieces of advice being 'bounced off the walls' in this one thread.

[B.D.O]

Wonder if the willfull delay charge is now aimed at the supervisor? When did he discover the mail in your fitting? What did he do about it? apart from get a hard on for your suspension, and getting his bad ass reputation a boost.

That is exactly what I'm thinking.

Don't get me wrong, I know I made a mistake and will no doubt get some sort of warning.
But it should NOT distract from the cock up my supervisor made.

He failed to do his job on at least two counts and yet he could not wait to dob me in.