Legal Advice on Employment Disputes | Legal Advice Centre

Questioner

Dear Sir/Madam, At the end of 2012 I had an employment dispute with my employer. This was followed by a suspension, resulting in my dismissal in August 2013. Before I was suspended, I had undergone a very intense interrogation by a so-called reputable detective agency. I was called from my workplace under false pretenses to speak with two gentlemen who had questions about a burglary that had occurred six months earlier. I was the one on call at the time and was called by security. The gentlemen told me that I was working on a voluntary basis was summoned. The conversation started off friendly and turned into a 4-hour intense interrogation. I regularly reported what I was accused of and never got an answer. On the contrary, I was told that if the employer could keep me for two days then they simply could. I was exhausted after two hours of interrogation and asked again why I was there and if I could return to my workplace. Again no response and the pressure was increased again. After asking several times whether a union consultant could be present, this was ignored. The interrogation even took on aggressive features and it was never explicitly stated what I was suspected of. After 4 hours I had to sign a quick report of 22 pages and did not receive a copy. And 10 minutes later I was able to pack my things and was suspended. My question now is, is this normal!!!! I have been home for over a year now and emotionally I deal with this incident every day.

Lawyer

The situation outlined contains a number of things that are not simply allowed. You could not call the course of events normal in any case. From your story it does not appear to me in what way you were dismissed, but I think you were dismissed on the spot. This is due to the suspicion of burglary. What is particularly striking is that (i) you were not given the opportunity to present your side of the story, (ii) no lawyer was allowed to be present during the interrogation, (iii) you were not given a copy of the documents you signed, (iv) and there was a period of six months between the burglary and the dismissal. Whether you can do anything legally with the aspects mentioned, I cannot estimate at this point. The assessment of the validity of a dismissal requires more knowledge of the facts. For example, I cannot assess what you have signed and declared.