OMG...!!! This is going to OUTRAGE you!!!!!!!!!!

Ok....this is about my friend... NOT me...but i'm still outraged and gobsmaked by it.

First History... my friend has a little girl who is 16 months old. She went to work for this company as a sales rep 4 months ago (shes been repping for various companies for 8 years now). The company at first was hesitant about employing her because they were concerned that due to her having a baby she wouldn't be able to commit time to country trips etc...however she had been doing this quite fine in her previous job - she went back to work when her DD was 10months old.

So yesterday she got sacked...not because her performance wasn't up to scratch but because she has a child!!! She let them know that she was unable to attend a weekend conference due to her DD being sick and she couldn't get a babysitter for the whole weekend.

Her manager sat her down and told her that they were terminating her employment because she has a child and can't commit to the hours the job required. The manager then went through the WHOLE team and said to my friend "this person doesn't have kids and neither does this person" etc etc etc...no one else has kids. Then went on to say if we had known that your husband had his own business we wouldn't have employed you because you don't have the support from your husband to look after your child (her mum looks after DD when she is away), then started making VERY personal attacks about her husband. Then went on to say that they won't be hiring anyone with children as they can't do the job properly when they do have children.


Also, they then took money from her pay for personal tolls when NO WHERE in her contract does it state she had to pay for these...UMMM HELLO!!! THIS IS ILLEGAL!!!!

AND THEN....

They didn't want to pay her out!!! You can't sack someone and then not pay them!!!!

WTF?!?!? Who is this woman.....this is DISCRIMINATION against a working mother!!!!!I've told her to ring industrial relations because this is WRONG WRONG WRONG!

There is heaps more but i'm just is shock at the moment...i'll come back and write more though.

That is absolutely disgusting!! She should definitely sue for unfair dismissal! that is discrimination and they should be embarassed for the way they treated her! is she with a union at all do you know? man i get so fired up when i hear that employers pull this kind of crap. And so what if she has a child, that is none of their damn business and just because of that it doesn't make her bad at her job, they should be understanding that children get sick. Obviously they dont have children and they should never have kids!! grrrr im so mad. Im so sorry that your friend is going through this!!! also get her to go to the media they love busting employers like this.

mmmmm I think the words 'discrimination, court, lawyers and solicitors' come to mind with this one! What a horrible thing to have to deal with. It is sad this sort of stuff still happens. Good luck to your friend.

Wow stuff like this seems to be happening more and more. People being sacked for really pathetic reasons.

You're right that is outrageous!!
Almost worth a phonecall to ACA outrageous.....she's doing something about it right???

Can you name the company? My mum has been a sales rep for 20 something years and when we were kids and has never been treated that way.

I would strongly advice her to speak to a soliciter. She should take this further. Could be up for some compensation. And the toll thing! What a crock of ****! As a rep she would have been driving a company car and they should have provided an etag, or she should claim it all on tax.

Your poor friend.

She should definitely get some legal advice about pursuing an anti-discrimination claim. This is completely illegal, and they have admitted to her that the reason for dismissing her is that she has children. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Please encourage her to speak to a lawyer. Start by looking at the workplace authority website and the state industrial relations website and also anti discrimination websites. If she gives some of them a call I'm sure they'll say the same thing.
Shocking.

That is not unfair dismissal - it is UNLAWFUL dismissal which is very different - ie. it is illegal to terminate someone based on their parental or carer status. She has a case and should lodge a claim with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission. It is also unlawful for them to withhold her entitlements so yes she should mention she will be taking herself to a lawyer to claim these entitlements.

e mail current affair or sunday night and perhaps contact the local ombadsman, thats if how you spell it! when my DF finished his apprenticeship early he was entitled to a bonus cash payment from the government yet the company he was working for took it and we called the local ombadsman ( if thats how you spell it! ) and he sorted it out!

OMG!!!! That is unbelievable. Agree with all previous posters. I hope her solicitor kicks them up the a$$

Was this exchange seen by any other workers? Get your friend to write everything out whilst she remembers it. If she can get the employer to write in writing why she is being let go, you have great evidence for a courtcase. Otherwise witnesses and your friends notes are really important.

Is she in a union? Is there one she can talk to? Definately seek legal/antidiscrimination advice because it doesn't sound right.

Don't let them get away with it.

You are 100% correct, based the facts you have provided this is illegal and called unlawful dismissal and may also be a breach of some of the new provisions of the Fair Work Act.

There is plenty she can do.

My suggestions

* First thing Monday morning contact the Fair Work Ombudsman 13 13 94 and make a complaint.
* Make a full written record of what was said, who was present (this will be very useful to the FWO Investigators).


If you go to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) you will need to prove the offence yourself, if you go to the FWO there are trained investigators who will investigate and prosecute the employer if found to be in breach. They will also help her get her correct entitlements paid to her. The bonus is there are no fees whatsoever. Please impress upon her that the FWO takes this sort of treatment very seriously indeed.

I would encourage her to act swiftly, the sooner the better.

HTH

Spring.

Thats absolutely disgusting! I cant believe they fired her for that reason and actially told her that was the reason (usually they just make up some other reason like 'we're downsizing, dont have enough work'). Your friend should definately go through the industrial relations thingy and lodge an unlawful/unfair dismissal claim. She needs to do it within 3 or 4 weeks of being fired though (i think.. that was the rule when I got fired for no real reason).
With regard to paying her out - she isnt necessarily entitled to anything, it really depends on what her contract says, and whether she was permanent or on a fixed period contract etc etc. Its all rather complicated because of the wording in the contracts. But your friend should definately get in touch with industrial relations and get started on a claim for unfair dismissal, and call her employer to get a seperation certification and letter to say when/why she was sacked.

Hi, i'm going to be a stickybeak here....i'm interested to see if your friend has taken this further??

I was wondering too Baby Q!

I hope your friend can calmly pursue her rights to the very end. It sounds like she has a very good case.
Remind her that if she can keep a cool head she will be more likely to succeed. She can probably end up turning this negative situation into a positive. Let us know how she along.

Just seen this thread. What's happened since you posted? What the company did is totally wrong!

Despite all my convincing...she did nothing!!!!!!!!!!!
ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

I gave her all the reasons as to why but her response was she would rather just leave it and spend the time with her daughter.

I wish i could "talk" to them and tell them how wrong they were in doing this!!