An employee of a car assembly plant from the English village of Castle Bromwich, West Midlands, who lost his job for missing 808 shifts, won a lawsuit against the employer, reports the Daily Star.
Vic Rumbold has worked for Jaguar Land Rover on a car assembly line for over 20 years. During this time, he took sick leave for 808 shifts and received more than 95.8 thousand pounds (9.5 million rubles) in temporary disability benefits. He attributed his absence from work to various reasons: health problems, industrial injuries and the fact that he was allegedly attacked by robbers.
Project startup manager Jon Carter, who conducted an employment audit at the company, called his attendance the worst attendance report he has ever seen. More than half of the shifts that Rumbold did not show up took place in his last four years, the Labor Court reported.
In early 2018, Ramboldt had a hip problem and was diagnosed with avascular necrosis, which leads to chronic pain. Because of this, he could not work from March 12 to August 13. He required hip replacement surgery and was temporarily disabled for another 12 weeks.
In December 2018, Rambolda was fired on grounds of poor performance and lack of compliance with labor discipline. The man challenged this decision in the labor court. Judge Johnson ruled that the company did not comply with attendance management procedures and did not reach a stage under those procedures at which termination could be considered.
“At best, if the procedures were followed, they would have reached a stage where the applicant could be issued with an order or warning about his truancy and the need to improve their behavior to avoid further sanctions. Simply put, if they followed their own protocols at the moment when it was decided to dismiss the applicant, such a measure would not fall within the range of possible sanctions, “he explained.
The amount that Rumboldt should receive as compensation will be determined in 2021.