Hi all. I have been employed for 12 months with my company. In the last 26 weeks I have been absent on 5 occassions. The first absence had no action taken. Number 2 and 3 were dependents leave for family emergencies – both different. The other two were sickness. I was sent to a disciplinary hearing for misconduct as my absence level was more than 3 seperate occassions and over the company limit of 3% (currently 20%). I was given a verbal warning for having 5 absences and a percentage of 20%.
Is it right that the two occassions of dependents leave should have been added to a disciplinary procedure as I was fully entitled to that time off under the Employment Relations Act 1999 ?
I feel that as the first occassion had no action taken and the two dependents leave should not have been included then I should only have two occassions of absence recorded in my personal file for possible disciplinary use.
I have been given the verbal warning and had my first appeal rejected.
Thanks for any help in advance.
Anthony Bradshaw