I employed someone to do a mobile manual job, which means doing maintenance at a number of customer sites, about 14 months ago. He is not that reliable or conscientious and over the last 12months I have issued him with five written warning letters. Yesterday he seriously disappointed a customer and I sent him home telling him he has had his chance and it would be the final straw. He has not come in this morning and I am unsure whether to dismiss him or accept his non-appearance as his resignation.
Neither would be a good idea. You could have dismissed him before twelve months and had no comeback for unfair dismissal. Most employers only give two written warnings (a normal one and a final one) before dismissal and you have effectively said to him that he can do what he wants. A dismissal without following a proper procedure would therefore be unfair and just doing nothing would probably result in a finding of unfair constructive dismissal. Your reaction is what we would call a classic passive-aggressive reaction i.e. you have behaved passively and are now reacting aggressively.
I would recommend that you contact him immediately and investigate what exactly he did or did not do. If it was really bad you might just be able to dismiss him for gross misconduct (providing you get back into procedure). If after investigation you conclude that it was ‘just another failure’ then give him a final warning and monitor his performance properly, giving guidance where appropriate but no more sloppy warnings and next time you employ someone use a proper probationary period and dismiss before a year if performance is unacceptable.
