All this talk recently from Alex Salmond wanting to hold a referendum on Scotland leaving the UK and going it alone, I got to thinking about all the splits and breakups we have to deal with in HR as part of our daily grind. The employer/employee relationship is exactly that – a relationship and with all relationships inevitably sometimes (or a lot of the time) one party wants to ‘split’ from the other. Sometimes its a clean break with no acrimony (a straightforward resignation) with all parties wishing each other well and going their separate ways, with others fighting and sniping, arguing, suing, countersuing, raising grievances and on it goes usually after a great deal of time and money has been spent on arguing and suing.
What do you do as an employer when the employment relationship is heading for the courts!
Get a lawyer!
I do not jest, in all seriousness, having been there many times myself, I recommend you try to resolve the matter as soon as possible. Regardless of what the books and my learned friends will tell you, once an employment relationship hits the rocks, its very very difficult to regain that trust and mend that fractured relationship. Once an employee or indeed an employee has disengaged then its game over no matter what anyone tells you. So I would gather all my facts including my paperwork and try to reach an amicable solution preferably using a mediation or other expert to cleanly break from the situation as quickly as possible. ACAS are very useful in helping to prevent issues ending up in the Tribunals!
The team here at NobleHR have extensive experience in these sorts of situations so give us a call. We are here to help.
Olga
PS: – (This does not mean in any way that I am suggesting Scotland should be thrown out of the UK!)
