Court

[joeg]

Before I start not sure if this thread should be in here or speed plod and the law so apologies if in wrong forum.

I recently left the police and started a new job a few months ago, I'm still in the training stage for said job and have exams and practical assessments comming up next month which I need to pass to be become "operational"

Having left the Police I knew I would have a fair few court appearances comming up and when I started I let my employer know to which they stated as long as it wasn't in the assessment phase would be ok, If it was in the time of exams there would be nothing they could do and as such I would lose my job as I by product of not passing the exams. They also supplied a letter which they sent to court explaining this to get me out of a few small court cases which worked.

Fast forward to this weekend and I recieved a citation for next month for a two week trial and low and behold it falls right in the exam phase, I'm pretty sure I'm going to contact court but pretty adement I won't get an excusal as I'm a key witness,

Know my question is, this dosent seem fair if I lose my job over this? Is there anything I could do?

Thanks

[edc]

It might not be fair but given that you are a new starter then you will likely be on a probation period. Even without this, the company can dismiss you almost at will as you most likely not have enough service to have accrued any other significant employment rights. I would suggest that the reasons you were hired in the first place are still valid and if you have been a good performer to date then they will try to work with you to make some alternative arrangements where possible. Rather than informing your manager that you now cannot do the exams on the specified date, come up with some solutions that do see you take the exams in the near future and still keep your training on course.

[jesta1865]

i would have thought (hoped) that the judge would have seen that if you testify you lose your job as reason enough for an adjournment to the case until your exams are over.

if you are a witness you can talk to the court via your sides barrister surely?

[blindswelledrat]

jesta1865 said:

i would have thought (hoped) that the judge would have seen that if you testify you lose your job as reason enough for an adjournment to the case until your exams are over.

This surely. Cases get adjourned for much lesser reasons than this.

[joeg]

Ok thanks, I have put in a excusal but not heard yet! I jut thought the fact it's not 3 weeks away and the fact it's sheriff and jury over two weeks would be unlikely to get one

[Terzo123]

Sheriff and Jury, sounds like you are in Scotland.

The Glasgow courts, especially Sheriff and Jury can be flexible and offer officers standby, generally 1 hour.

Not sure how it works for the other courts in Scotland, but if you phone up, explain the circumstances, they may extend this to yourself.