ProudmuminUK Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Please can an agent provide any advice for the following situation? Married UK couple living in Sydney. 2+ years into 457 visa, Company agreed to 186 Transition. De facto (wife) is 8 months pregnant Agent advises today that Nomination is ready for submission Company advises today that husband is being put on performance management and will be dismissed in 4 weeks if he can't achieve the new targets which have now been set for him and are I'm told, impossible to meet (the metrics are wrong) Strong grounds for unfair dismissal (company has a history of this with other employees, including their last HR Manager who won her case...and husband has managed to keep his head down and worked 3 years of employment without issue until now). 'Underperformance' has only been flagged up in last 3-4 weeks, never been a problem before, and in fact husband got a $500 bonus for last month's targets. New Ops manager seems to be making things personal with husband - apparently he doesn't seem as 'engaged' as the other managers - whatever that means? Husband is working longer hours - around 10hrs a day at present. Meeting with Ops Mgr today to advise on the performance management/4weeks situation - no HR present. Husband not asked if he wanted someone to sit in with him. Husband doesn't think Ops Mgr knows of their personal situation or the imminent visa application which HR has been involved in re Nomination collateral etc. De facto leaves her work in a week's time for unpaid maternity leave and no parental paid leave as she's on Temp Visa (she started her new job the week she found she was pregnant) Company will keep her position open as they want her back, and are keen to promote her upon her return. A young married pregnant couple who have made their life in Sydney for past 3.5 years...done everything by the book, and looking forward to their baby They really don't know what options are open to them in this situation, please any advice would be so welcome at the moment.... Speaking with wife (my daughter) earlier, they are both at their wit's end, don't know which way to turn right now. Many thanks Worried mum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOMV Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Hi Worried mum, My advice would be to get advice onshore, asap, to sort this out. As a 457 sponsor the company has quite a few obligations. If they do terminate the contract of employment then they may be liable to pay for costs of the couple returning to the UK and so on. This is all aside from any breaches of HR laws/terms of employment. However this does not help with the situation from a 457 point of view. If you daughter and son in law have not spoken to an agent make sure that they do so immediately. Your son in law may have to find a new offer of employment and it is best to speak to an agent to get advice about the simplest way of doing this. There are of course lots of reputable migration agents in Sydney, I recommend Etienne of Teleo, I used to work with him years ago: http://www.teleo.com.au/our-team.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudmuminUK Posted August 24, 2016 Author Share Posted August 24, 2016 Thank you for your response SOMV, it only dawned on me earlier that in around 4 weeks they could have zero income just as the baby is due. All their savings have gone into the 186 application, and on baby equipment etc.. You mentioned an agent may be able to advise simpler ways of getting another 457 role any ideas what that would be? Job sites don't seem to give much away about whether companies would be willing to sponsor! I have been researching unfair dismissal and harsh, unfair and unreasonable 457 online and there seems to be a few case histories where being dismissed whilst on a 457 visa has been deemed harsh and/or unfair...and other papers presented to government etc outlining a change to the employment law to protect those on that visa. It seems strange to me that he's worked there 3 years (WHV/457) and very recently been given the go ahead by the company to be sponsored for 186, with HR submitting relevant docs as recently as a few days ago.... Surely that's proof in itself that the company are more than happy with him as an employee (apart from the Ops Mgr) So he certainly wasn't about to mess that up by underachieving! I'm wondering whether he needs to sit down with HR and discuss all this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOMV Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Yes, the simplest solution would of course be to speak to HR and to sort out what seems to be quite a misunderstanding due to the bad behaviour of one single new individual, so yes, I honestly think that this is something that your son in law should consider. If he speaks to HR he can raise the issues with respect to unfair dismissal as well as the company's 457 obligations. The evidence all seems to be on his side, after all, the company have only just recently agreed to sponsor him for a permanent visa. Surely things have not changed virtually overnight due to his behaviour. If this 457 does fall through then it will be imperative for your son in law to find a new employer asap. If the employer has a valid sponsorship and the job is the same as the current job, then a new 457 should be relatively simple, but as I said, your daughter and son in law really need to speak to an agent to make sure they understand where they stand now and what can or can't be done if this employment falls through. From everything you have written it really does seem ridiculous that things have reached this point. I hope everything does work out! I am sure that if there is a sensible and smart HR team in the company, they will. (Do make sure that he goes straight to the top of HR, not just someone dealing with the admin.) Let us know how things go! And all fingers crossed, I imagine you will be going over soon to meet your new grandchild? Thank you for your response SOMV, it only dawned on me earlier that in around 4 weeks they could have zero income just as the baby is due. All their savings have gone into the 186 application, and on baby equipment etc.. You mentioned an agent may be able to advise simpler ways of getting another 457 role any ideas what that would be? Job sites don't seem to give much away about whether companies would be willing to sponsor! I have been researching unfair dismissal and harsh, unfair and unreasonable 457 online and there seems to be a few case histories where being dismissed whilst on a 457 visa has been deemed harsh and/or unfair...and other papers presented to government etc outlining a change to the employment law to protect those on that visa. It seems strange to me that he's worked there 3 years (WHV/457) and very recently been given the go ahead by the company to be sponsored for 186, with HR submitting relevant docs as recently as a few days ago.... Surely that's proof in itself that the company are more than happy with him as an employee (apart from the Ops Mgr) So he certainly wasn't about to mess that up by underachieving! I'm wondering whether he needs to sit down with HR and discuss all this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudmuminUK Posted August 25, 2016 Author Share Posted August 25, 2016 Thanks again SOMV - very much appreciate your time in responding to me. I haven't heard much from them today as son in law was working late (again) but this is definitely the best / most straightforward course of action...in the first instance. Another possible option is through my daughter's company which is Australasia and SA wide. Her company gave her a 'baby shower' today as she leaves next week, and she spoke with the CEO (who actually came to see her) about the situation, and the CEO spoke to their HR straight away to see if she could be sponsored, but how that would work I'm not sure, but I've found out online if it's a 457 for instance which takes around 3 months to process she has another 90 days grace to actually start the job, so conceivably baby could be around 6-7 months or more before she had to start back to work.... what I'm not sure is what rights that would give my son in law to continue working in the interim if he did lose his job, as they need to pay rent/bills etc. Would they both be put on a bridging visa (once her 457 was submitted) with working rights if his own 457 was eventually cancelled (if he didn't find work in the 90 days)? Sorry but my brain is in overload thinking of options, then there's the 186 Direct Entry route, but that has even more hurdles I think (although PR is obviously the preferred outcome!) Re Grandson... thank you for asking! Yes I am going over in November, flights are booked.... my first grandchild, so I'm very excited.... but now with all this, worrying like mad.... Thanks and kind regards Mum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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