Job loss | Loyal employee fired for being ONE MINUTE LATE

When a worker has dedicated decades of service to a single company, generally they receive some flexibility in their schedule, or at least some forgiveness for their smaller transgressions without official consequences.

Such cases are often an unofficial rule of HR, and for good reason; the workplace requires give and take. Succeeding in retention means recognising that your staff are only human and as such, minor errors are inevitably going to happen.

However, in the case of Robert Lockyer, who had been a dedicated employee of the Ashford Royal Mail delivery office in Ashford, Kent, one-minute lateness resulted in him being fired.

Lockyer stated that the issue stemmed from a minor incident in which he arrived at a local bank branch for a package delivery at 12.56pm. The package, which was guaranteed for delivery by 1pm, was officially signed off 1.01pm due to customer queuing. Lockyer stated that in his professional career, he had delivered over 1,500 special delivery packages on time, and that this incident was his first transgression.