Notice of Unfair Dismissal

Dear Achternaam Achternaam,

My name is Nhi Nguyen, former MarCom Executive of the British Chamber of Commerce Vietnam. I believe you have read many e-newsletters that I have sent on behalf of the Chamber. BritCham Vietnam (formerly BBGV) is where I kicked off my career and the place that gave me the pride to have contributed to and worked for. It was more than 5 years from May 2017 to yesterday that I worked for the Chamber. I will never forget yesterday afternoon the 1st of June 2022, when my labour contract was unilaterally terminated without legitimate reasons by the Chairman Mr Chris Jeffery, witnessed by Executive Director Mr Matt Ryland, and Lawyer Duong Tieng Thu of Phuoc & Partners Law Firm.

I had always trusted in the positive work environment that the Chamber brought to its staff members, until the structural change came in place. This was the decision made by the board and supported greatly by all staff members. As a dynamic employee, I had worked tirelessly to contribute to the rebranding process from BBGV to BritCham Vietnam. I led the configuration of the new website britchamvn.com, and the development of Linkedin and Facebook accounts of BritCham Vietnam. Despite being an ardent contributor to this transition, I finally became its victim.

From September 2021, the board of BritCham Vietnam assigned Mr Matt Ryland to be the new Executive Director, in replacement of Mr Brian Bulloch, who had suddenly left that June. While working together, Mr Matt Ryland and I have had conflicts, which I felt were normal day to day hiccups that could happen in any professional workplaces. However, Mr Matt Ryland chose the solutions of physical and mental harassment, threatening my physical health, dignity, and personal property.

The incidents started in January 2022, and I had sent an email about it to Mr Matt Ryland soon afterwards, but never received any responses or apologies from Mr Matt Ryland as an offender. In April 2022, being aware that my colleagues were reaching out to the Chairman of BritCham Vietnam Mr Chris Jeffrey to report other mistreatments towards them also by Mr Matt Ryland, I, too, reported my case and requested an independent investigation into it.

Contrary to our hope to seek protection at work, I was confronted with confusing decisions and actions towards me from Mr Matt Ryland and the top management. In particular,

+ On 14 April 2022, Mr Matt Ryland sent me an email requesting the handover of the admin right to the MS Outlook and Office 365 of BritCham Vietnam to Mr Matt Ryland himself. Until then, the management of this admin account was specified within my work scope assigned to me by BritCham Vietnam. Although Mr Matt Ryland did not explain the reason behind this request, I agreed with the request in the condition of having a written handover record signed by myself, Mr Matt Ryland, and the Chairman to free myself from any legal issues related to the Outlook account and other Office 365 applications of BritCham Vietnam. This request of mine was ignored by Mr Matt Ryland and the top management, in specific, Mr Chris Jeffrey – Chairman of the Board, and Mr Alexander Falter – Vice-chair.

In the same evening at the Commonwealth Networking event, Mr Alexander Falter approached me and started the conversation on the handover of the admin right against my wish and concluded with a remark accusing me of “playing games”. Later that evening, Mr Alexander Falter sent me an email, claiming his meeting with me at the networking site was “polite and discreet”, and threatening to take legal actions against me should I misuse or manipulate BritCham’s database, to my utter confusion.

On 18 April 2022, during the handover process, I was urgently admitted to the hospital and later underwent a surgery. This happened unexpectedly and delayed the handover process. Before the surgery, I did email to inform Mr Matt Ryland and colleagues of my condition. I overcame a long period to recover, mainly to treat the complications post-surgery.

During the treatment, I was unable to attend to calls and messages. Later on, I was shocked knowing from my family members, emails, and texts that the management of the BritCham Vietnam had made many attempts to acquire the admin right, claiming my personal laptop as BritCham’s property, and threatened me with legal action and job loss if I did not relinquish it. In particular,

+ On 12 May 2022, Mr Chris Jeffrey texted me with the content:

+ On 13 May 2022, my relative arrived at BritCham’s office to handover my medical document to Mr Matt Ryland which justified my absence. Through my relative, Mr Matt Ryland threatened me with legal intervention if I failed to respond to texts, emails, and calls, despite having been informed that I was unable to use the phone.

+ On the same day, Mr Chris Jeffrey – Chairman of the board sent me a letter with the stamp of BritCham Vietnam on it, requested me to handover my personal laptop with the data stored in it to Mr Matt Ryland within 48 hours, or face legal actions. Evidence can be provided upon request.

+ On 22 May 2022, a delivery man called my personal number. Informed by my relative that I could not receive the letter due to being in the hospital, the delivery man warned my relative that I could lose my job at BritCham Vietnam.

+ On 23 May 2022, feeling better, I checked my mailbox and realised my BritCham email was gone. This means I lost my right to use Outlook for work at BritCham Vietnam, as well as the admin right to Office 365.

+ On 25 May 2022, after being back at work at the office, I received a letter from a lawyer named Duong Tieng Thu, a senior partner from the law firm Phuoc & Partners. Ms Thu introduced herself as being authorised by BritCham Vietnam to work with me. In the letter of Ms Thu, I was required to hand over the admin right to Office 365, my personal laptop, as well as all the data stored in it. Evidence can be provided upon request. Ms Duong Tieng Thu also from time to time asked me to handover my discharge note from the hospital to her. I tried many times to clarify Ms Duong Tieng Thu's role with Mr Chris Jeffrey out of precaution before handing over my personal document, but never got any responses.

+ On 31 May 2022, Ms Duong Tieng Thu requested a meeting with me the following day along with Mr Chris Jeffrey and Mr Matt Ryland. The meeting was about my absence during the period in the hospital. Hoping to clarify the situation in the presence of Mr Chris Jeffrey and Mr Matt Ryland after many failed attempts to reach them for an explanation, I agreed to attend the meeting.

+ In the meeting taking place in the afternoon of 1 June 2022, I explained the reason as to why I had yet to submit the discharge note was due to the lack of response from the management of BritCham Vietnam, and the uncertain legitimacy of Ms Duong Tieng Thu, who was the sole person continuously threatening and requesting the note from me. With Ms Duong Tieng Thu's acknowledgement of my right to ask and her clarification thereof, I proposed to submit a scanned version of the discharge note and showed the original copy to Mr Chris Jeffrey or Mr Matt Ryland the following day, since it was being kept by my mother. Ms Duong Tieng Thu accepted my proposal.

About 30 minutes after I left the meeting, Mr Matt Ryland called me into the meeting room again where I was given the Decision regarding the unilateral Termination of my labour contract by Mr Chris Jeffrey, in the presence of Mr Matt Ryland and Ms Duong Tieng Thu. It was to my utter shock since I had given my explanation and the fact that I was in possession of the note, had promised to submit it the following day, and was accepted.

The Decision to terminate my contract and the minute of the meeting assert that I failed to fulfill my responsibility as an employee, and completely ignore all the explanation and clarification from my side. Instead, they distort the truth by stating that I refused to submit the discharge note although requested many times from the management of BritCham. I would like to clarify that I was ready to submit it right on my first day back in the office. However, I was put into a very confusing situation that delayed me from doing it, with my work email taken over, my enquiries ignored by the top management, and me threatened by an unacquainted lawyer.

Right after handing me the Decision, I was requested aggressively by Mr Chris Jeffrey and Mr Matt Ryland to remove myself immediately from BritCham's premises, when I was trying to calm myself in the backyard of the Consulate building. It was so intense that one of my colleagues had to interfere. This was utterly humiliation and unkind treatment towards me after an unfair dismissal just moments before that.

I am in immense distress as I wrote this letter, for the following reasons:

· I have never committed any wrongdoings across the 5 years working at BritCham Vietnam

· I am a victim of harassments and bullies by the Executive Director of BritCham Vietnam

· I have reported my case however there has been no progress as to how it would be solved so far.

· Due to prolonged stress, my health took a turn for the worse, and I eventually had surgery for a stomach problem.

· Even after hospitalisation, I was continuously terrorised, with the pinnacle of BritCham deploying a lawyer to pressure me with legal actions to take away my MacBook Pro. This is my personal property and the purchase from my 3 years’ worth of savings to invest for my design work at BritCham Vietnam. I have all the documents to prove my ownership of this laptop.

· I have made many attempts to reach the management of BritCham after my discharge to update them on my condition and seek clarification regarding the legitimacy of Ms Duong Tieng Thu, hoping to comply while protecting myself, but never received any responses.

· The Decision to terminate my labour contract was made based on an untrue and non-sympathetic foundation, disregarding my explanation.

As an individual with limited resources, I have little choice to protect and pursue the minimal justice for myself. I do not have the finance or a wide network to seek professional legal service but will do my best to seek my justice. Hence, I write this letter hoping for your advice or support to protect my fundamental rights as stipulated by the law. Lastly, I want to emphasise that my case is not the only case of staff members being bullied at BritCham Vietnam.

Many thanks for your time and consideration of my letter. All advice and ideas to help me protect my basic rights are greatly appreciated. Please also note that I can no longer be reached via my work email nhi.nguyen@britchamvn.com. To make sure I could hear from you, please copy my personal email tuyetnhinguyentruong20@gmail.com.

Kind regards,

Nhi Nguyen