• Care home – HR support
• Contracts of employment
• Children’s nursery – HR support
• Disciplinary procedures
• Employee handbooks
• Employment tribunal claims
• Equality Act 2010
• Flexible working requests
• Maternity leave rights
• Redundancy procedures & business restructuring
• Restrictive covenants – employer
• Retirement age issues
• Sickness absence
• TUPE regulations
• Whistleblowing

Disciplinary procedures

Need more information?

If you would like us to review your disciplinary procedure or to discuss a specific disciplinary matter click here or call us on 0161 618 1032

“We turned to Blue Sky Law and received practical applicable advice that was without exception delivered promptly and efficiently. We cannot fault the advice and support we received from Blue Sky Law and would not hesitate to recommend their services.”

Karen Livesley, Partner, Wintle & Co Solicitors

Although disciplinary procedures may sound very “Victorian”, they are very much part of the fabric of an employment relationship, although of course it is always best to try to use an informal route first.

Disciplinary procedures are used by employers when dealing with allegations of misconduct or sometimes poor performance issues (although a separate “capability procedure” may be better in the latter case).

It is a legal requirement to provide employees with written details of any disciplinary rules or to refer them to the provisions of a separate document (normally a written disciplinary procedure). Quite aside from the legal requirement, it is good practice to have a written disciplinary procedure to which employees and their managers can refer. This is normally set out in the Employee handbook.

Case Study

Widget Limited manufactures small pieces of equipment. A foreman has made a careless mistake with his assembly line and £100,000 worth of goods have had to be destroyed. His union rep at the disciplinary hearing says that as the employee’s disciplinary record is “clean” the employer can’t dismiss.

Action points:

1. It is not always appropriate to proceed through each stage of verbal warning, written warning, final written warning etc. Employers should be free to go in at whichever stage seems appropriate to the circumstances – ensure that this is covered in the written procedure.
2. Ensure that you are clear on who can accompany employees to their hearing and what the role of that person is. Employees do have the statutory right to be accompanied but there are various limitations on this.
3. Gross misconduct – if you will view carelessness leading to serious final loss as gross misconduct, then say so in your policy. Give examples so that employees know where they stand. However, remember that it is up to an Employment Tribunal to ultimately decide these matters.

Case Study

Charlene has posted comments about her boss on a social networking site and a number of employees have posted mobile phone footage of a soccer game they have played in your warehouse. They have been very derogatory about the goods that the company sells.

Action points:

1. These sorts of matters are becoming much more prevalent. Ensure that your employees are aware that you will see these as disciplinary matters and that you reserve the right to terminate employment in serious cases. Update your disciplinary procedure to provide for these “e-misconduct” matters.
2. To dismiss fairly for misconduct you will need to satisfy an Employment Tribunal that you had a reasonable belief in misconduct based on a reasonable investigation. Get to the bottom of who is involved. Ensure that staff are interviewed in an investigatory hearing before proceeding to a disciplinary hearing.
3. Who deals with investigations and disciplinary hearings? Consider training so that managers are competent in these areas. Unless you are used to dealing with these matters, take advice from an employment solicitor on the best way to proceed.

Disclaimer – The contents of this page are provided for general guidance only and do not replace the need to obtain legal advice about any given situation.