UK Employment Law\ Employer \ Disciplinary Procedures
Disciplinary procedures
Your employer has to follow new dispute resolution rules to deal with disciplinary procedures or dismissals. Meanwhile, there are certain steps that you must try in order to resolve the grievance before bringing a claim for unfair dismissal. When your employer is considering dismissing you, he/she must follow the standard statutory procedures.
If your employer has already dismissed you, without further investigating the nature of the dismissal (in cases of gross misconduct), there is a modified procedure – however, this is very rare even in cases of threatened violence.
Your employer should establish the facts and give you a chance to put your side of the story at a disciplinary hearing before taking action. This is in order that the dismissal is not unfair. You must understand that even if your employer complies with correct procedures, dismissal may be still deemed unfair. The standard procedure has to also be applied where disciplinary issues were not the problem (redundancy, expiry of fixed term deal).
If procedures are not followed, then the dismissal will be deemed automatically unfair. In such cases, a tribunal could award compensation, but increase it, or decrease it (between 10%-50%). The amount usually depends on which party is to blame. There is a maximum award limit set as £60,000.
If you have a grievance about something your employer has done, then you will need to start the statutory grievance procedure before you can bring a claim before a tribunal.
The steps in the procedure:
- Your employer sends you a letter setting out the nature of your conduct and circumstances leading to consider dismissing you or taking other action.
- Your employer invites you to a meeting for which you must take all reasonable steps to attend. If you cannot get there, you must inform him/her as soon as possible so that another date can be agreed. After the meeting, your employer must inform you about any decision, and the right to appeal.
- If you want to appeal, your employer must invite you to a further meeting (heard by a senior manager or director). Your employer must then inform you of the final decision.
Disciplinary procedures can cause much stress and anxiety for the employee in question. However, failure to carry out procedures can lead to claims of unfair treatment if a disciplinary is held for one worker – where in a similar case, it isn’t.
Consult a solicitor if you have any doubts about how to conduct a procedure.
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