Next Level Impact

in association with

Mark Mason Employment Law

Present a training seminar on

“Conducting investigations, disciplinary and grievance procedures”

Tuesday 26th September 2017, 9:45am – 1:00pm

As you may be aware, Next Level Impact offer a service to provide employment law and HR advice and training services. This is provided through our associate, Mark Mason.

Mark and his team will be delivering a training seminar on 26th September on “Conducting investigations, disciplinary and grievance procedures” from their base in Mallusk Enterprise Park. The session will be interactive with lots of scope for participation and asking questions and there will be comprehensive notes to take away.

You can sign up for the session HERE

The cost for the half day training seminar is £100 plus VAT for a business delegate and £50 plus VAT for a charity client.

Mark is offering Next Level Impact clients and contacts a 25% discount on the training course. Simply enter the promotional code “NLI” when purchasing your ticket to benefit from the discount.

Places are limited so please book early to avoid missing out!

Conducting investigations and disciplinary procedures

All employers are required to follow minimum procedures for resolving disputes about employment issues.

The statutory procedure is the minimum standard. Industrial tribunals also expect employers to make decisions which are fair and reasonable.

A failure to follow the statutory dismissal procedure will mean that a dismissal is automatically unfair on procedural grounds.

Overview of an investigation and disciplinary procedure

Investigation

Before inviting an employee to a disciplinary hearing the employer should have carried out an investigation. Where possible that investigation should not be carried out by the same person who will hold any disciplinary or appeal hearing.

The investigation could include:

–     Interviewing the employee in question

–     Interviewing witnesses

–     Reviewing documents

–     Reviewing CCTV

The investigating officer should consider whether it is necessary to suspend the employee in question pending completion of the investigation.

Disciplinary

On conclusion of the investigation, if warranted, the employee should be invited to a disciplinary hearing. The employer must set out in writing the employee’s alleged conduct which lead him/her to contemplate dismissing or taking disciplinary action against the employee.

The letter should set out the precise allegations against the employee. Evidence and relevant procedures should be enclosed with letter.

The employee must be notified of their right to be accompanied at the meeting by a work colleague or trade union representative. If dismissal is a possible outcome, this should be made clear in the letter.

The employee must take all reasonable steps to attend the meeting. At the meeting, the Chair should say exactly what the allegation is and once again outline the case briefly by going through the evidence that has been collected. He/she should make sure that the employee and his or her companion have seen any statements made by witnesses.

The Chair should give the employee the opportunity to present his or her case and answer any allegations that have been made. He or she should be able to ask questions and present evidence.

The accompanying person may also ask questions and should be able to talk to the employee in private and to respond to the views of the manager or panel carrying out the disciplinary meeting. However, the accompanying person cannot answer questions on the employee’s behalf.

At the end of the meeting, the Chair should summarise the main points of the discussion. This reminds everyone of the nature of the allegation, the arguments and the evidence put forward, and makes sure that nothing has been missed.

After the meeting, the employer must inform the employee of the decision in writing and notify him/her of the right to appeal against the decision if he/she is not satisfied with it.

Appeal

If the employee informs the employer of his/her wish to appeal, the employer must invite him/her to attend a further meeting, preferably with a more senior person than the one who chaired the disciplinary hearing. The employee must take all reasonable steps to attend the meeting.

The appeal meeting need not take place before the dismissal or disciplinary action takes effect. After the appeal meeting, the employer must inform the employee of his/her decision on the appeal and this concludes the process.

Further information

At the seminar on 26th September, this procedure will be considered in more detail and we will also consider how to deal with issues that arise from time to time in the course of investigations and disciplinary issues, such as an employee going on sick leave or raising a grievance while the subject of a disciplinary investigation.

Click HERE to register