Disciplinary Procedure

This covers all employees permanent and temporary and should be in compliance with all current legislation and codes of practice providing a clear system that all employees will be aware of through the employee handbook.

You should a have a clear statement informing employees of your stance towards the disciplinary procedure and action you may take depending on the circumstances.

When creating your policy you should outline the procedures taken i.e. investigation of the incident is always a good starting point as it informs the employee that all factors will be accounted for and ideally the investigative officer should be someone separate from the disciplinary board to ensure a fair hearing.

Investigation

An investigation should always be carried out prior to a disciplinary hearing to ensure that all areas have been covered and that a fair hearing is held. The time frame and depth of the investigation of the hearing should depend on the seriousness of the incident.

The employee concerned may be required to be interviewed as part of the investigation; if this is the case employee can refuse and therefore will be told that the hearing will be held on the information presented to the board.

The results of the investigation should enable the manager to decide whether of not a disciplinary hearing is required to take place or if it can be dealt with a departmental level i.e. additional training etc.

While an investigation is taking place the employee may be placed on suspension while further investigations take place. Best practice states that suspension should be as short as possible and ideally less than 5 working days.

Formal Disciplinary Procedure

Should a disciplinary hearing be required and an informal caution is not suitable the employee should be invited with his/her manager to a hearing, the employee reserves the right to be accompanied by a fellow colleague or a union representative.

Within this hearing the agenda should follow similar lines to below

• The employee’s manager will open the hearing by explaining the reasons why the hearing and the allegations issued towards the employee
• The employee should now be given the opportunity to respond to the allegations and if required or appropriate request the presence of witnesses
  
• The response of the employee should then be discussed to ensure that everyone is happy with the response being documented
• The hearing should then be adjourned to allow the manager to decide the most appropriate action toi take based on the evidence provided.
  
• The meeting should then re-convene and the employee will be informed of the action (if any) will be taken against them
  
• The appeals procedure should also be explained or refreshed to the employee

When deciding what disciplinary action to take against an employee it important to consider the following factors:

• The investigation held was fair, appropriate and clear
• The employee explanation had been fully explained by the employee and considered in full by the manager
• Was it actually gross mis-conduct or poor job performance?

Once convinced of the above factors the employee should consider the following:

• The level of seriousness of the misconduct
• Potential mitigating circumstances
• Is disciplinary action the most reasonable response

Disciplinary Measures

No action taken

Should the outcome of the hearing be that the incident does not warrant a formal disciplinary route then the employee should informed of this by letter and all record of the incident should be removed from the employees file.

First Written Warning

This can be issued with regards to minor breaches of discipline and/or poor performance. All records and notes should be held on the employee’s record for a period of around six months which from then on the documentation should then be removed.

Final Written Warning

This can be given under the following circumstances:

• A very serious offence has occurred or an unacceptable level of job performance which does not amount to gross misconduct but justifies a final written warning.
• A very serious offence that could justify dismissal however a lesser penalty is used due to individual circumstances.
• Where there has been insufficient in job performance since the last (live) warning has been issued.

Copies of all documentation should be kept for a minimum of 12 months before being removed.

Dismissal

An employee may be dismissed for failure to improve job performance or further acts of misconduct after a final written warning has been issued and remains live.

Appeal

This part of the procedure is very important and should be followed correctly; an employee who is unhappy with the outcome may appeal within 10 days to the manager who carried out the decision.

The appeal should be made in writing and should be addressed to the highest ranking official of the organisation clearly stating reasons for appeal. Decisions to appeals are final and time can be required in order to reach a decision