work issue

zzzLazyDaisy

lugs123 wrote: »

at the investigatory meeting would i be best to accept all charges than fight it?

I agree with the above poster - the meeting is an investigatory meeting only. It is held to establish the facts, it is not a disciplinary meeting (although it may be followed by a disciplinary meeting later).

You certainly should not admit to anything that you haven't done.

You will probably be asked to explain what happened from your point of view. You should tell the truth but not go into a lot of detail (because at this stage you haven't been given full information, you don't have copies of any documents they might have and you don't know what other people have said - all of that will come later if they decide to go for a disciplinary).

For these purposes you have a clean disciplinary record. You have also been there more than one year so you have protection from unfair dismissal.

What this means for you, is that if they decide to commence disciplinary proceedings, they can only dismiss you if they are satisfied that what you did amounts to gross misconduct. Anything less than GM should only get a warning.

Do you have a copy of the disciplinary procedures? If not ask for a copy. There should be a list of things that might be considered to be GM, have a look and see if what you are accused of doing is on that list.

Are you a member of a union? If so, you should contact them and get advice.

Drugs issues are normally taken very seriously, but don't always result in dismissal, it depends on all the circumstances, and also whether the employer has complied with its own procedures and obligations re staffing, training, etc.

As the other poster has said - if you have done what has been alleged, then sometimes the best way is to accept responsibility, explain what happened and why, and apologise and stress that it will never happen again. But you can't do that until you have full information about the allegations, and have had time to think about them.

crabyducky

about the warning you recieved before even though it has expired when was it and what was it for? if it was for another mistake with medication and only expired a week before this one they may take a very dim view of the situation. if however it was 3 years ago and for something unrelated youll be ok.

zzzLazyDaisy

crabyducky wrote: »

about the warning you recieved before even though it has expired when was it and what was it for? if it was for another mistake with medication and only expired a week before this one they may take a very dim view of the situation. if however it was 3 years ago and for something unrelated youll be ok.

This is not true.

The warning remains on the record for a given period of time. If it is a serious matter it may be a year or longer. However, once that warning has expired, it must be disregarded for disciplinary purposes. If the employer takes an expired warning into account when considering what action to take, this would be procedurally unfair and would leave them wide open in an ET claim (although I agree, proving is likely to be another thing altogether)

ohreally

The investigatory can give the employer an opportunity to go on a fishing expedition, by mindful of this and try and remain focused on the specific allegations being made.

Have you actually been denied the opportunity to have a steward in attendance?

lugs123

only able to take someone who works within the company

lugs123

crabyducky wrote: »

about the warning you recieved before even though it has expired when was it and what was it for? if it was for another mistake with medication and only expired a week before this one they may take a very dim view of the situation. if however it was 3 years ago and for something unrelated youll be ok.

previous for unrelated issue

ohreally

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

The warning remains on the record for a given period of time. If it is a serious matter it may be a year or longer. However, once that warning has expired, it must be disregarded for disciplinary purposes. If the employer takes an expired warning into account when considering what action to take, this would be procedurally unfair and would leave them wide open in an ET claim

..........

That does not mean that warnings can be open-ended and remain on someone’s record indefinitely. ACAS recommends that they should be disregarded for disciplinary purposes after 12 months for a final written warning and six months for a less serious one.
And tribunals are prepared to enforce this rule. The Court of Session (the Scottish Court of Appeal) held in Diosynth -v- Thomson) that expired warnings cannot be taken into account when deciding whether to dismiss an employee.

lugs123

my concern is if i have upset someone(dont think i have )can they try and throw more things at me
the compaint was only in relation to tuesday after a night shift

lugs123

the complaint came in 1 hour after my agency called to say it was not acceptable that the homes staff came in late
this inturn makes me laye and the agency are aware i have a daughter with brain injury that requires a strict routine

crabyducky

lugs123 wrote: »

my concern is if i have upset someone(dont think i have )can they try and throw more things at me
the compaint was only in relation to tuesday after a night shift

if the incident was medication then thats all they can look in to on this occasion however i believe they may make seperate investigations into other offences at the same time.

just out of curiosity do you know what the offence is yet? soime offences are worse than others.