can anyone clarify? legal advice...

spidereyes

I posted recently in regards to someone I know having been suspended from thier job.

They have now recieved confirmation that they are to have an investigatory meeting, followed directly by a disiplinary meeting if required. They have been informed that a solicitor (the employers solicitor) will be present for the meeting as a 'notetaker'

I spoke to a free helpline this morning in regards to this but Im a little unsure of thier credibility and I want to make sure I get my facts right.

They told me that firstly under no circumstances can a solicitor be present as for the purpose of an investigation meeting it should only be members of staff present. I have just been going through ACAS guidelines and found slightly conflicting advice whereby it says "where possible arrange for someone who is not involved in the case to take a note of the meeting and to act as a witness to what was said" - so can anyone clarify this point for me?

Secondly they said they cannot hold the disciplinary meeting directly after the investigatory meeting and must provide 5 days written notice for a disciplinary meeting to be held but again going through ACAS guidelines I couldn't seem to find anything that clarifies this totally - I could find reference to the fact that a Investigatory meeting should be adjourned before a decision to proceed to a disciplinary meeting can take place and that the employee should be informed of the outcome in writing but couldn't find any reference to the 5 days notice, which makes me wonder if they can just adjourn the meeting for a few mins, write a note and then say you now have a disciplinary meeting.

The third issue Im wondering about is who can legally accompany the employee to these meetings? The employer has said in the letter they are entitled to be accompanied by a member of another member of staff (but Im not sure they would be willing to) or by a trade union member - the nature of the business means that there is no trade union for the employee and as such has no-one that they could be accompanied by.

I would welcome if anyone could clarify any of these points.

Googlewhacker

I'll answer 1 and 3

1) They can have whoever they want in an investigatory meeting

3) You are entitled to a union member or another member of staff only (In the vast majority of cases). If the employer allows more then so be it but they do not have to

Let's just get one thing straight, you have a legal right to be a union member, the employer cannot discriminate against you because of this so just because the company may not recognise one for negotiations on wages etc you can still be a member and thus use them for things like this.

heretolearn_2

and I'll answer point 2

they have to give reasonable notice but this isn't set down in law. A few minutes would not be reasonable. But it doesn't have to be 5 days.