Is notice required prior to an investigation meeting?

zzzLazyDaisy

It sounds like this is a large organisation with a number of stores, so it seems unlikely that the managers are going to this much trouble to avoid redundancy payments. I suspect that we don't have full information, and there is more to this than we know. It is concerning that another manager made it clear that if they carried on doing this they'd likely get a final written warning - so at the very least they were fully aware that this was a serious disciplinary offence and carried on regardless. The employer obviously has it's reasons for this no smoking policy, and whether or not the employees agreed with their concerns it seems they did know that they were breaching company rules.

bluenoseam

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

I'd stick with my gut reaction that this is a management ploy orchestrated from the start to swiftly and deftly get rid of several employees in one fell swoop. Otherwise why would you descend on one workplace at night and have everything so planned?

Does sound very much like this, but the key issue is they were previously warned that it would be dealt with as GM and subsequently went ahead anyway. It's questionable at best the conduct of the supervisor, but ultimately it begs the question why even risk it?

OP hasn't specified what sort of yard we're talking about here, I know in one of my former employers it was due to the fact they stocked flammable stuff hence no smoking at the stock loading bays. But I think these days a number of companies are following the line no smoking on company premises at all, inclusive the front & rear of the location.

I would advise your friend to take specific legal advice - because while I concur they broke the rules it does kind of seem like they were given the rope all neatly noosed up for them!