Suspension

zzzLazyDaisy

Deb_S wrote: »

T
If there is no-one in the company that can sit in with you (accompany you) at a formal hearing, then you can request a family member or friend attend. The company can refuse, but they would be silly to do so as it would not look good at a future tribunal.


You have the right to address witnesses during your hearing and you can ask them questions - always useful if someone has been less than truthful


If a witness refuses to attend the hearing, you can still submit written questions to them and the disciplinary hearing should be postponed to allow for time for a response.


I hope this is of some help

Deb's advice is generally sound and I don't propose to repeat it, but I would like to clarify the above points;

1 You have the right to be accompanied by a trade union representative or a colleague. There is NO right to be accompanied by a family member, and while you might request this, many employers would refuse (as they are entitled to do) and the tribunal should not take this into account.

2 Witnesses are not required to attend disciplinary hearings and you have no right to question them on their witness statement. This is not a court of law and the onus of proof is different. What you can and should do is to ensure that you raise any important discrepancies or contradictions with the employer at the disciplinary hearing, and ask them to investigate. If they do not do so, you *may* have grounds for saying that any subsequent dismissal is unfair because the employer did not carry out a thorough investigation (though that will depend on whether there is sufficient evidence to support their decision, even disregarding the disputed witness statements). It is true that some employers will produce the witnesses and/or allow questioning, but that is certainly not required by law.

On a more general note, the procedure is being conducted as we would expect. They have concluded their investigation and have decided that there is sufficient evidence to warrant a full disciplinary hearing.

The manager conducting the hearing should be independent and not involved in the matters complained of. S/he is entitled to rely on the results of the investigation to a point, but they still have a responsibility to follow up any points they are not sure of, or which are in dispute, as ultimately s/he is the person who will have to take the oath and explain how s/he came to that decision should the case go to tribunal.

Deb_S_2

Good clarification LazyDaisy.

I should have added that the accompanying part is from personal experience, a previous employer of mine received a fair telling off at tribunal for refusing an employee when they asked to be accompanied by a family member. The tribunal took the view that it would not have harmed the company in any way to have allowed it, and could have assisted the employee.

The witness part I was referring to is part of the ACAS code of conduct, and complying with the code is taken into account at tribunal, so I thought it worth mentioning

Takeaway_Addict

Deb_S wrote: »

The investigator should investigate and then hand over the results of the investigation to the person that will be holding the formal hearing. This is standard practice.

The disciplinary hearing is then deemed to be heard by someone not directly involved in the investigation - a fresh pair of eyes.

Having skimmed over the thread I have pulled out the following points:
You can raise a grievance if you have good grounds for saying the person carrying out the hearing is biased - this should force a suspension of the hearing and a replacement person put in place to hear your case, spurious claims won't do you any favours though, be sure of your accusation

You can raise a grievance if other people have done the same as you without being suspended and/or disciplined, but this would not force a delay in your hearing as they would be dealt with seperately.

If there is no-one in the company that can sit in with you (accompany you) at a formal hearing, then you can request a family member or friend attend. The company can refuse, but they would be silly to do so as it would not look good at a future tribunal.

Other people doing the same thing wrong as you does not make you innocent, don't try to rely on this as a defense at your hearing.

A solicitor does not have to be an employment specialist to be able to help you. A lot of the law surrounding discipline, suspension, investigation and hearings is basic stuff.

You have the right to address witnesses during your hearing and you can ask them questions - always useful if someone has been less than truthful

If a witness refuses to attend the hearing, you can still submit written questions to them and the disciplinary hearing should be postponed to allow for time for a response.


I hope this is of some help

Yes sorry, I misread where we were, I thought the person that passed it on was a decision maker but they aren't and yes its good practise to not have the same person making the decision as investigating.

poledancer49

I wish you the best of luck.

zzzLazyDaisy

Deb_S wrote: »

The witness part I was referring to is part of the ACAS code of conduct, and complying with the code is taken into account at tribunal, so I thought it worth mentioning

Could you provide a link to the code of practice where it says that the employee is entitled to question the employer's witnesses in disciplinary proceedings, please?

As far as I am aware, the code of practice provides that the employee must be provided with any witness statements that the employer intends to rely on and must be given the opportunity to comment on them.

I am happy to be corrected though if you can post a link to the document/leaflet/advice that you are referring to.

Thanks

wheezy57

In the letter this morning, I was told only a union rep and a work colleague. As you know the work colleague cant come to the meeting so I shall be on my own.

This wont be easy but nothing about this whole debacle is easy. Far from it.

Bananabrain

Just wanted to let you know that my thoughts are with you Wheezy. Be strong and remember 'don't let the ******** grind you down.'
Do come back and let us know the outcome.

wheezy57

Thank you so much for that heart felt encouragement. I will be going into the meeting alone now as the second person whom I asked to accompany me strangely enough has a life outside of work and is doing something else. She though has been very supportive of me and my 'plight' all along, but I so understand why she cant make it. I just will take a deep breath and say my piece (if asked that is) all over again - as nothing has changed from my initial interview. But, alot has changed from works point of view. Whether or not anything has been done - I doubt it.

To use the age old expression - I am stuffed......

Thank you again BB, it means alot to me.

zzzLazyDaisy

If You are going alone, make sure you take a notebook and pen and make notes as you go along. Chances are you will be in a daze afterwards and won't have accurate recall, but if you make notes - even just bullet points, this will jog your memory.

Also, if you have points that you wish to make, especially points of dispute that you want the decision maker to follow up, it is worth taking in a written statement, handing it the decision maker, and explaining that you wish them to take this into account as part of your case, when making their decision.

If you do this, do not write an essay, but keep to short succinct paragraphs dealing with each point in turn. If possible try not to write more than one side of A4 paper, or two at the most. The reason for this is simple - generally people lose interest after the first page and skim read. Similarly when faced with a large block of text, people often do not absorb the information properly.

wheezy57

I have done a rough draft of this and have asked my kids (all adults) to have a look and see if it can be improved or cut- whichever. It is polite and to the point.

I have also pointed out my sincere regret and that I would like this to be taken into consideration when making their final decision. If they ignore this contrition then it will prove to me that they have already made up their mind and that we are going down the procedure lines for nothing.