Disciplinary decision but no written confirmation received

daveboy

I hope I can be assisted with this.

In March 2020 a family member was given a written warning by their employer. But they never received written confirmation of this. They were told it would be active for 6 months, verbally. 

Then the virus situation started and everybody at the workplace was furloughed.

Now they are looking at redundancies due to social distancing and space. This written warning has come in to play because they are using a scoring system to decide who to keep.

Am I correct in thinking that a failure to issue a letter confirming the sanction and length of time it is ‘active’, therefore renders the whole process null and void? Surely an employment tribunal would find against them if it came to taking them to one?

I need some assistance on this as the family member concerned is on the autistic spectrum and would find it twice as hard as everyone else to find another job.

Advice or being pointed in the right direction for assistance would be greatly appreciated.

bap98189

They will have notes from the meeting which would confirm that the warning was issued, the duration and that it was explained to the person concerned.

They will also no doubt be able to produce a copy of a letter stating this. A letter which is dated the day of the hearing. Letters get lost in the post all the time. Maybe they posted itm maybe they didn't. Either way I think you are clutching at straws here. 

Undervalued

daveboy said:

I hope I can be assisted with this.

In March 2020 a family member was given a written warning by their employer. But they never received written confirmation of this. They were told it would be active for 6 months, verbally. 

Then the virus situation started and everybody at the workplace was furloughed.

Now they are looking at redundancies due to social distancing and space. This written warning has come in to play because they are using a scoring system to decide who to keep.

Am I correct in thinking that a failure to issue a letter confirming the sanction and length of time it is ‘active’, therefore renders the whole process null and void? Surely an employment tribunal would find against them if it came to taking them to one?

I need some assistance on this as the family member concerned is on the autistic spectrum and would find it twice as hard as everyone else to find another job.

Advice or being pointed in the right direction for assistance would be greatly appreciated.

No, wishful thinking I'm afraid. Very, very few things in English law have to be in writing. Obviously it is far easier to prove if it is, however the employee admits they are aware what sanction was imposed so the piece of paper is largely irrelevant.

In any case, from a practical point of view, what happens if the employer insists they issued the document and produces a "copy"?

TBagpuss

Am I correct in thinking that a failure to issue a letter confirming the sanction and length of time it is ‘active’, therefore renders the whole process null and void? Surely an employment tribunal would find against them if it came to taking them to one?
No, and no.
your relative knew the outcome of the disciplinary and that it would last for 6 months. If they had a problem with it then they could have followed the employers appeal procedure at the time.
Plus, this is only a minor breach of the employer’s internal procedure. At most, if your relative says they didn’t get the written confirmation the employer might be expected to provide it now, and if your relative was facing further disciplinary action for having repeated the same misconduct or for not complying with requirements set out in the letter then it might be relevant, but for redundancy? No.
your relative was disciplined so that will be reflected in how they are scored on the matrix, and they are likely to do themselves more harm than good if they try t  to make the sort of arguments you are suggesting.