Five Key Points to Remember When Carrying Out Your Disciplinary Procedure in England

As an employer, you will likely follow a disciplinary process if an employee engages in poor conduct. However, the disciplinary procedure can be complicated. Consequently, it is easy to make mistakes that can ultimately lead to a claim against you in an employment tribunal. To avoid making a mistake during a disciplinary procedure, you should remember key points to help you carry it out correctly. This article will explain some key points that you should keep in mind when carrying out your disciplinary procedure in England. 

Ensure You Use the Relevant Fair Procedure

When you carry out the disciplinary procedure with your staff, you will do so in response to either a conduct issue or a capability issue. A conduct issue is where your employee’s behaviour is not acceptable or correct. Whereas a capability issue is where your employee is not performing well. 

There can be different fair and correct procedures for each. Hence, a critical point to remember when carrying out the disciplinary procedure is to use the right process for the circumstances. For example, your capability procedure for disciplinary procedures may focus on support and training.

Gather As Much Evidence and Information As Possible

When you believe it is necessary to carry out disciplinary procedures on a staff member, gathering as much information and evidence as possible is essential. As part of a full and fair procedure, you should carry out an investigation into the matter. Ultimately, you need to make informed decisions and be sure that you have a good reason for the accusations suggested. 

Gathering evidence can include:

• talking to others involved; 
• gathering witness statements; and
• ensuring evidence is obtained from all sides.

Warn Your Employee of Potential Consequences

A key point you need to remember when carrying out the disciplinary procedure is to let your employee know the potential consequences they could face. 

Letting your employees know of the potential consequences of the disciplinary process will mean that they are aware of how serious the situation is. This then alerts them to ensure that they defend themselves as necessary. Additionally, warning your employees forms part of a full and fair disciplinary procedure.

Your Employee Has a Right To Be Accompanied to the Disciplinary Hearing

When you hold a disciplinary hearing as part of your disciplinary process, you should remember that your employee has a legal right to be accompanied by a companion. A companion can be:

• a colleague from your business;
• a trade union official; or
• someone from your business that represents the trade union and can act as a companion as they have training or certification.

Your employees must tell you if they bring a companion to the disciplinary hearing as soon as possible. Additionally, you can give your employees more choice of who to bring as their companion beyond the legal requirements.

Make Sure That the Action You Take is Reasonable

When carrying out the disciplinary procedure, you must remember that any disciplinary action you take is fair and reasonable in the circumstances. This means that you should:

• consider lesser sanctions before taking drastic ones such as dismissal;
• base any actions on what your investigation revealed;
• think what you have done for any other similar situations occurring in your business; and 
• follow the steps the policy states you may take in the circumstances.

Key Takeaways

When you carry out your disciplinary procedures on your employees, there are many vital points you need to remember. First, you must follow a full and fair procedure with specific steps that should mirror the Acas procedure. For example, you should remember to warn your employees of the potential consequences they could face when you carry out your disciplinary procedure and ensure that you take the correct disciplinary action, which is reasonable and fair. You should also remember that your employees have a legal right to have a companion with them at the disciplinary hearing.

If you need help understanding key points to remember when carrying out your disciplinary procedure in England, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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