Here is a complete guide to the disciplinary hearings procedure for employers and employees. Learn the process and rights of meetings.
Disciplinary hearings are a type of hearing in professional backgrounds between an employer and his employees regarding disciplinary actions against the employees. This hearing is more of a chance for the employee to prove his innocence and is a right by law. If you are looking for guidance regarding this topic and for employers specifically, then you are at the right place.
In a disciplinary hearing, an employer should prepare for it properly by making written proof documents of all the investigation and crucial information regarding the disciplinary misconduct of the employee. Always remember to tell the truth in front of the tribunal because they could use any lie against you. Also, make someone responsible for taking notes of the hearing.
Disciplinary hearings could become a hassle for the employer if not carried out correctly. So, you should set out your perspective truthfully and never leave out any detail. Further here, you will get a deeper insight into the tips an employer should follow in a disciplinary hearing. So, stick around.
Procedure For Disciplinary Hearings
To complete the disciplinary hearing process, the employer must go through all of the different phases since the process is divided into them. I will go through all of these phases in detail below. The phases are as follows;
1. Investigation Phase
In this phase, the employer investigates the misconduct or performance issues of the employee under the disciplinary process. Here, the employer must collect as much evidence as possible about the employee’s actions.
Considering the employee innocent is possible for the tribunal if the investigation is not sufficient and the employee is guilty. Therefore, this phase is highly significant. They could damage the employer’s organisation.
2. Hearing
After completing the investigation, the employer must now arrange a disciplinary hearing. For that, they must send the employee a proper notice beforehand. Also, they need to send a notice to the following roles as well to attend the meeting. The period for these notices is 5 working days;
- HR Representative.
- Trade Union Representative.
- Someone to take notes.
- Employee.
- Employer.
- Employee’s Companion.
Once all the roles become present at the hearing’s venue, the hearing starts and the role who has filed the allegation starts to present their side of the story. They have to back it up with all the necessary pieces of evidence and information they have.
Next up is the turn of the defendant to prove the allegations false. They have to present facts defending them as well. In the case of an employer, if the information and evidence prove that the action of the employer was wrong and injustice, then the compensation of the employee goes up by 25%.
There could also be a scenario where the employer is the one on the right side, and the employee’s allegations are wrong. In this case, the awarding compensation of the employee goes down by 25%, and it could also lead to the employee paying some amount to the employer as a punishment.
If the dispute between the employer and the employee can be resolved alternately following the guidelines of ACAS, then the stakeholders will surely encourage that. Holding the disciplinary hearing without taking any disciplinary action against any party will ensure a fair process.
3. Appeal
The either involved party can file a disciplinary appeal if they believe the decision was unfair and requires reconsideration. For this, the concerned party will have to write a formal letter to the stakeholders for an appeal.
The presenting party must present all relevant issues for which the appeal has been filed during the appeal hearing, presided over by a higher-ranking officer. If the jury determines that the previous decision was unfair, the person who filed the appeal will receive compensation, and the employer may face penalties.
4. Disciplinary Actions
After removing all ambiguities from the disciplinary case, the jury passes judgment and takes necessary actions against the losing party. For an employee, it could range from different warnings to permanent dismissal.
It all depends on the severity of the disciplinary misconduct and the damage done to the employer. In case of warnings, multiple them could also lead to permanent dismissal from the organisation.
Employee Rights In The Disciplinary Meeting
The law grants employees a certain set of rights during a disciplinary hearing. Both the employee and employer must respect these rights, and neither can abuse or intrude on them.
These rights include taking a companion with them to a hearing, they can present and looking at the evidence available, they can ask their companion to speak on their behalf, an employee can use any language they want, etc.
For the first right, the employee can ask the companion with them to take notes of the hearing and ask them to speak on their behalf to go through the case. But, the companion must be a work colleague of the employee or a trade union-certified representative allowed to serve as a companion.
Another right of the employee is to go through all the evidence available against him, which fortifies the opposite stance. This right is given to the employee to maintain the case’s transparency and ensure that the benefit of the doubt is given to none of the concerned parties. If asked, the employee has to do the same in the employer’s case.
It is told infrequently, but the employee can proceed with the hearing in any language they feel comfortable with. But they must take a translator with them, so the others can understand what they are saying. In the UK, there are some languages for which you do not need to bring along a translator, but for others, you need to.
HR In Disciplinary Hearings
The role of an HR representative is very important at disciplinary hearings. The HR representative does all the documentation of the disciplinary hearing. This is considered of dire importance because if the employee files an appeal against the jury’s decision in the future, this documentation could become pretty handy.
The employer could use this documentation to prove their stance and show that the appeal filed by the employee is futile. This could save the employer important time, but if the employer is in the wrong and the employee files an appeal, nothing can be done legally to prove themselves innocent.
So, always make sure that you are abiding by the law and being truthful because anything you hide could backfire on you and be used against you. Ensure that your HR representative is attentively present in the hearing because they are your biggest asset there.
Disciplinary Hearing Script
The disciplinary hearing script is a certain document that you write before the start of the disciplinary hearing. You can get pointers on your side of the story using this script. It can be used by either one of the parties, whether the employer or the employee.
In the script, the concerned person writes all the details about the case that they want to discuss. It could include the description of allegations against you, the shreds of evidence that you want to share, the justification on your part, etc.
All of these points are written on the hearing script, and the person whose script it is can use it to give major arguments to the stakeholders. It works just like a PowerPoint presentation, where you can get an idea of your talks from the notes beside it.
Trade Union Representative In A Disciplinary Hearing
A trade union representative is another crucial role in a disciplinary hearing. A trade union representative is responsible for resolving the issue between the employer and the employee. They can give suggestions and concerns and negotiate the terms between both parties to resolve the matter quickly and peacefully.
A trade union representative is an officially certified person to deal with such situations, so think twice, if not thrice, before throwing away their suggestions because they could work better for you.
Also, the highest stakeholder is the trade union representative because he has to review all the evidence and can challenge either party’s arguments. So, whatever you do, make sure that you do not try to deceive the trade union representative because they are the ones evaluating the evidence.
Can HR ask questions in a disciplinary hearing?
Yes, an HR representative can ask questions in a disciplinary hearing, but too many questions are not encouraged. This is because the dispute is between the employee and employer, and the HR representative is there to keep written proof of the hearing and all the decisions made in it.
So, suppose the HR representative asks too many questions. In that case, it could be taken as disrespect by either the trade union representative or the employee, leading to a bitter environment.
How should employers prepare for Disciplinary Hearings?
Employers should prepare for a disciplinary hearing by making the necessary arrangements first. These include holding proper investigations beforehand, organising the evidence, explaining the details to their colleagues of this hearing, etc.
All these arrangements need to be completed by the employer to keep the hearing flow smooth and ensure that everything is secured from your side. This increases your confidence and gives off the impression that your arguments and perspective are the right ones and are reinforced.
What are the 5 possible outcomes of a disciplinary hearing?
In a disciplinary hearing, there could be 5 basic outcomes. For an employee, these outcomes could be immediate dismissal, warnings, payment of compensation amount, performance improvement within a set period, or demotion.
These outcomes could happen to an employee after a disciplinary hearing. Remember that even getting a warning does not mean the employee is out of the water. If they get a warning repeatedly, it could lead to serious consequences.
What is the first step of the disciplinary procedure?
The first step of the disciplinary procedure is to investigate the case and gather shreds of evidence for the hearing. But, if we go even before that, the officials try to find an alternate way to resolve the dispute between the employer and the employee.
If this does not work out, they continue the disciplinary procedure. If this happens, then the investigation phase starts. Otherwise, the hearing gets cancelled, and the issue gets resolved.
In a nutshell, the investigation of the case is the first step of the disciplinary procedure.
Final Thoughts
As a disciplinary hearing is targeted at the employee, so they will try everything they can to save themselves from the disciplinary actions. So, always be aware as an employer and never try to hide anything, whether it defends you or is neutral.
Withholding information from any side could damage your case from the respected side. Also, in a disciplinary hearing, come prepared and know your rights along with the rules of a disciplinary hearing because, by law, you are compelled to respect yourself and others.
And if the employee is somehow not justified with the disciplinary decision, then theta re most likely to file an appeal. So, as an employer, keep prepared for that and also preserve all the documentation regarding the case because it could help you out in the future in such hearings. Other than that, be true to yourself and others as well, and everything will turn out to be fine. If you still have any questions, you can reach out to me.
