What is a disciplinary?

So today, from our 52 top tips for employers, we’re talking about the nine of hearts, which is all about disciplinary. 

Now, this is only a top tip. Disciplinary I could talk about for hours. I’m not going to do that here. But, top tip for today,:

There are lots of different disciplinary outcomes, from no action to a verbal warning to dismissal. But for anything to be valid, a proper process must be followed. Ensure employees have at least 24 hours written notice of a meeting. They should be told the case against them and provided with the evidence. They have the right to be accompanied to the meeting by a workplace colleague or a trade union rep. Notes must be taken of the meeting and the outcome reached must be communicated in writing. 

Making sure that you have a very clear disciplinary process is important. And once you’ve got that process, it needs to be communicated so employees know what it is and you need to stick to it. 

One of the biggest reasons that people will win a case in an employment tribunal is because employers haven’t stuck to their own policies and processes. So please, make sure that you get some advice, get a well thought-out disciplinary process that works for your business and complies with the ACAS guidelines, because that’s another measure that the employment tribunals will look at. Again, minimum standards. You can go above and beyond, but make sure that what you’ve got is documented.