Employment advice - disciplinary

[Stellashere]

Hi after a bit of advice for dsis. My sister has been advised that she needs to attend a disciplinary hearing next week that could result in termination of her employment. Dsis is at fault and accepts this. She is not disputing this however does have family to support. What’s the best way to negotiate an exit that won’t entirely scupper her chances of employment elsewhere? Should she acknowledge fault and resign? Should she go off sick to give her chance to get further advice? Really at a loss at all what to advise her? Grateful for any advice.

Im a TU rep, if she wants to resign do it on the day of the hearing because at least she will be paid, however she may not have her contract terninated that could be one of the options.

Has she a clean record? What is her length of service? What did she do? Was it wilfull or an error of judgement with no malicious intent?

Sorry lots of questions.

Is it clear gross misconduct? Could she accept a formal warning? Not sure she is much of a position to negotiate if it is a serious issue.

It is standard for a disciplinary letter to state the dismissal could be a possibility, that doesn't mean it will. Does she have an idea of how serious the issue is? Is she a union member?

Hi @lobsterkiller she has worked there for 16 years. No prior warnings. Can’t say exactly what she did but it was wilful in that she chose to do something she wasn’t qualified to do to do a job quickly. Not malicious and no malicious intent.

Hi @lizs she feels that a new boss has taken a dislike to her and will use this get rid of her. Technically gross misconduct though would be a harsh outcome to fire her but she feels likely due to new manager.

It is a serious issue but as serious as you want to make it if you see what I mean. Wouldn’t have been an issue prior to nee manager. She is just worried about supporting her family.

I appreciate that you cant say. 16 years clean service, id argue it. Was it wilfull because she felt under pressure, was it something that could be challenged for example something you need to be qualified to do by a regulatory body? Has she been suspended? If not it could be argued that she isnt a risk to the business

Is she a TU member? If not she can ask a colleague to support her.

Has she breached guidelines and procedures? May not be malicious but could she have knowingly put others or her employer at risk, physically or professionally? Would having this on record affect her employability?

Call acas or union for advice tomorrow? This is too scant for us to help tbh

You’d want to negotiate a neutral reference

F

They can move very quickly. I think if she writes out her points, explains what you have here, states shes clearly not a risk to the business so termination is not a reasonable outcome. Most of all apologises.

Is there a HR dept? They should be advising the manager of appropriate outcomes?

Also clean record, length of service.

Feel free to PM.

Does there have to be a minimum notice period for a disciplinary meeting

Check the handbook

Would it be worth going off sick to gather thoughts and prepare?

Her choice but it would be better for her to actually speak to someone qualified to advise instead of gathering her thoughts alone

She can ask, but might not get

Is your sister in a union? She should have the right to be accompanied.

Could she seek advice from ACAS?

@Stellashere

Hi *@lobsterkiller* she has worked there for 16 years. No prior warnings. Can’t say exactly what she did but it was wilful in that she chose to do something she wasn’t qualified to do to do a job quickly. Not malicious and no malicious intent.

Agree she needs to talk to someone from her union or acas and share details but from this I am wondering if she can evidence that what she did was permitted practice under previous manager? Has she received adequate supervision? Are demands of job workload etc such that it's expected to cut corners?

Hi unfortunately she isn’t in a union. She’s going to call acas this morning. She isn’t expected to cut corners but under pressure generally from a large workload