Disciplinary for slamming a door?

[RonaldMcDonald]

Hi

I have been asked to help a young member of staff with a disciplinary meeting.
She is terrified by the process and isn't a member of a union.

She has reportedly slammed a door and an investigation has been carried out with other staff members but not herself and as a result they have called her to a disciplinary meeting.

In the notes presented to her, her boss alludes to problems that she had 10 mths ago that were never formally dealt with ie no warnings etc were given or performance management implemented. He seems to be rolling issues that they had addressed and moved forward from last year into this situation.
He has said that this has put them right back to the beginning of the problems 10 mths ago and that he now cannot trust her to behave 'appropriately'

I was wondering if that is fair and okay for him to do so.
It feels as though these issues are now being taken as an agreed problem that she has failed to address when actually nothing was put in place other than an exploration of each other's pov.

She has been working there for 20 mths and her boss is ex military and has had issues with her 'insubordination'.
She is shy and logical and does not always jump quickly enough when barked at. She can come across as sullen at times and she certainly rubs him up the wrong way. She is a good worker and a v young woman.

Any advice would be very gratefully received

Oh that's a shame. Not entirely unsurprising though really, from what you've said. It sounds like her face doesn't really fit, and when disciplinary issues arise only a short time before employment rights kick in, employers will be well aware that in a short time it will become very difficult to dismiss the person. Therefore if that is something they think might happen, they may do it now rather than give a warning and then in a few months, wishing they'd taken their opportunity to easily dismiss.

They seemed very firm about the decision. She's very young, 18.5, and seemed very affected by the whole thing.
I'd doubt she'd appeal but she genuinely thought she was doing well/at least much better. Awful to observe

Two years seems a long time to make a decision about someone, to me, at any rate

Oh that's awful. Poor girl.

IMO if you manage someone well there's no reason you shouldn't be in a position to be sure about someone within a year, or less.

But the law is what it is.