Disciplinary process

[SadieSunshine]

My friend has been dismissed from her job, she is going through the appeals process at the moment.

In her appeal meeting it came to light that she never got the official letter saying that she was dismissed pending further investigation.

She was also not told she was being dismissed, only that they would be investigating the matter. They never actually told her that she could be found guilty of gross misconduct. Could this have a bearing on the decision?

She intends to take this to an employment tribunal and has filled out the forms to do so.

I would suggest that your friend gets hold of the disciplinary policy for her company and reads what it says. How the company dealt with the dismissal may very well have a bearing on the employment tribunal as they may not have followed policy and procedure.

I assume you mean she was not told she was suspended pending further investigation rather than dismissed?

Do you mean 'suspended' pending further investigation? You don't 'dismiss' someone pending further investigation, you suspend them while the investigation is taking place, then you have a disciplinary hearing. At or immediately following the hearing, a decision what to do would be taken, which might include the person being dismissed.

The decision to dismiss should not be taken unless and until a disciplinary hearing has been held allowing the person to have their say, although obviously sometimes the outcome might be inevitable, depending on the circumstances.

So was she suspended? in which case how did she know without a letter? Was a letter sent that she didn't receive? Has the fact that she didn't get the letter made any actual material difference.

Having said that, any way in which the organisation didn't follow the correct procedure is crucial to a tribunal claim.

Have a look here all about disciplinary procedures.

Yes, sorry Flowery and HappyShopper, I meant suspend.

She had a hearing about 3 weeks later when she was dismissed and has had an appeal meeting already.

She was suspended following a meeting with her manager and the next communication was a few days before the 1st hearing date which was an invitation to the hearing.

She was given a transcript of her intial meeting and nowhere does it say she was "suspended" and no mention of Gross misconduct either.

I'm off to look at the link.

p.s. You have given me some practical help before on this matter and I really appreciate what you've done so far.

Thanks for the link - I think I'll print it out and show it to her. It seems promising.

I just wanted to say thanks for your help. My friends appeal didn't go the way we'd hoped, so it's roll on employment tribunal.

Update - My friends case has been accepted to go to tribunal. (she's a braver woman than me)

Best of luck to her Sadie, sorry it's got this far.