Disciplinary and grievance procedures
What are disciplinary and grievance procedures?
Disciplinary procedures are the process that employers follow when they suspect that an employee has breached their contract of employment, such as by committing misconduct or poor performance. Grievance procedures are the process that employees follow when they have a complaint about their working conditions, such as harassment or discrimination.
Disputes happen. It’s best for business if you have procedures laid down for airing and settling disputes at the earliest opportunity. Disciplinary and grievance procedures provide you with the platforms to do so. Where conduct or performance is not up to scratch, a written disciplinary procedure provides everyone with clarity and ensures procedural fairness.
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Likewise, if staff think there is a problem, providing a forum within which they can raise a grievance allows you to get to the route of the problem and deal with it. Disciplinary and grievance procedures must meet certain minimum standards. If they do not, employers can fall foul of the law. It can also mean penalties at the Employment Tribunal.
At Hillary Cooper Law we can draft your disciplinary and grievance procedures. Or we can review and advise. We can advise you on applying the procedures in particular cases and on how to make sure any action you take is legally secure.
Frequently Asked Questions
A settlement offers a streamlined break from one’s employer to themselves and vice versa to avoid potential conflicts in the future.
In a settlement, both parties compromise to reach an agreement that both parties see fit, this allows an amicable break between the parties. One of the more obvious benefits of a settlement includes avoiding the costly and time-consuming procedure of going to court.
To challenge a redundancy payment, you will have six months to make a claim from the date of termination of the employment, and six years for a contractual redundancy claim. However, if you feel you were main redundant via unfair dismissal, this includes your redundancy arising from certain forms of discrimination, you will have three months to bring a claim to court.
From any business perspective, it is vital to cover your back to protect yourself and your company. With the help of our experienced law firm, we can draft employee contracts for you and discuss aspects that may often be overlooked, such as employer’s liability, applying certain DBS checks and dealing with all things HMRC.
If you are aware or concerned about possible illegal or unethical conduct within your workplace, is it critical to first bring it to your supervisors’ attention. If you believe that they are involved, you can report this to whosoever is next in the chain of command or a federal agency.
It is strongly advised to avoid any involvement with employers that engage in illegal conduct.
If reinstatement or re-engagement is not your priority, compensation is available! This compensatory amount considers the following factors: the employee’s age, the years of service dedicated to working at the company and the average weekly wage. From this information, a figure is calculated but limited to £571 and the maximum years of service to be claimed is 20 years.
Although an employer is not legally obliged to provide work equipment for working at home, there must always be reasonable adjustments made for those who have disabilities.
The concept of hybrid working has recently become popular due to the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic and therefore employment contracts must work to address these factors if they are to offer hybrid working within their company.
Potential areas for employers to consider when enforcing hybrid working include an employee’s mental health, health and safety, data protection and insurance.
It is vital to note that once agreed by both parties. A contract between an employer and an employee is legally binding, failure to abide by certain provisions may result in a breach of contract. If one wishes to negotiate the terms of the contract, both parties must be in agreement with the new terms to formalise this.
If this route is not satisfactory, the option to explore trade unions to challenge working conditions is available to you as an employee.
Constructive dismissal arises when your employer has committed a serious breach of contract which has resulted in you feeling the need to leave that company unwillingly. Examples of constructive dismissal may include some of the following: not paying your wages, bullying, forcing you to accept unreasonable changes and forcing you to work in dangerous conditions.
Employers may be able to use express restrictive covenants to reasonably protect their company from ex-employees’ post-termination. It must be noted that if these covenants are not drafted correctly and carried out accurately, this could leave your company’s business interests vulnerable.
There are options to limit the chances of an ex-employee harming your company’s reputation such as introducing garden leave or entering a clause within the employee’s contract detailing an obligation to act in the best interests of the employer may also be explored.