Disciplinary Hearing

JayzuzHowiye

How's it going?

Was summoned to a disciplinary hearing in work recently and reading through the summons, it states I can be accompanied by only a colleague or trade union rep, and in no case a solicitor. Can anyone shed light on why this is?

Cheers.

Delancey

Probably because if you bring a solicitor then they need one and the matter starts becoming costly.

JayzuzHowiye

Cost isn't an issue on my part, wouldn't be on theirs either, would it just give them a fright maybe?

nuac

I think one of tghe employers' organisations recommends that they meet an employee without the employee's solicitor.

imho an employee at such an important meeting is entitled to have with him or her somebody familiar with the procedure which would be either s TU official or solicitor. Even if the employer has no one else there,you ccan be sure that the employer has been fully adviseed and will be working off a script

BrianD

It's an internal matter so there would be no external parties involved. Why should there be? It's straightforward. The company has rules which they believe that you may have broken. You state your case and they action accordingly.

The objective is that disciplinary matters should be resolved in house before escalation.

JayzuzHowiye

Thats unconstitutional though, or am I wrong? Either way I've had legal advice now in the last 12 hours and its believed I am totally in the right and should be open shut case. thankfully. This is the second hearing in the space of two weeks regarding a minor mistake in paperwork, no cost to either party, just a detail overlooked. Stress it causes in such an ecomic climate is awful.

MagicSean

JayzuzHowiye wrote: »

Thats unconstitutional though, or am I wrong? Either way I've had legal advice now in the last 12 hours and its believed I am totally in the right and should be open shut case. thankfully. This is the second hearing in the space of two weeks regarding a minor mistake in paperwork, no cost to either party, just a detail overlooked. Stress it causes in such an ecomic climate is awful.

You are indeed wrong.

JayzuzHowiye

From what I was told is that procedure has been rushed, now this is from a barrister. Where exactly am I wrong if you don't mind me asking, as you are quite keen to point out I'm wrong.

schemingbohemia

I presume it was your reference to it being unconstitutional that was wrong, which it is.

The Jaw

Just be very careful that they are not trying to give you the bullet because of this simple error you mentioned.
Dont want to scare you at all, but from an employers point of view, these are tough times. It might make sense to reduce staff numbers through dismissals rather than redundancies.
If that does happen get onto a Solicitor asap. He/She will lodge an appeal with the Employment Appeals Tribunal ( Dont let him go to a Rights Commissioner. Their decisions are not binding and generally are a waste of time). The EAT will decide on two things. 1) If actual dismissal was valid ( which sounds sketchy here) 2) If the proper proceedures were followed in the dismissal. (which also sounds sketchy).
But I am going to the worst case scenario here. I am really not trying to stress you out. If the employer got any kind of legal advice at all, he would know these facts also.

JayzuzHowiye

Cheers thanks for your reply.

After speaking with my legal guy today he has told me that the process in which they haven taken isn't correct procedure. There is also more to ad to this case as there is some bullying going on as an aside and this is also being taken up with the company. Was told to contact the doctor about stress levels and to find out if I was in a position to attend a diciplinary hearing under the circumstances as my mental health may be in jeopardy.

I've been put in an awful position lately and thinking straight can be a problem. I could lose my job over a simple error in paperwork, whereas there are other sinister things going on and others aren't being punished.

Head is a mess at the moment so if my posts don't make much sense you can understand.

JH

BrianD

JayzuzHowiye wrote: »

Cheers thanks for your reply.

After speaking with my legal guy today he has told me that the process in which they haven taken isn't correct procedure. There is also more to ad to this case as there is some bullying going on as an aside and this is also being taken up with the company. Was told to contact the doctor about stress levels and to find out if I was in a position to attend a diciplinary hearing under the circumstances as my mental health may be in jeopardy.

I've been put in an awful position lately and thinking straight can be a problem. I could lose my job over a simple error in paperwork, whereas there are other sinister things going on and others aren't being punished.

Head is a mess at the moment so if my posts don't make much sense you can understand.

JH

There is a difference between the procedure being incorrect and unconstitutional.

You are entitled to a fair procedure and it should be done correctly. That's in the contract of employment that you both entered into.

You are right to get external advice and you should also ensure that you do have a colleague in the room with you. Their purpose is to observe. You could also request to make an audio recording of the proceedings. they won't want that. Be careful of making your own - you may be able to use it for your own reference but you probably will have problems using it as evidence if the other party weren't aware of it being on.