Dismissals and Disciplinary

You may find that you are subject to some form of disciplinary action, which your employer usually initiates as a result of misconduct or poor performance.

Going through a disciplinary with your employer is often a stressful and worrying time. Our experienced teams of solicitors can advise you on each step of the process including reviewing the allegations and evidence against you, to drafting a response, to pursuing a claim for unfair dismissal, discrimination or negotiating the termination of your employment.

Is it a capability or disciplinary issue?

Any issues on poor performance is a capability issue, and the ACAS Code of Practice (which now provides guidance in this area) allows for poor performance to be dealt with under a separate capability procedure instead of a disciplinary procedure, provided it adheres to the principles of the Code.

Ill-health is also a capability issue and should an employer consider taking action against an employee for ill-health reasons, particularly dismissal, they would be advised to follow the general principles of fairness contained in the ACAS Code of Practice.

The dismissal procedure

Disciplinary action is anything up to and including dismissal. Again, the ACAS Code of Practice sets out the steps which your employer should take in the lead up to dismissal, as an employee should rarely be dismissed for a first offence, unless it amounts to gross misconduct. Action taken by your employer can be anything from oral or verbal warnings as the first stage of a disciplinary process, or may proceed straight to a written warning as the first action under a formal procedure.

Verbal warnings do not need to form part of a formal process, but if they are included in your Employer's disciplinary procedure, then the procedure leading up to giving a verbal warning would need to comply with the Code of Practice. However, any other action taken for disciplinary purposes, e.g. suspension without pay or demotion, would be covered by the ACAS Code of Practice.

Employers often use Disciplinary Procedures incorporating a Capability Procedure as a means to commence a pre-determined decision to dismiss you. If this is the case and your employer is acting completely unreasonably and targeting you rather than other employees then you should look to your options to protect your position.

Contact our Employment Law specialists for advice now.

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