From October 2004 you should have had in place disciplinary and grievance procedures which comply with the statutory minimum procedures.
You must explain to the employee concerned what the problem is, in writing and provide details of the grounds for proposing to take action;
prior to making any decisions, you must have a face-to-face meeting with him (or her) to discuss it;
you must give him (or her) an opportunity to appeal (at a further hearing) against the disciplinary findings.
There are limited exceptions in which the requirement for the minimum three-stage procedure does not apply (see questions 5, 6 and 7). Exceptions apart, however, you must use these three stages, or something better, in all disciplinary proceedings, other than those which are likely to result in a warning or temporary suspension on full pay.
In addition, if you dismiss someone for any reason (including redundancy, capability, non-renewal of a fixed-term contract, etc), without using the three-stage procedure, then unless the dismissal falls within the exceptions it will automatically be unfair (whatever the rights or wrongs of the underlying cause) and if the employee pursues a claim, compensation may be increased by between 10 and 50 per cent.
There are now discussions about the possibility of withdrawing the legal backing for these procedures, because in practice they have resulted in people focussing on legalities rather than solutions, taking longer to resolve disputes, and having more ready recourse to the tribunal system. However:
- there is no timetable for such a change, and it would require Parliamentary time (because parts of the Employment Act 2002 would have to be repealed), so that the statutory procedures are likely to be in force for some time yet;
- the statutory procedures would be replaced by strong guidelines which are likely to be at least as demanding; and
- Employment Tribunals will have powers to penalise parties who are 'unreasonable' in pursuing a dispute, including in particular those who make inadequate efforts, or no efforts at all, to set things right.
So even if current statutory backing for these procedures is eventually withdrawn, you need to conform to it in the meantime, and such conformity will save you time and trouble later.
