10 Ways Disciplinary Procedures Can Go Wrong

Dispute Resolution - 1 minute read

This is a really useful article which lists 10 common mistakes employers can make during disciplinary proceedings.

On the face of it the process carrying out a disciplinary procedure seems fairly straight forward, but there are many traps that employers can fall into which can cause serious repercussions for the employer. These consequences range from having to start the procedure again from scratch to, at worst, handing the employee good grounds to bring an unfair dismissal claim in an employment tribunal.

Paragraph 6 of this article is very helpful, because it is a common mistake for an employer to assume that an act of gross misconduct automatically justifies dismissal. In fact, in the law of unfair dismissal, the decision to dismiss for misconduct must fall within the “reasonable range of responses” available to the employer, and so all surrounding circumstances of the case should be carefully considered before a final decision to dismiss is made.

There is nothing more frustrating for employers than discovering that an employee dismissed for blatant misconduct has an arguable claim for unfair dismissal.