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It is important for every business to have a disciplinary procedure in place which is fair and accessible to all employees. The procedure should be referred to in the contract of employment (although not necessarily form part of it). All employees should be aware of its existence and what it is about. Employees are protected where you have unlawfully deducted money from their wages or taken similar action without following statutory disciplinary procedures.
The procedure should comply with the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) Code of Practice 1: Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.
The principal points are as follows:
The procedure should specify which level of management takes decisions and specify that the employee may:
The procedure should specify a suitable warning process, such as:
The procedure should specify that your employee might be dismissed without prior warning for gross misconduct. It should provide some illustrations of gross misconduct and should be relevant to the particular employee.
The types of misconduct could include, for example, assault on a fellow employee, dishonesty for staff responsible for handling money, disclosure of confidential information should your employee be in possession of it. The contract of employment cannot change minor misconduct into gross misconduct simply by calling it gross misconduct.
