Assignment 218

STAFF DISCIPLINARY AND GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES

Disciplinary Procedure

Purpose and scope

The Company’s aim is to encourage improvement in individual conduct and performance.

The aim is to ensure consistent and fair treatment for all in the organisation. This procedure

sets out the action which will be taken when disciplinary rules are breached or when an

employee’s performance is unsatisfactory. However, depending on the seriousness of the

misconduct or unsatisfactory performance, the Company reserves the right to invoke any

stage of the procedure as an initial step.

Principles

(a) The procedure is designed to establish the facts quickly and to deal consistently with

disciplinary issues. No disciplinary action will be taken until the matter has been

fully investigated and a disciplinary meeting has taken place.

(b) Informal action will be considered, where appropriate, to resolve matters swiftly and

amicably.

(c) The Company reserves the right to suspend employees on full pay for a maximum of

5 working days (or such longer period as in the circumstances may be reasonable)

whilst the investigation takes place. Suspension in itself is not a disciplinary measure.

(d) Employees will be given advance notice of the disciplinary meeting. They will be

supplied with details of the allegations or complaints and, unless there is good reason

not to, will also be supplied with copies of all documents and witness statements that

will be referred to at the disciplinary meeting.

(e) At every stage employees will have the opportunity to state their case and be

represented, if they wish, at the hearings by a fellow employee or by a full-time or

Originally Issued: December 2006 This Version: July 2014

Last Reviewed: December 2018

duly certified trade union official. If the chosen representative cannot attend on the

proposed date of the disciplinary meeting, employees can offer an alternative date and

time so long as it is reasonable and falls within 5 working days following the date

which was proposed by the Company.

(f) An employee has the right to appeal against any disciplinary penalty.

(g) As far as possible, disciplinary proceedings (including witness statements and records

created during such proceedings) will be kept confidential.

The Formal Procedure

Stage 1 – Oral warning/Improvement note

If an employee’s conduct is unsatisfactory, the employee will be given a formal ORAL

WARNING, a note of which will be kept on the employee’s personnel file. The employee

will be advised as to the reason for the oral warning, the change in behaviour that is required

and that the oral warning constitutes the first step of the disciplinary procedure.

If an employee’s performance does not meet acceptable standards, the employee will be

given a formal IMPROVEMENT NOTE. The improvement note will set out details of the

performance problems, the improvement that is required, the timescale for when the

improvement must be made and any help that may be given. A copy of the improvement

note will be kept on the employee’s personnel file for a period of 6 months after which it will

be disregarded, subject to achieving and sustaining satisfactory performance.

Stage 2 - Written Warning

If the disciplinary offence or poor performance is serious, if there is no improvement made,

or if further offences occur, a WRITTEN WARNING will be given which will include details

of the reasons for the written warning, the improvement or change in behaviour or

performance that is required, the timescale for the improvement and a note that, if there is no

sustained improvement or change by the specified time, a FINAL WRITTEN WARNING

may be given. The written warning will be kept on the employee’s personnel file for a period

of up to 12 months after which time it will be disregarded, subject to satisfactory service.

Originally Issued: December 2006 This Version: July 2014

Last Reviewed: December 2018

Stage 3 – Final Written Warning

If the employee’s conduct or performance is still unsatisfactory or where the offence or poor

performance is sufficiently serious, a FINAL WRITTEN WARNING will be given making it

clear that any recurrence of the offence or other serious misconduct or failure to improve

within a further specified period of time may result in dismissal or some action short of

dismissal. The final written warning will be kept on the employee’s personnel file for a

period of 12 months after which time it will be disregarded, subject to satisfactory service.

Stage 4 - Dismissal

If there is no satisfactory improvement or if further serious misconduct occurs, the employee

may be DISMISSED. As an alternative to dismissal, the employee might be asked to consent

to a disciplinary transfer, demotion or loss of seniority/increment.

Gross Misconduct

If, after an investigation and a disciplinary meeting, it is confirmed that an employee has

committed an offence of the following nature (the list is not exhaustive) or if the Company

has reasonable grounds for believing that such an offence has been committed, the normal

consequence will be dismissal without notice or pay in lieu of notice:

Theft, fraud or other dishonesty; deliberate falsification of records; physical violence

or bullying; unlawful discrimination or harassment; deliberate and serious damage to

property; serious insubordination; misuse of the Company’s property or name

including serious breach of the Company’s communications or equality policy, not

limited to sending or deliberately accessing material that is malicious, untrue, obscene

or defamatory; bringing the Company into serious disrepute; serious incapability

whilst on duty brought on by alcohol or illegal drugs; serious negligence which

causes or might cause unacceptable loss, damage or injury; serious infringement of

health and safety rules; serious breach of confidence (subject to an employee’s right

to “whistleblow” under the Public Interest (Disclosure) Act 1998).

Appeals

An employee may wish to appeal because, for example, s/he thinks a finding or the penalty is

unfair, new evidence comes to light or s/he thinks the disciplinary procedure was not used

correctly.

Originally Issued: December 2006 This Version: July 2014

Last Reviewed: December 2018

An employee who wishes to appeal against any disciplinary decision may do so by informing

Robert Marsden or Carolyn Llewelyn within 5 working days of receiving notification of the

decision, in writing and setting out the reasons for the appeal. There will then be an appeal

meeting. Where practicable, the person conducting the appeal meeting will be more senior

than the person who imposed the disciplinary sanction being appealed against. After the

appeal meeting, the person conducting the meeting will write to the employee with his/her

decision. That decision will be final.

Grievance Procedure

The Procedure

Issues that are appropriate to be dealt with under this procedure might include terms and

conditions of employment, health and safety, relationships at work, new working practices,

working environment, organisational change, discrimination, bullying and harassment. The

Company intends that where an employee has a complaint about an action that the Company

has taken or is contemplating taking in relation to that employee, such a complaint will fall

within this procedure.

If an employee has any questions or grievances relating to his/her employment, they should

be raised in accordance with the procedure set out below.

Informal procedure

In the first instance an employee should discuss the issue informally with Ben Llewelyn, the

Principal. In appropriate cases, the Company and the employee may agree to use the services

of an independent, impartial workplace mediator in an attempt to resolve matters swiftly and

amicably.

Formal procedure

Stage 1

Where the grievance cannot be resolved informally, it should be referred in writing to Ben

Llewelyn, the Principal. Ben Llewelyn will arrange a meeting, normally within 5 working

days. That person will carry out any further investigation that may be necessary and decide

Originally Issued: December 2006 This Version: July 2014

Last Reviewed: December 2018

the case based on all the evidence as impartially as possible. S/he will then confirm the

decision of the grievance in writing, normally within 24 hours but, depending on the extent of

further investigations that may be required, at the latest within 10 working days of the

meeting.

Stage 2 – Appeal Meeting

If the grievance is not resolved or if the employee considers that s/he has not been fairly

treated, the matter should be referred in writing to Robert Marsden or Carolyn Llewelyn

within 5 working days of the grievance meeting decision. The Director hearing the

grievance will arrange a meeting usually within 5 working days and decide the case based on

all the evidence as impartially as possible. S/he will confirm the decision in writing,

normally within 24 hours but, depending on the extent of further investigations that may be

required, up to 10 working days following the appeal meeting. That decision will be final.

Representation

At any stage of the grievance procedure, an employee may be accompanied or represented by

a fellow employee or by a full-time or duly certified trade union official.

Originally Issued: December 2006 This Version: July 2014

Last Reviewed: December 2018