Disciplinary action

Q. I have discovered that one of our members has received disciplinary warnings that have been noted on his file without any hearing being held. Is his employer in breach of the new disciplinary procedures?

A. Unfortunately, the new statutory disciplinary procedures do not apply to warnings. In any case, there is no free-standing right to challenge a failure to follow the statutory procedures, which have an impact only in cases of unfair dismissal - the amount of compensation awarded can be increased if the employer has failed to follow the procedures.

However, your employer is in breach of the ACAS code of practice on disciplinary procedures, which states that in any formal action the employee should be informed in writing of allegations made against them and invited to attend a meeting.

If further warnings ended up leading to dismissal and a tribunal found them to be unreasonable, this could make the dismissal unfair.

If an employer takes unwarranted disciplinary action against an employee, this can in itself amount to a breach of trust and confidence leading to constructive dismissal.