Disciplinary procedures

Case 6: The facts

Mrs Stewart's employer had concerns about her conduct, which it set out in a letter inviting her to an investigatory meeting. The issues were discussed at that meeting, after which Stewart was called to a disciplinary hearing which her employer said was to conclude the investigation. She was dismissed at that meeting.

Besides claiming "ordinary" unfair dismissal, Stewart claimed that her dismissal was automatically unfair because her employer had not followed the statutory disciplinary and grievance procedures.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that Stewart's dismissal was not automatically unfair. She was sent a reasonably detailed statement of the case against her, there was a meeting where she could state her case, and she was told of the decision and given the right to appeal. This was enough to meet the statutory requirements, it said.

It also held that an employer does not have to wait until a disciplinary meeting has finished before it can tell the employee the outcome. One EAT member said that an investigatory hearing should not be found to be a disciplinary hearing, but the other two members disagreed - although they said that this might be relevant for the purposes of the "ordinary" unfair dismissal claim.

YMCA Training v Stewart EAT/0332/06