Bournemouth Solicitors

BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT LAW GUIDE BOURNEMOUTH

Disciplinary and Dismissal Procedures

Employers are required by law to go through certain disciplinary procedures before dismissing an employee.

Even if you have a fair reason for the dismissal, you may be liable for unfair dismissal if you do not go through the correct procedure.

A fair procedure should, at the very least, include the following :

• You should carry out a reasonable investigation before making a decision
• You should arrange a disciplinary hearing at which the employee is given the opportunity to state their case
• The employee should be notified of the hearing and the reasons for the hearing in writing
• The employee should be given the right to bring a colleague to the hearing
• You should consider other lesser forms of discipline
• You should notify the employee in writing of the termination of employment and the reasons for it.
• The employee should be notified of the right to appeal against the decision.

Employment Tribunal claims on the increase

In the 12 months to 1 April 2010 there were, 236,100 Employment Tribunal claims made representing a  56% rise from the previous year.

Many of the claims made related to working time and unlawful deductions from wages. There were 126,300 claims for unfair dismissal, breach of contract or redundancy representing an increase of 17% from 2008-09 and 62% from 2007-08.

The average awards according to Tribunal statistics were : -

• £9,120 for unfair dismissal;
• £18,584 for race discrimination;
• £19,499 for sex discrimination;
• £52,087 for disability discrimination;
• £4,886 for religious discrimination;
• £20,384 for sexual orientation discrimination; and
• £10,931  for age discrimination.

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