Conducting Fair & Effective Disciplinary Investigation & Hearings

Introduction

Disciplinary processes can be tricky - get them wrong and you risk unfair treatment claims, grievances or legal challenges. Following the Acas Code of Practice: Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures is essential to ensure your process is fair, consistent and legally sound.

This virtual classroom seminar will explore the detail around these steps. It will start by understanding how to plan out a reasonable investigation and some of the issues to consider around witness statements and gathering other evidence.

It will then look at what to do to ensure that the disciplinary meeting is fair and that a fair conclusion is reached. You will explore practical issues such as witness statements, gathering reliable evidence and managing tricky situations during meetings.

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive course will cover the following:

• Investigations
• The requirement to show that the employee did as alleged on the ‘balance of probabilities’
• Identifying appropriate witnesses, taking a witness statement, dealing with reluctant witnesses and addressing requests to be anonymous
• Gathering other evidence and determining whether it is reliable
• Writing an investigation report
• The role of the Investigating Officer
• Letter inviting the employee to the disciplinary meeting
• What to include
• Timing between the letter and the disciplinary meeting
• At the disciplinary meeting
• How to start the meeting
• Questioning techniques
• The role of representatives, what a representative can and cannot do
• Tricky situations that might arise and how to deal with them
• Concluding the meeting
• At the appeal meeting
• How to prepare for an appeal meeting
• Managing the appeal meeting
• Tricky situations that might arise and how to deal with them

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.