Displinary on Thursday

[pleasehelpthetallguy]

Please help.
I have a disaplinary on thursday. This was over the course of two weeks. I had some personal problems involving my grandad being admitted to hospital, during this time this was hard and i acted out. i was abrubt to collegues, which i did appoliges to. Also i was leaving my seat to help others in the businesses, i did this as the other dept took their time in going out to check on this fault. But according to a witeness statement, i said "the manger would let me" which i did not, and also looking at the witness transcript, they said i allowed witnesses to be interviewed, i do not recall allowing this at all.

They are bring in problems from June 2007 and Jan 2008. These problems have gone straight to an investigation meeting instead of me and my manager actually sitting down and talking about it. This makes me feel bad. I also must admit this makes me very upset when they bring this up.

I do feel i'm being victmised in my job, i feel i'm on the only person who is being as they say "made and example of". This ties into my collegues constatly taking the mickey, and they when i say to my manager and he asks other collegeus, "he does not get bullied" this makes me very very upset and angry.

And like today i was a bit all over as my grandmother went into hospital for a operation, and her heart stopped, which has been very hard on me as i'm very close to my grandmother.

In these circumstances what can i do????????????
I'm getting worrid about what the outcome would be?

I have not receive any written warnings or Final Warnings.

The investigation meetings where not scheduled in an apporiate time i.e my manager would say "come with me a sec", then we would go into an interview. Is this correct? If not what can i use legally to stop him from doing this to me.

I hope someone can get back to me asap.

Regards

TALL GUY

[Sidewinder]

I am not sure that I fully understand teh circumstances of this disciplinary action, but what is clear is that your employer has not and is not following correct procedure for disciplinary action.

You are entitled to written notice of exactly what you are supposed to have done wrong, and thi must be something which is covered by the company's disciplinary code. You must be allowed to have a colleague or Union rep present at any meeting, and you must have the right of appeal against any action which they take following the meeting. If your boss is saying 'have you got a sec' and then the chat turns into a disciplinary hearing, then you should call a halt to the meeting and ask for it to be rearranged at a better time and with your legal rights to written information and the presence of a witness being protected.

If you do not agree with what you are being told at tomorrow's meeting, then you must tell the meeting why, and equally if you are presented with something untrue, then say that it is untrue. If the fact that you were abrupt with other staff is one of the grounds for complaint, then by all means say that you were stressed by what was happening away from work - they must take that into account.

Good luck.

[pleasehelpthetallguy]

Thanks sidewinder.

I have been speak with a collegue and friend in work. She has gone through the investigation notes and believes that the whole issue is completely wrong. My friends also belives that this hearing is going on hearsay and not the actual facts. In some "witness statements" they discribed the words "told off", and in the disclipinary letter they advised "to tell your side of the story", is this the correct manner?

I believe that the HR dept is run by monkeys and they do not know what they are doing.

In these interviews, what are my rights?

Regards

Tall Guy

[chesham]

In any disciplinary issue, you are entitled to be given at least 24 hours notice of any such meeting, and they HAVE to advise you of your rights. Your rights are that you are entitled to have another impartial person present such as a fellow worker or a union official.

The notice which they give you has to contain (legally) information relating as to WHY you are being disciplined and the reasons for it - i.e. what you have done, and why it has resulted in this course of action (i.e. breach of contract, gross misconduct etc). So it amounts that you must be told exactly what you have done which constitutes such severe action. However, going to disciplinary measures without discussion is unusual, but not completely off key.

If "Come with me for a sec" turns into a disciplinary-style meeting, as said above you are entitled to halt it and advise them you do not wish to discuss this matter without the appropriate procedures taking place.

Tomorrow is your chance to have documented your response and everything which is said, which could prove useful in the future. I hope the following comes in useful:

DO keep calm and polite in all your responses
DO explain the circumstances if they help explain your actions
DO tell them why you felt your actions were justified

however!

DON'T show negative emotion such as anger, shouting, raised voices etc
DON'T say anything which admits something you do not believe to be true
DON'T try and make unjustifiable excuses in order to "get off the hook"

More importantly, DON'T STRESS yourself over this matter, it is simply a meeting to discover all the facts and to document everything. I have attended disciplinary matters which seem quite clear cut, until other circumstances have been bought into the room which were unknown at the time, only for the meeting to result in nothing more than a "please refrain from doing it again".

Good luck, and as said above - you can appeal! After tomorrow, I would consider getting in touch with Acas - Acas - How can we help? - who are very good at helping employee's who are confused as to their rights and who have problem employers.

[Sidewinder]

Couldn't have put it better myself!

[pleasehelpthetallguy]

The outcome was a written warning.. Would it be worth appealing?

[Sidewinder]

It all depends whether you think this is fair in the circumstances and whether you have been treated properly. If you believe that you have grounds for an appeal (unfair punishment, breach of procedure, insufficient regard given to mitigating circumstances) then do so - they certainly can't increase the punishment.

How long have they said that the warning will stay on file?

[chesham]

A written warning is not too bad, depending on what the actual grounds for the disciplinary were. By issuing a written warning (as opposed to a final written warning or dismissal) they still want you as an employee and they deem the matter to be dealt with appropriately in this way.

As Sidewinder says, an appeal should only be considered if you feel that the "time doesn't match the crime", i.e. you felt they were unduly harsh or that the person with authority to make the decision was misled into coming to a decision without taking into account certain facts.

Written warnings normally stay on file for 12 months, sometimes less.

Personally, I would not appeal and be content with the outcome and keep my nose clean for a year.

From my professional point of view, I would actually admire someone who appealed against a disciplinary position, depending on what their grounds for appeal are. My position at work is to normally hear appeals, or conduct disciplinary hearings, depending on who it is that has caused trouble. Thankfully, not a frequent occurrence! However, I have not an appeal referred to me which has any basis to it, just that the person felt hard done by and were feeling sorry for themselves!

My advice would be to sit down and consider if you want to appeal, and why you would like to appeal. Get some support and information in order to present a viable case and go for it.