Denied the Right to take my appointed person into disciplinary hearing.

[tronny]

My son recently had a disciplinary hearing and on attending on the day nominated a fellow worker to accompany him in the hearing. He was told by the manager who had initiated the whole procedure that the nominated person wasnt allowed to as he was working he then told my son that another lad who had just arrived for work would be allowed. This was not the person my son wanted to sit in but the choice of the manager. Have his rights been breached as a result of this??

[BeauBrummie]

Short answer is Yes,

 

Did your son continue with the proceedings?

 

Beau

[tronny]

Yes he did. Without any real knowledge of what he was doing he proceeded with it. I recieved a phonecall from his gran who was waiting outside for him and who was in contact with him via text prior to him going into the meeting of this i subsequently told her to advise him not to proceed but it was too late. Is there anything he can do as he intends to appeal the decision.

[foolishgirl]

Your son has a statutory right to be accompanied by a companion/fellow worker at a disciplinary; however he has to make a 'reasonable' request of the employer. That would depend on the individual circumstance eg. was the person he wanted present employed at a site some distance away etc?

 

As your son made the request on the day of the hearing, the employer could claim that the person's presence at his work was essential that day & that he therefore couldn't attend the hearing; had he made the request some days ahead of the hearing, it would probably be considered unreaonable of the employer to refuse it.

 

That said, it would probably have been prudent of the employer to adjourn the hearing until your son's rep. could attend as the refusal may be detrimental to the employer's case if the matter went to an Employment Tribunal.

[tronny]

his investigative hearing was on saturday gone the disciplinary was 10am on monday morning gone so hardly anytime to get the relevant advice or arrange anyone to attend. the person he wanted to take in with him works in the same store so i shouldnt think it unreasonable to allow him to attend the hearing given the time he would have been away from the shop floor.

[BeauBrummie]

I think that any disciplinary action that is taken against your son should be appealed. The employer has to give him the right to appeal within 5 days of taking any action. The appeal to should be to the next level in seniority of management.

 

The appeal should be based on the fact that your son was not given adequate time to prepare for the hearing and take any advice based on the investigative meeting.

 

Beau

[tronny]

Thanks Beau, That is the route i intend to follow and shall prepare a letter for him. the letter he recieved gives seven working days to appeal, as this is a supermarket that trades seven days a week would the working days include weekends or is it normal working days i.e mon to fri excluding weekends??

[BeauBrummie]

Thanks Beau, That is the route i intend to follow and shall prepare a letter for him. the letter he recieved gives seven working days to appeal, as this is a supermarket that trades seven days a week would the working days include weekends or is it normal working days i.e mon to fri excluding weekends??

 

In my experience in HR if I write a letter to someone stating "7 days" I would expect a reply in 7 calender days not working days.

 

Beau

[elche]

Just to clarrify, the employee (your son) had a stat right to request adjournment of the hearing for up to 5 working days in order to arrange representation.

 

The employer should not have continued with the hearing once such request was made.

 

Che

[orfoster]

Have a look on the ACAS website for some further info on what you are entitled to when going into a disciplinary. But yes they haven't done things as they should have here, I would certainly get the comments in writing to the manager/hr amd submit a grievance about how the hearing was conducted.

 

They didn't give him enough time at all to prepare for the hearing and should have at least given him a weeks notice. I don't know if this is law but I have represented at lots of hearings and normally all given at least 7 days notice in writing and are able to set it back if needed and its a reasonable request.