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Managing suspensions

Employee suspension is a serious measure used to protect workplace safety or ensure a fair and objective investigation. It carries a high justification threshold and should only ever be used as a last resort.

In accordance with the following advice from MBIE:

An employer can only suspend an employee in limited circumstances, which include:

  • where an employee’s behaviour is under disciplinary investigation and having them at work may compromise the investigation or cause further issues, for example, if the employee is suspected of fraud, they may need to be removed to protect the workplace during the investigation.
  • where the employee poses a risk to health and safety, for example, if the employee works in a safety-sensitive area and is under the influence of drugs/alcohol or is not in a fit emotional state to do their job safely.
  • where the employee's continued presence in the workplace would cause serious damage to the employer's business interests or relationships, for example, where the employee has access to sensitive commercial information or key client relationships that could be misused.

We recommend including a suspension clause in the employment agreement; ideally the clause should specify that any suspension will be on full pay. While suspension without a clause is possible in some situations, it is more difficult to justify.

A suspension is a drastic measure that should not be lightly undertaken. It should not be used as a disciplinary tool - the length of the suspension should reflect the time needed to conduct the investigation or the time needed to reduce the health and safety risk, so the employer should not let it drag on.

When suspending an employee, it should always be proposed and presented to the employee for their feedback. It also should always be paid time off, while the matter is investigated thoroughly.

We always recommend contacting the MyHR team before suspending any employee — we can help you follow the correct process and ensure the employee is notified in writing of the suspension, the reasons for it, and their right to seek independent advice. This helps protect you from claims that the suspension was carried out incorrectly or was unjustified.