READ: Commencing a disciplinary process
READ: Overview of best practice disciplinary process
Commencing a disciplinary process
Commencing a disciplinary process does not necessarily mean that a warning will be issued; consultation with the employee is required first, no matter what the issue is. This is because with any kind of disciplinary process, employers must have a good reason (substantive justification) and follow the principles of a fair process (procedural fairness) to run a disciplinary process that is both fair and legally robust.
For this reason, the process you undertake to arrive at a warning, is as important as the reason a warning is issued. We cannot stress this enough. You might have a perfectly legitimate reason to give somebody a warning, but if you do not follow the right process the warning may be deemed unfair and therefore invalid. You might be up for compensation payments and legal bills.
When commencing a disciplinary process, these basic requirements must be followed to ensure that procedural fairness is achieved:
- Give advance notice of the response meeting (at least 2 working days)
- Present all the relevant information and advise on the potential outcome you are considering
- Invite the employee to bring a support person or representative to the response meeting
- Genuinely listen to the employee’s response without any predetermination
- Consider all the relevant information before making any final decisions
Overview of best practice disciplinary process
- Notification Meeting – to notify the employee of the allegations against them.
- Response Meeting – to allow the employee to provide a response to the allegations detailed in the notification letter.
- Outcome Meeting – to inform the employee of the outcome of the disciplinary process
It is not uncommon for you to change your mind once you hear from the employee, they may provide a very reasonable explanation for what they did, or they may highlight a problem or mitigating circumstance that was out of their control. You may therefore decide that a warning is not needed or an appropriate outcome.
However, their explanation may not be satisfactory. You do not have to agree with them, and the final decision is still yours to make, so you may decide to issue a warning and potentially implement a performance improvement plan (depending on the circumstances).
For this reason, the process you undertake to arrive at a warning, is as important as the reason a warning is issued.