Managing Problems

You can’t always prevent problems so, should they arise,  you will need a means of handling them effectively to minimise their impact. Managing people is always a challenge but operating a business with clear lines of communication and the consistent application of fair procedures will do much to help.

It is now a legal requirement for every employer to have written grievance and disciplinary procedures and these must comply with the Dispute Resolution Regulations 2005. The procedures must also be implemented fairly by the employer. Borneos can provide written procedures and/or assist employers in implementing them.

In many cases, if working relationships are strong many problems can be resolved amicably and quickly with informal discussions without the need to revert to formal procedures. There are occasions however when grievances are too complex and appropriate procedures should be implemented and recorded for the sake of all concerned.

Grievance Procedures

 If an employee complains, there are normally three steps involved in the statutory grievance procedures:

 

• The employee sets out the grievance in writing.
  
  
• The employer arranges a meeting with the employee to discuss the grievance in detail (having been given the opportunity to be accompanied to the meeting by a colleague or trade union representative).
  
  
• Once all the facts are gathered by the employer, which may be at the end of the meeting or following further investigation afterwards, the employer must inform the employee of any decision made to deal with the grievance and provide the employee with the right of appeal against the decision.

From a practical perspective, you should be aware of any sensitive or confidential issues which need handling with care, and ensure that full notes are made of all investigations and notes of discussions are taken in any meeting.  We also suggest that all communication is dealt with - or at least confirmed  - in writing, and kept on the relevant personnel file.

Disciplinary Procedures

A disciplinary procedure should aim to be corrective rather than punitive. Dismissal is a last resort. Employees should be aware of what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behaviour before any disciplinary procedure is implemented.

In most circumstances, if an allegation is made against an employee, the employer must first investigate the validity of the allegation. If it is ultimately necessary to implement disciplinary procedures the Dispute Resolution Regulations set out minimum requirements for disciplinary procedures. Again, this would normally be a three step process.

• The employer must write to the employee -
  
  

  • informing him of the intention to start the disciplinary procedure and inviting the employee to a meeting,
    
    
  • setting out in writing all reasons for implementing the disciplinary procedure and providing the employee with all information about any allegations made, so that he has the opportunity to prepare for a meeting to answer the allegations,
    
    
  • giving the employee the opportunity to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative.
    
    
• The meeting itself should take place before any disciplinary sanctions are imposed.  If you issue a disciplinary warning first or dismiss an employee (except for irrefutable gross misconduct offences) prior to a meeting, this will be automatically unfair. The employee must have a full opportunity in the meeting to explain their position and put their case to the employer.
  
  
• Once you have fully considered all the issues, including any comments made by the employee, you must inform the employee of the outcome of the disciplinary meeting, whether any disciplinary action is to be taken and if so, details of the action (such as a written warning or dismissal). The employee must be given the opportunity to appeal against any disciplinary decision.
  

Appeal Procedures

Appeal procedures follow a similar pattern. Once an employee has requested an appeal, a meeting should be arranged for a more senior manager - one who has not been involved in the procedures so far - to hear the appeal. The employee must again have the opportunity to be accompanied if he wishes and be given the opportunity to state his case. Once the manager has heard all the facts a decision should be made and the employee informed in writing of that decision.

The above information is provided as a general guideline to the Dispute Resolution Regulations but is not in sufficient detail to be relied upon for these procedures in every case. If, for example, you are dealing with issues of performance and capability, not inappropriate conduct or bad behaviour, then the basic procedures may be similar but the issues concerned will need to be handled differently.

 

 

If you would like to discuss how we might help you, please:

 

• call any of our office numbers listed at the bottom of this page;
• contact one of our specialists direct by clicking on their name below; or
• complete our enquiry form

 

For our current updates on developments in employment law please see our Employment Law Updates page.
Details of our future seminars are on our Seminars page.

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Members of our team specialising in this area:

Rosine Dawson, Andrew Peck, Mark Thompson

Elish McKee