Glasgow Business . 41
www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com
“If you fail to follow procedure then, in almost all except the most extreme cases, it’s going to be an unfair dismissal”
starting – if it comes to a tribunal then the court can fine the employer four weeks pay for not issuing this document to the employee. If there is an issue with an
employee’s performance, then an employer should act immediately. Poor performance should be identified and confronted, and a plan worked out between the manager and employee on how to
remediate the situation; either by more training, mentoring or a change of
role, if possible. Te employer must warn
the employee of the possible disciplinary action that will result if performance is not improved. Where a misconduct complaint is raised against an employee by another employee or manager, then the employee in question must get the chance to put their side of the story too. It is a statutory right to allow the
discrimination case. Despite all its apparent
complexity, Donald Mackinnon, Director of Legal Services at Law at Work, said that employers ought not to be too fearful of employment law as it is prety straightforward provided they deal fairly with their employees... and have everything in writing. Donald explained: “One of
the common issues I come across is the false assumption from employers that, if they don’t have anything in writing, they can arbitrarily change the working conditions of their employees, such as overtime rates, bonus payments, sick pay – but this is a myth. “Te law says you should issue
employees with a clear writen statement of their terms and conditions. Employers should want as litle ambiguity as possible as an employment tribunal will generally side with the employee if
there is any doubt.” In addition to having
water-tight contracts, Donald said it is also essential to have robust policies in place, such as a disciplinary procedure, and, ideally, these should be fully explained in a staff handbook. He added: “A lot of dismissal
cases are found to be unfair in Employment Tribunals simply for procedural reasons, such as an employer that forgot to give a right of appeal or reached a dismissal decision without holding a hearing. “If you fail to follow
procedure then, in almost all except the most extreme cases, it’s going to be an unfair dismissal, and that could cost you money.” Te Employment Rights Act
1996 states that employees should be provided with employment terms and conditions within eight weeks of
“You should issue employees with a clear written statement of their terms and conditions”
employee to be accompanied at a disciplinary hearing, either by a fellow worker or trade union representative – it is vital that you give them this choice. Te misconduct situation must
be thoroughly investigated with multiple witnesses questioned to provide corroborative evidence where possible. A tribunal will want to
be satisfied that “as much investigation into the mater as was reasonable in all the circumstances” was carried out to provide grounds for dismissal. Tese disciplinary proceedings should be carried out as soon as possible and the employer must give the employee the right of appeal when the disciplinary decision has been decided. During the whole process,
writen minutes of each meeting should be taken and the employee should sign off the minutes to
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