Discipline - Making recommendations

In deciding whether to recommend that a Disciplinary Meeting should take place, the following should be considered:

• Given the circumstances, has the investigation been reasonably thorough to enable the Investigating Officer to form a balanced view of all the facts.
• Separate hearsay evidence from direct evidence, to determine the strength and quality of the evidence collected.
• Where the allegation/s relates to one person’s word against another - this should not be disregarded because there are no other witnesses to corroborate.  The criterion for proceeding with a Disciplinary Meeting must be reasonable belief supported by the evidence.  This evidence may only be one statement, against the employee’s denial of the allegation. It may be that in some cases allegation/s cannot be approved or disproved and the alleged wrongdoer is given the benefit of the doubt.

9.1.    Access to the investigating officer’s report

If a Disciplinary Meeting is convened the employee will be given copies of the report and witness statements.

Employees should be advised that the Investigating Officer’s report is a confidential document and its contents should not be discussed with others (apart from in the preparation of the employee’s case).

If a Disciplinary Meeting is not convened, the employee will not normally have access to the report or witness statements. 

9.3    Notification to employee

If proceeding to a Disciplinary Meeting the manager must notify the employee of their decision verbally within 2 days of receipt of the Investigating Officer’s report. 

The manager must confirm the date, time and venue of the Disciplinary Meeting in writing within 5 days of receipt of the Investigating Officer’s report, giving the employee a minimum of 10 days notice of the meeting, confirm whether the case is potentially misconduct or gross misconduct, inform the employee of the possible outcomes, enclose relevant paperwork (report, documents, statements) and advise them of their right to be accompanied at the meeting.

If not proceeding to a Disciplinary Meeting the manager must notify the employee of their decision verbally within 2 days of receipt of the Investigating Officer’s report and confirm this in writing within 5 days of receipt of the Investigating Officer’s report, confirming any actions to take place e.g. guidance meeting, consider mediation, etc.