Investigate before you decide anything
Before any disciplinary meeting, you need to establish the facts. That means a reasonable investigation: gathering the evidence, speaking to anyone involved, and giving the employee a chance to respond.
Skipping this step is the single most common mistake. Acting on assumption, or deciding the outcome before you have looked into it, is what makes a dismissal unsafe, however justified it feels.
Separate the investigation from the decision. Ideally, different people handle each.
The hearing, and the right to be accompanied
If the matter is serious enough to warrant it, you hold a disciplinary hearing. The employee should know the allegations in advance, see the evidence, and have a proper chance to put their side. They have the legal right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative.
Only after the hearing do you decide on an outcome, which might be no action, a warning, or in serious cases dismissal. Whatever you decide, the employee has the right to appeal.
Tell the employee the allegations and share the evidence before the meeting, not on the day.
Fair reason plus fair process
A fair dismissal needs two things: a fair reason, and a fair process. People lose cases they should have won because they had the reason but skipped the steps, in the right order and documented.
Follow the ACAS Code, keep it proportionate, and write everything down. A fair, recorded process is what makes a fair decision stick.
Before any dismissal, check the process was followed properly. If in doubt, get a second opinion first.
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Key takeaways
- Investigate first, decide second, ideally with different people on each.
- Give the employee the allegations and evidence in advance, and the right to be accompanied and to appeal.
- A fair dismissal needs a fair reason and a fair process. Miss the process and the decision becomes unsafe.
- Unsure if you're on safe ground? Take the free Situation Check before you act.
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