Practice areas
EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS UNIT
'The Reasonable Employer' Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures Training for Managers
Almost 50% of all claims at the employment tribunal were for unfair dismissal. Employees complained either that they should not have been dismissed or that their employer did not follow proper procedures before dismissing them. Overwhelming majority of employers that lost did so because they did not carry out reasonable and fair disciplinary and/or grievance procedures.
Although most employers have disciplinary and grievance procedures, their managers are not trained to deal with disciplinary and grievance matters, they shy away from problems, leave things to fester, over-react, and when they do take action, there are no records to back up their action. There is also a wide spread ignorance about the law in this area. Managers are at the frontline when it comes to disciplinary and grievance issues and bad practices and procedures could cost an organization dearly. Employers spend £7,000 on average in legal fees to defend a tribunal claim, even when it is settled, and from 1 February 2007, the compensatory award for unfair dismissal was increased to £60,600. Foundry Chambers training on disciplinary and grievance procedures aims to address the gap between practice and procedures and help organizations to avoid the pitfalls that lead to tribunal claims.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
The course is for all those who are responsible for and involved in implementing the disciplinary and grievance procedures within any organization, either as disciplinary officers, investigating officers or facilitators. Managers, line managers, directors, trustees, heads of teams etc should attend.
IN-HOUSE TRAINING
The course is for half a day and is offered in-house to enable all those involved in the process to attend. We believe that very little is gained by sending the odd manager or 2 on training which usually too general and does not address the particular needs of any organization. Seminars carried out so far have shown us that an integrated training programme is more likely to achieve the desired outcome.
AIMS
The training programme is tailored to each organization’s policies. The focus of the course is on practice and delivery of fair and reasonable disciplinary and grievance procedure and deals with the following areas:
· Why disciplinary and grievance procedures are necessary part of good management
· Interpretation and understanding of provisions in grievance and disciplinary procedures
· Step by step guide on how to deal with disciplinary/grievance issues when they arise
· Matters relevant to each step of the process.
· Typical issues that can arise during disciplinary meetings
· Interaction between disciplinary and grievance process
· Statutory disciplinary and grievance procedures
· Use of Case Studies
OUTCOME
By the end of the course, participants should:
· Be familiar with their organization’s policies,
· Know how to interpret the provisions of their own policies and procedures in line with the law
· Be confident with implementing disciplinary and grievance procedures
· Know how to avoid procedural errors that often land employers in the employment tribunals.
· Know how to carry out investigations and interview witnesses
· Appreciate the importance of record keeping
· Know how to prepare for, structure and carry out disciplinary and grievance meetings and appeals
· Appreciate the implications of the statutory disciplinary and grievance procedures
· Understand the importance of a fair process and the implications of procedural unfairness in tribunals
For comments on the training programme please click here.
We provide training for Trade Union and Law Centres for those who advise and support employees.