A colleague and friend has just been through a disciplinary process, resulting in a written warning. Believing that this would be the end of the matter, he accepted it and moved on, despite being aware that I didn't think the disciplinary process was followed correctly. Today he was told that he will have to move to a different store, and effectively be demoted (we are the biggest in our area).

I don't think the process was followed correctly as he has

A) Never seen the original grievance or been given a copy of it

B) Has never seen or been given copies of any witness statements collected

Now it would seem that he is effectively being sanctioned twice for the same offence. Had he known that he would be likely to be moved, he would have appealed the original decision and lodged a grievance of his own, but he somewhat foolishly decided to get on with life and move on, so it is now too late to appeal the decision.

The ACAS Code of Practice for Disciplinary Processes do state that

"It would normally be
appropriate to provide copies of any written evidence, which may include
any witness statements, with the notification."

I cannot think of any reason why it wouldn't be appropriate fro copies to have been given to him.



Will he have any chance of resisting this move, due to the process apparently not being followed correctly?

Not his rep, no. We do have procedures, but are out of time to appeal. However, due to the circumstances of the original disciplinary, I think he should be able to do something.

As I said, he is a colleague, and friend, who I think is about to be screwed over and he hasn't been given chance to adequately defend himself.

Thanks for the reply.

I didnt mention that several people the defence considered to be key witnesses were not interviewed at all, and when the disciplinary was carried out a witness statement was alluded to that my friend had no knowledge of at all.

In view of the failure to adhere to the ACAS guidelines, will he have a form of appeal, even if it is technically out of time?

(I know that railing against an employer isn't the PH way, but what is happening isn't right IMO!)

They are linked, it's a follow on from the original grievance. The person that took out the grievance has stated they can no longer work with my colleague.

Sounds about right!

The other person involved is off with stress, and as such is being handled with kid gloves.

Need some facts please:

What grievance? Was there a grievance hearing that led to a disciplinary hearing?
Was any mention made of demotion in the disciplinary hearing?
Does your colleague have a copy of the minutes of the disciplinary hearing?
What was the date of the hearing?

Your colleague needs to raise his own formal grievance in connection with the demotion. Treat this as a seperate entity to the discipline. He is allowed to be accompanied in the grievance hearing, make sure he gets someone in with him that has a good understanding of the process. He should involve the union if he is in it.

If all the above is correct then process has not been followed and the disciplinary is invalid and therefore so is any expiration of appeal time. Get a union rep involved immediately.

I guess it would depend on if the failure prevented a fair hearing or not? In this case I know it did.

To hell with that!

Was there any bum touching?????? Did he get naked????? Was there any inappropriate memory stick insertion????