Advise on a Disciplinary Hearing

[ging84]

Today i received an email sent yesterday letting me know i have to attend a disciplinary hearing tomorrow morning at the company office.
I do not work or live anywhere near the company office, it's about an hour an a half drive, and tonight i will be working till gone midnight so it's not exactly convenient, and tomorrow i am due to have a sofa delivered.

Does anyone know what sort of notice i should be entitled to? Am i entitled to claim expenses for travelling to a disciplinary hearing when it is not where i usually work? Am i entitled to take time off in lieu or be paid for the time i am having to take to travel to and from and attend this hearing?

[Gargamel]

Please don't take this the wrong way.

But you've been asked to attend a Disciplinary, and you are worried about the expenses ?

Mate, get your prioties straight.

You need to find out if what is the nature ofthe complaint, and do you have someone attending with you ?

[ging84]

Gargamel said:

Please don't take this the wrong way.

But you've been asked to attend a Disciplinary, and you are worried about the expenses ?

Mate, get your prioties straight.

You need to find out if what is the nature ofthe complaint, and do you have someone attending with you ?

The nature of the complaint is a completely separate issue, the reason behind it is a bit of a joke, but i don't want to post any details about it

As for having anyone attend with me, i am member of a union, but it was one i joined years ago at a different employer and they have no presence at my current company, so getting representation from them with 24hours notice is unlikely, and i have no co-workers who are not subject to the same disciplinary actions so they would be unlikely to be able to accompany me

[RSoovy4]

ging84 said:

I have to attend a disciplinary hearing tomorrow morning at the company office..........I am due to have a sofa delivered.............

Am i entitled to claim expenses for travelling to a disciplinary hearing when it is not where i usually work?

Am i entitled to take time off in lieu, or be paid for the time i am having to take to travel to and from and attend this hearing?

I would very humbly suggest that you should concentrate on dealing with the possibility of not having a job, rather than putting in an expenses claim, trying to get paid overtime for attending a meeting about your conduct, or putting the matter off to wait for the man from DFS.


I think I might see the issue, here...........

[Engineer1]

Contact HR, contact your Union, depending on the case against you worrying about expenses for travel may be like worrying the life jacket makes you look fat and the water will ruin your clothes.

[Lawbags]

Regardless of the bullst, I'm sure they have to give you more notice than that.
Also, if it's a proper disciplinary hearing, you can be represented by your union.

[Some Gump]

3 counts of entitlement, no sign of caing about the job.

You're not ex-ICI are you?

[edc]

Some people have the other bases covered and only come here to ask questions about areas they are unsure of .....

The company is required to give you reasonable notice. Regardless of whether your union is recognised by your employer you can still request representation. The notice you have been given may not be reasonable if you have little time to arrange this especially if it is not your usual place of work that you will be attending. As for expenses and travel time, this will depend on your company policy. Attendance at the disciplinary is just another part of your normal working day. If you would normally claim for expenses when travelling to another site then do so. If you would normally be entitled to claim for over/travel time for going to this site then do so.

[AmiableChimp]

ging84 said:

The nature of the complaint is a completely separate issue, the reason behind it is a bit of a joke, but i don't want to post any details about it

You've just lost at least half of your readers right there...

[Gargamel]

ging84 said:

Today i received an email sent yesterday letting me know i have to attend a disciplinary hearing tomorrow morning at the company office.
I do not work or live anywhere near the company office, it's about an hour an a half drive, and tonight i will be working till gone midnight so it's not exactly convenient, and tomorrow i am due to have a sofa delivered.

Does anyone know what sort of notice i should be entitled to? Am i entitled to claim expenses for travelling to a disciplinary hearing when it is not where i usually work? Am i entitled to take time off in lieu or be paid for the time i am having to take to travel to and from and attend this hearing?

Delay the sofa delivery, you have other things to do. One phone call - then it is off your mind.

Expenses, if your company normally pay expenses or mileage for business travel then yes, you would be able to claim them (however I would wait a week or two before submitting rather than hand them to the HR guy in the meeting)

Time of lieu ? What? You are company business, not sure about your contract or if you are on some kind of piece work, call out rate. But if your salaried, then no you are not entitled.

You may feel theat the reasons are a joke (now) but it won't be so bloody funny if you end up out of work. I suggest you take this a little more seriously.

The reason to have someone else there, is both to witness the discussion and to help you afterwards, as you have one person who knows exactly what would said. They can take notes, they don't need to be an expert or a union person, it can be any employee.

Good luck, but based only on what you have posted, I reckon this is more serious than you think.

[ging84]

Thank you to those with useful comments

Just to add a few things to clear a few things up
This is happening outside of my working hours, so i will be travelling for 3hours, attending a hearing, then still be expect to do my full hours later on.

And to everyone else the reason i do not care about the job, and am more worried about expenses is i am already being made redundant in a couple of months so have no job to care about

[edc]

Good luck. In my career I can't recall arranging a disciplinary hearing so far out of the normal working day. Indeed, in some cases the HR rep and the person hearing the case will go outside of their normal working times to accomodate the employee. In exceptional circumstances there may be lengthy travel involved eg field based people who live 2 hours from their base office location and in some cases, by agreement, the disciplinary is held off-site at a hotel for example to avoid unnecessary travel.

[Rude-boy]

ging84 said:

Thank you to those with useful comments

Just to add a few things to clear a few things up
This is happening outside of my working hours, so i will be travelling for 3hours, attending a hearing, then still be expect to do my full hours later on.

And to everyone else the reason i do not care about the job, and am more worried about expenses is i am already being made redundant in a couple of months so have no job to care about

You might want to think about your disciplinary record should a future employer ask about you about this and/or your old firm be stupid enough to disclose.

You might think about what might happen to any redundancy payment you might have got in a few months. They might not need to make you redundant...

You honestly don’t come across as taking this seriously, that’s your call, but sure as hell not the one I would be making.

[davek_964]

Rude-boy said:

You might think about what might happen to any redundancy payment you might have got in a few months. They might not need to make you redundant...

+1. If you're entitled to a decent redundancy package, I would be pretty worried about that. If they find a reason to dismiss you, they won't pay it.

[RSoovy4]

ging84 said:

Thank you to those with useful comments

Just to add a few things to clear a few things up
This is happening outside of my working hours, so i will be travelling for 3hours, attending a hearing, then still be expect to do my full hours later on.

And to everyone else the reason i do not care about the job, and am more worried about expenses is i am already being made redundant in a couple of months so have no job to care about

In that case you should care about this. A lot.

If you lose your job through conduct issues (and how you deal with this which on the face of it is by pulling a lemon face and moaning and quoting your rights) then you can kiss you redundancy payment goodbye. The company will love this - saves them money after all.

You need to take this seriously. Really.

Just go to the meeting and do it by book. You'll soon be crying if they sack you and you don't get any redundancy money.

Edited by RSoovy4 on Thursday 29th August 11:34

[JM]

You've not had a new-start at the company shadowing you for a day have you OP?
Maybe one with a TV crew following them as part of some documentary involving someone new to your area and type of work?




hmm

[Odie]

https://www.gov.uk/disciplinary-procedures-and-act...


My advice is keep your gob shut, say as little as possible, if its a 1 on 1 meeting ask for another member of the HR team to attend to take notes/witness what is said, you should also be taking notes, you could record the meeting on your phone without the other persons knowledge as long as you take notes then use the recording to flesh out the minutes you type up.

Stick to the facts, dont accuse someone else and certainly dont vent your spleen.

Edited by Odie on Thursday 29th August 11:48

[Odie]

Gargamel said:

Time of lieu ? What? You are company business, not sure about your contract or if you are on some kind of piece work, call out rate. But if your salaried, then no you are not entitled.

Im on salary and id be entitled to the time back, but I probably wouldnt take all of it.

Id also be entitled to get the fuel money back and have to be supplied with a pool car, my personal car is not for business use.

Is this me being 'entitled'? no its stuff in the company hand book.

[RSoovy4]

Odie said:

Gargamel said:

Time of lieu ? What? You are company business, not sure about your contract or if you are on some kind of piece work, call out rate. But if your salaried, then no you are not entitled.

Im on salary and id be entitled to the time back, but I probably wouldnt take all of it.

Id also be entitled to get the fuel money back and have to be supplied with a pool car, my personal car is not for business use.

Is this me being 'entitled'? no its stuff in the company hand book.

All true, but handing in an expense claim for this sort of thing with a sour faced expression marks you out as a pain in the arse!

[ging84]

RSoovy4 said:

All true, but handing in an expense claim for this sort of thing with a sour faced expression marks you out as a pain in the arse!

To be fair that is exactly why i would be claiming for it, Over the last year to try and help the company with it's troubles i have done a fair amount of travelling unpaid, claiming the minimum amount of expenses to cover it, some times at my own expense as have other people, and i didn't really want to go into details about it but i think you get these sense of how we are now being repaid for our efforts. So my claim would not be out of a sense of entitlement, but as a fk you to the management.