Disciplinary
Employee misconduct is so nuanced that even seasoned managers and HR professionals may sometimes question what action to take.
Whether you feel completely out of your depth or just want the reassurance of a second opinion, seeking expert support can help you to investigate the problem, determine the severity of the offence, and reach a fair outcome decision after careful consideration of the facts.
Get your FREE consultation
Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.
COVID-19 | FREE expert guidance for employers, including sample policies, template risk assessments and more
How we help
Restore business harmony
From persistent lateness and social media misuse to complex fraud and allegations of sexual harassment, our Employment Law and HR experts can provide much-needed support and expertise through difficult disciplinary matters.
Fair, commercial, pragmatic. We’ll find out what you want to do, help you explore options and risks, and work with you to manage misconduct quickly, effectively and in line with the law.
- Approach situations confidently with unlimited advice from named Employment Law experts
- Ensure matters are dealt with fairly and consistently with a robust disciplinary policy
- Save time with bespoke document drafting and expert-created templates
- Not confident or time-poor? Let us conduct the investigation, hearing and appeal for you
- Protect against claims with our optional, FCA-regulated Legal Expenses Insurance
Related resources
Reduce business exposure, resolve issues quickly
Disciplinary matters are the most common case type we deal with and come with a high potential for claims. Have you followed the correct procedure? Is the sanction fair and reasonable in the circumstances? Is there whistleblowing involved, or perhaps a protected characteristic?
Don’t let disciplinaries drain management time or leave the door open to claims. In addition to unlimited advice line support throughout the process, your dedicated team of legally-qualified advisers will take care of all your documentation, from drafting meeting invites to turning your minutes into a clear, comprehensive outcome letter. Complete peace of mind in stressful situations.
Popular FAQs
How can you assist with documentation?
Your dedicated WorkNest team will utilise their Employment Law expertise and in-depth understanding of your business to help you to craft any correspondence you might need throughout the disciplinary process. We’ll ensure that meeting invites contain all the necessary information, help you to construct carefully-worded outcome letters explaining how you have arrived at your decision and why this warrants a particular course of action, and everything in between
Can you offer on-site support with investigations and hearings?
Yes. If you’re not confident tackling the situation alone, we can provide on-site HR Consultancy support with disciplinary investigations, hearings and appeals. We can conduct the meetings for you or, if you prefer, attend them with you to offer professional, experienced support. We can also provide similar assistance with employee grievances.
I want to be able to evidence the steps we have taken.
Through myWorkNest, you can access a full case history, including attendance notes and correspondence with your adviser. Not only will this help you to demonstrate that you followed a fair procedure, but you can also refer back to written advice and call recordings at a later date should you encounter a similar scenario or need to demonstrate compliance.
Will you stop us from taking action against employees, even when we feel we need to?
Some providers’ self-insurance models can result in overly restrictive advice. At WorkNest, our Legal Expenses Insurance is independent, and our advice is genuinely commercial; we will help you to achieve your preferred outcome whilst being mindful of potential legal risks. Dismissing an employee during their probationary period, for example, is fairly low-risk, and provided this wouldn’t constitute automatically unfair dismissal, we won’t prevent you from making these basic employment decisions.
What is formal disciplinary action?
Formal disciplinary action is any sanction that follows a formal disciplinary meeting. It could be a first written warning, a final written warning or dismissal. A sanction should only be issued following a formal disciplinary process, which will usually involve an investigation, an invite to a meeting, the meeting itself, then a letter confirming the outcome.
Can employees resign during a disciplinary?
Yes. Employees resigning during the disciplinary process is a fairly common tactic adopted by someone facing serious allegations. Resignation is a unilateral act, and employers cannot choose to accept or reject the resignation. If someone resigns with immediate effect, their employment ends straightaway. If they resign with notice, then it may be that you can conclude the disciplinary process before the notice period ends.
What are the steps in the disciplinary process?
Generally speaking, it is investigation, meeting, outcome, appeal. How long each step takes, and the exact process involved, will often depend on the seriousness or complexity of the allegations.
What is the role of a companion at a disciplinary hearing?
A companion in a disciplinary hearing can take notes and can make representations on behalf of the employee. Beyond that, their role is pretty limited. What they cannot do is answer any questions posed directly to the employee.
Who can employees take into a disciplinary hearing?
A union representative or a work colleague. Employees are not permitted to take friends or family members into a disciplinary hearing unless they are also colleagues and/or union representatives.
Can you sack staff at a disciplinary?
Yes, provided that the letter inviting the employee to the disciplinary hearing makes it clear that is one possible outcome.
Explore our fixed-fee Employment Law support
Advice Line
Fast, pragmatic, commercial. Our Employment Law & HR advice line gives you and your managers access to truly unlimited advice on all of your people-related challenges, from the seemingly straightforward to the most complex.What sorts of things can you advise on?
HR matters come with the territory when you run a business or manage an organisation and we’re here to help you through it all. Whether you’re battling absenteeism, struggling to manage an underperforming employee or need help navigating a complicated exercise like redundancy, we can walk you through the steps required to handle the situation appropriately.
Is everything dealt with through one team?
Yes. All of our advisers are qualified legal professionals or on the road to formal qualification, which means a full range of employee issues can be dealt with within your dedicated three-person team. In the event that you’re presented with an Employment Tribunal claim, we will conduct a full handover to our Litigation Team so that they are well equipped to defend you.
Find out moreContracts and Handbooks
Whether you have nothing in place or just need an expert review, our Employment Law specialists can carefully craft your employment contracts and employee handbooks to guarantee compliance and provide the flexibility you need as an employer.What are the risks of not having the right contracts in place?
Failing to provide an employee with a contract could lead to additional compensation being awarded to an employee who successfully makes another sort of claim against their employer. In addition, a number of practical problems could be caused by having incorrect contracts, such as paying too little (or too much) notice, getting holiday entitlement wrong and failing to protect legitimate business interests in the face of an employee leaving for a competitor.
How often do HR policies need to be reviewed?
Whenever there are changes to UK employment legislation, such as the recent changes to bereavement leave or the Good Work Plan, it’s important to make sure your contracts, handbooks and policies are updated accordingly. We can take the pressure off by alerting you to any such changes and helping you to implement them in your documentation and practices.
Find out moreDrafting Letters and Documents
From the most straightforward warning for poor attendance to complex grievance outcome letters and everything in between, our Employment Law solicitors can draft all your employment documents to save you valuable time and stress.What sorts of documents can you draft?
Just about anything and everything you might need during the employment relationship. All of our advisers are qualified legal professionals or on the road to formal qualification, which means we can support you with a full spectrum of advice and documentation, from first written warnings to new contractual clauses, to a policy you might not have in your handbook, plus more complex legal documents like settlement agreements and redundancy outcome letters.
I’ve got a HR team and just want templates we can use. Do you have a resources bank?
Yes, our fixed-fee Employment Law and HR support includes full access to our Knowledge Hub, available through myWorkNest, which contains most of the templates we work from. If you have an internal HR team, you may prefer to access these and tailor them yourselves. However, for more complex cases, we would always suggest engaging with our legal advisers as it can be all too easy to word something in a way that leaves you exposed.
Find out moreeLearning
Tired of classroom training, or unable to take time out? Raise awareness of best-practice around workplace issues and prevent HR headaches with our flexible, cost-effective eLearning courses.
What types of courses are available?
Our ever-growing library of eLearning courses currently covers over 100 topics, including HR courses such as Equality & Diversity, Sexual Harassment and Social Media Use; soft skills courses such as Communication, Leadership and Change Management; and compliance courses such GDPR, Anti-Money Laundering and the Bribery Act. We also offer an extensive range of Health & Safety courses, including Accident Reporting, Risk Assessment and First Aid. Download the full course catalogue.
How much do the courses cost?
All of our eLearning courses are free for the first year when you purchase our Employment Law & HR or Health & Safety managed service. This means you’re not paying per head or per course, which not only keeps down but gives you complete cost certainty over your training expenses. This is particularly handy if your workforce is growing, as you won’t need to purchase extra licenses, giving you exceptional value for money.
Legal Expenses Insurance
An optional component of our Employment Law and HR support, by underpinning our advice with Legal Expenses Insurance (LEI), you have maximum reassurance that your business is protected against unfair dismissal and other costly employee claims.
I’ve never had a claim before – why would I need to take LEI?
For the same reason you take out any insurance policy – to guard against the high cost of defending an Employment Tribunal claim. The premium cost is very low compared to the potential payout, especially as it covers the cost of representation as well as any potential compensation. You don’t have to have LEI, but it could significantly impact your bottom line if something goes wrong, given that the cost of even the most basic unfair dismissal claim could be £20-25,000 when legal costs are factored in. Unfortunately, the latest Tribunal statistics suggest that employers now are more vulnerable than ever.
Can you deal with Employment Tribunal claims, or is this triaged outside of WorkNest?
Should you receive a claim, your dedicated Employment Law adviser, who will have dealt with the matter up until that point, will conduct a full handover to our Litigation Team. They will explain the case history, share all the relevant documentation and offer their views on the prospects of the claim. Our Litigation Team will then take over all the prep work, including drafting a defence, producing bundles, dealing with Acas and the other side, and briefing counsel. Rest assured this is a smooth process, with everything kept inside WorkNest, and you will be in safe hands throughout.
Management Information
Discipline, performance, absenteeism. We’ll show you exactly where your dedicated Employment Law advisers are spending their time so that you can target key problem areas for more productive, high-performing teams. Recommended for large organisations with high case volumes.What detail does the MI provide?
The report will highlight what sorts of issues we are advising on and who/where in your business those questions are coming from. That way, we can easily spot problem areas, bring them to your attention and recommend steps to address the issues.
What sorts of recommendations do you typically provide?
We will provide practical and pragmatic recommendations to address whatever common problems are arising. The exact nature will depend on the sort of issues but could include training of managers in certain areas or the production of additional guidance and documentation to guide them through tricky subjects.
Find out moremyWorkNest
From document templates to HR Software, myWorkNest gives you all the tools you need to manage even the trickiest employee issues, improve efficiencies and get the answers you need, fast.
What sorts of issues can I find guides and templates on?
We have hundreds of guidance notes and accompanying templates covering a full spectrum of employment-related issues, including Maternity, Pay, Flexible Working, Holidays, Performance and Redundancy. All of these resources are created by our experts, and if you require further support or have any questions, you can contact your dedicated team of advisers for practical advice and guidance.
What does the HR Software do?
There can be a great deal of administration involved in managing employees, and the burden only increases as your business grows. If filing cabinets of employee information is no longer cutting it, our HR Software will help to automate your processes, save valuable time and manage HR tasks at the touch of a button. Use it to store and organise employee data and essential documents; manage and report on holidays, absence, timesheets and rostering; stay on top of employee reviews; maintain a comprehensive employee directory, and keep a record of training and development.
Why choose us?
Experts in Employment Law & HR
We have the expertise to help you simplify complex health and safety legislation, find workable solutions to health and safety challenges, and protect your organisation from the rising cost of non-compliance.
- Approved by a Primary Authority
- Dedicated specialists with recognised qualifications
- Genuine hands-on experience of managing risk
- Cost certainty with our unlimited, fixed-fee model
- The confidence to act as one of your competent persons
Who you’ll be working with
Angela Carter
Director of Legal Services
Toyah Marshall
Head of Team
Toyah Marshall
Principal Employment Law Adviser
Client stories
“
Gus Hosein
Executive Director, Privacy International
“
WorkNest supports our 280 staff members with Employment Law and Health & Safety and has provided quality management training too.”
Lisa Best
Head of Service Delivery, Catalyst Choice
“
We get a great deal of comfort and satisfaction knowing that we have support as and when we need it, in a decisive and responsive way.”
Richard Berry
Group HR Director, Culina Group
“
We moved our legal support to WorkNest (formerly Law at Work) having previously used a time and line law firm. It was important, though, that an all-inclusive fee structure did not come at the expense of quality. Thankfully we’ve been delighted with the service we’ve received from WorkNest.”
Chief Executive
Waverley Care
“
What we recognised in WorkNest is the background that they have. They are able to supply knowledge and experience in a number of disciplines, which enables us to develop our business in a way that’s safe, to do it on time and with a quality to it.”
Debbie Rainbow
Director of Human Resources and Health & Safety,
Bluestone National Park Resort
“
Celia McKeon
Chief Executive, The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT)
“
As the company started to get larger, we knew we had to protect our employees and our contractors both onsite and in the offices. WorkNest is exactly what we needed to move the company forward.”
Joanne Beaver
Operations Director, Beaverfit
“
Pineapple have worked with the team at WorkNest (formerly Law at Work) since 2003, and we have built a trusted partnership together. We particularly like WorkNest’s concise and practical advice concerning employment law/HR issues and also appreciate their totally supportive approach in all areas of health and safety.”
General Manager
Pineapple Dance Studios
“
I’ve taken WorkNest into every organisation that I’ve worked with. I’ve introduced them to many teams and many colleagues and referred them with absolute pleasure because I genuinely trust in the service that we get.”
People Director, The Works
Latest news and insights
Fair and unfair dismissals
BLOG Written on 4 January 2023 When it comes to dismissing an employee, there are right and wrong ways to go about it. Get it wrong, and you could find yourself in an Employment Tribunal. With the average award for unfair dismissal sitting at £10,812, missteps can be costly. It’s therefore essential that employers understand what a fair dismissal process looks like, what might constitute unfair dismissal, and what dismissals are considered automatically unfair. What is a fair dismissal?
Managing employees | Are you approaching conflict wrong?
It’s an aspect of the job most would hope to avoid, but when you’re in charge of a team, managing conflict comes with the territory. With a mixture of personalities forced to work in close proximity day in day out, there are bound to be times when individuals don’t see eye to eye. Personality clashes, set ideas about how things should be done and competing goals are common catalysts for conflict, as is employees shirking ownership for tasks, acting in
Dealing with no shows to disciplinary meetings
BLOG Imagine the situation. You have invited an employee to a disciplinary meeting. You have informed them of the date, time and place of the meeting and given them sufficient information about the alleged misconduct and possible consequences. You have also given them copies of the evidence that will be discussed in the meeting and informed them of their right to be accompanied by a fellow colleague or a trade union representative. You have done everything right, but for some
