20 December 2013

HR MANAGEMENT - The right to be accompanied at disciplinary and grievance hearings: nine things to remember






By Laura Chamberlain





When inviting an employee to a disciplinary or grievance hearing, the employer should inform the worker of his or her statutory right to be accompanied during the following hearing. Employers should ensure that they understand the rules on allowing a companion at such a hearing.
Here we set out nine things you need remember when dealing with a worker’s right to be accompanied:
1. Not every disciplinary or grievance hearing attracts the right to be accompanied
Further articles in this series
2. Worker’s requests to be accompanied must be reasonable
3. You should never pressurise a chosen companion to carry out the role or discourage them from doing so
4. If the companion is unavailable at the time proposed for the disciplinary or grievance meeting, there is a statutory duty to rearrange the meeting within five days
5. The companion should be allowed reasonable paid time-off to carry out the role
6. Make sure you understand what the companion can and can’t do at the hearing
7. You should carefully consider any requests by an employee going through the disciplinary process for additional or legal representation at the hearing
8. If the employee going through the disciplinary or grievance process is disabled, you may need to make reasonable adjustments such as allowing a companion from outside the normal permitted categories
9. There may be consequences if you refuse a worker the right to be accompanied


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