Employment Law: the Basics

6. Disciplinary Issues

6.1 Make sure you have discipline and grievance procedures in place which conform to the new Acas Code of Practice.

• Basic information on disciplinary and grievance issues must be included in your employees' written terms and conditions.
• Make sure employees know what offences merit disciplinary action, and apply the rules consistently.
• Disciplinary actions should also follow the Acas Code of Practice.

6.2 If you have to dismiss an employee, you may have to prove that you had good cause and acted reasonably.

• Good cause might include persistent or gross misconduct, incompetence or a legal bar on that employee doing that job.
• Inability to do the job because of frequent or prolonged absences due to sickness or injury might be grounds for dismissal.
• Redundancy might also be grounds for dismissal. But the reason must be genuine and the selection fair. Redundancy processes and timescales are carefully prescribed, and it is essential to follow them.

6.3 Unlawful dismissal could land you in front of a tribunal.

• It is illegal to dismiss anyone on grounds of race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy or age. There is no statutory upper limit on the amount of compensation that can be awarded in such cases.
• You can have a normal retirement age (of at least the default retirement age, currently 65) but must consider requests from employees who want to continue work after this age.

6.4 An employee can claim unfair dismissal if he or she has been dismissed for an 'unfair' reason or if unfair procedures are followed. In general, they must have one year's service and be under retirement age.

• If you have breached a fundamental term of the employment contract, or made it impossible for employees to do their job, they can sue for 'constructive' (unfair) dismissal.
• Employees must raise a grievance first and you have 28 days to respond.
• The basic award can be up to £12,000 and compensation for financial loss up to a maximum of £68,400.