one manager is not enough

In the recent case of Masterfoods v Wilson it was decided by the Employment Appeals Tribunal that, within an organisation with substantial human resources and management personnel, there was no reason for the same personnel manager to be involved at each of the four levels of the disciplinary procedure.

he Claimant in this case had been on substantial sick leave due to an elbow injury which prevented him from carrying out his job as a technical operator. He was called into work to attend a meeting to consider a review of his health condition. At the meeting he was informed by a personnel manager that he had been seen driving to France and that he would be suspended without pay until a disciplinary meeting had taken place. The disciplinary meeting was held by the personnel manager who informed him that he would be recommended for dismissal. The matter was then passed on to a disciplinary panel (which included the personnel manager) to consider the recommendation. The personnel manager subsequently wrote to the Claimant stating that the decision had been upheld.

The Company’s disciplinary procedure allowed for an appeal on condition that grounds for the appeal were provided within 5 days of receipt of the original outcome. The grounds for appeal were supplied late and the personnel manager therefore wrote to the Claimant stating that his appeal would not be heard as a result. Both the Tribunal and the EAT found that this was an automatically unfair dismissal as it was a failure to comply with the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedure. Asking for grounds of an appeal was an additional requirement placed by the company, beyond the statutory procedures, and, whilst it is acceptable for the company to provide further safeguards to supplement the procedures, they could not be in contrast to the statutory requirements.

Furthermore, the personnel manager was too closely involved with the process having conducted the investigation, presided over the the meeting, taken the decision to dismiss and then advised others throughout the final stages. This made the decision unfair in this particular case, although the Tribunal recognised that there would be situations where the involvement of one individual to such an extent would be acceptable.

Protecting your business – how this affects you.

This decision highlights two key procedural elements employers must follow when dealing with disciplinary procedures. Firstly, that the statutory procedures should be followed and internal procedures should not contrast with the rights of employees under the procedures. Secondly, that, only when unavoidable, should a particular person be involved in more than one stage of the disciplinary process. The larger the organisation and the greater the management resources it has, the less acceptable it is for one person to have continuing involvement in the process.