Natural justice states that no-one should act as Accuser, Judge, Jury, and Executioner when deciding the outcome to a particular matter, so why do businesses do this every day?
When an employee acts in a way that requires the company to take action against them, they appoint someone to act as an Investigation Officer. That person may decide the employee must attend a Disciplinary Hearing, which may be held by a different person who decides the outcome to the allegations. The employee might appeal against the sanction and be invited to attend an Appeal Hearing, again held by someone else. They may uphold the decision of the Disciplinary Hearing and, in short, the company has acted as Accuser, Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
Different people may have dealt with different meetings but they are all employed by the same company, they all get paid by the same company, and are all accountable to the company.
This could lead to allegations of bias by the employee, that the company were just ‘going through the motions’ and wanted to get rid of them. This could land the company in an Employment Tribunal facing a claim of Unfair Dismissal.
If correct procedures weren’t followed the company would be told they have to pay an increased award of damages to the Employee.
The company can avoid all of this by instructing HR-Onsite to hold the meetings on their behalf. Whether it’s a Grievance, Disciplinary, Investigation, Capability Hearing, a Redundancy Consultation meeting, long-term sickness absence review, a Flexible Working Request interview, or a Settlement Agreement negotiation, HR-Onsite will deal with the matter for you and provide a detailed report to include recommendations for an outcome to the issue.
HR-Onsite is independent so there’s no allegation of bias, we look at the issues and make findings based on the information provided to us, we provide the company with a detailed report containing our findings and recommendations for an outcome to the matter.
Avoid the stress, anxiety of holding such meetings yourself and prevent allegations that you breach natural justice by allowing HR-Onsite hold meetings on behalf of the company for your peace of mind in the knowledge the matter is being dealt with correctly, professionally, and for the benefit of the business.
Contact us today to resolve your workplace issues tomorrow.
