These apply to all employers.
Small employers are no longer exempt.
The following minimum standards are introduced by The Employment Act 2002:
An employer must set out in writing the reasons for the alleged misconduct.
The employee must be invited to attend a disciplinary meeting.
After the meeting, the employer must inform the employee in writing of the decision.
The employee can appeal.
Failure to follow the standard procedure will amount to unfair dismissal unless the employer can show that the failure to follow the procedure would have made no difference to the outcome. An Employment Tribunal can make a punitive award of an increase in compensation of 10% for failure to comply with the standard procedure, (and this can go up to as much as 50%). A Tribunal can also award up to four weeks pay for the period of time it would have taken to have gone through the disciplinary procedure.
Employers can have their own contractual disciplinary and grievance procedures as long as these are not less than the minimum standards set out by the Act.
