Expert navigation through the disciplinary and grievance procedure to avoid a car crash of a process

Carmen’s dream of becoming a solicitor was under serious threat due to extremely unfair treatment by her employer and the bullying actions of her boss.

She was on a two-year training contract with an accident claims firm when she faced a number of disciplinary allegations, which Carmen was warned could lead to the contract being terminated.

What was most worrying was that Carmen was effectively at the end of the contract and had completed the training, and just needed it to be signed off. Her manager was refusing to do so.

If a training contract is terminated before a trainee qualifies as a solicitor, it puts them in a very difficult situation because it can cause serious problems for the individual in being able to complete the required training.

Worried Carmen, understandably, concerned about her treatment and career contacted our Employee Support Centre for help.

She told our representative she had performed well and the concerns expressed about her performance had come out of the blue.

Carmen had been invited to a disciplinary hearing to face a range of serious allegations, which had been levelled against her by her manager.

In summary the allegations included having a number of cases with no limitation dates, failing to carry out case reviews, not issuing court proceedings in a timely manner, failing to meet Solicitors Regulation Authority principles and bringing the firm into disrepute.

What was surprising, is that although Carmen had been invited to attend a disciplinary hearing she was not provided with any evidence to support the allegations.

In addition, the manager who had apparently investigated the case was going to chair the disciplinary hearing. Carmen had also previously reported being bullied by the same manager, but she was never allowed to explain the bullying and the allegations were dismissed.

Our representative who was rightly troubled about the lack of evidence and conflict of interests in the same manager doing both the disciplinary investigation and hearing, raised his concerns with the employer.

In doing so he requested all of the evidence to support the allegations, pointing out it was a requirement to provide it in accordance with the ACAS Code of Practice, and also requested a different manager to hear the disciplinary case.

The employer said the evidence would be explained at the hearing, and refused to change the chair.

Despite an exchange of email correspondence and our representative making it clear the process was grossly unfair, the firm refused to shift in its stance.

As a result, and on the advice of our representative, Carmen opted to raise a grievance, which was sent to a director.

The grievance alleged she was being treated unjustly, the disciplinary process was unfair and she had been subjected to bullying by her manager and mistreated after previously raising her concerns.

The firm said it would deal with the cases concurrently, hear them both on the same day, and hear the grievance first followed by the disciplinary hearing.

Our representative challenged the approach, pointing out the disciplinary hearing should not go ahead as Carmen had not been provided with any evidence.

The employer said it would hear the grievance and then decide if it was appropriate to proceed with the disciplinary hearing.

Carmen made it clear ahead of the grievance hearing that she wanted to avoid being dismissed and just wanted her training to be signed off, so that she could leave and work elsewhere.

Our representative presented Carmen’s grievance at the hearing and fully explained the allegations of unfair treatment and bullying. The firm agreed to stop the disciplinary process and address the grievance first.

The grievance was rejected. An attempt was then made to arrange and proceed with the disciplinary hearing.

Our representatives are tenacious, and he submitted a grievance appeal on grounds which in summary amounted to the grievance process being unjust and the investigation not being thorough and fair.

He pointed out that as the grievance appeal had been submitted, the grievance process had not been concluded and the disciplinary hearing should be postponed. The employer agreed.

Following our representative’s comprehensive and robust presentation of the grievance appeal, the employer eventually reached a reasonable settlement agreement with Carmen.

Crucially as part of that agreement, Carmen’s training was signed off and she was allowed to leave which she was delighted with.