Disciplinary procedures, hearings and appeals

An employee has the right to appeal against the decision you make after the disciplinary hearing. You must tell them that they have this right when you give them written notice of your decision. Give them a deadline, eg 5 working days, to let you know whether or not they want to appeal.

If the employee does appeal, you must try to hold the appeal hearing without unnecessary delay.

Before you hold an appeal hearing, you should make the same preparations that you made before the earlier disciplinary hearing(s).

Holding an appeal hearing

The principles for holding an appeal hearing are generally the same as for the initial disciplinary hearing.

However, at the appeal hearing, you should also consider:

• the reasoning behind the appeal
• any new evidence since the earlier decision

Ideally the person hearing the appeal should be different and more senior than the person who heard the initial hearing.

However, where the person hearing the appeal also heard the first hearing, they should act impartially and make sure they review the original decision carefully.

After the hearing, write to the employee with your decision and the reason for it as soon as possible. If the decision is final, your letter should make this clear.

Dealing with delays to the appeal hearing

You should deal with delays to the appeal hearing in the same way that you deal with delays to earlier disciplinary hearings.

Let the employee know as soon as possible of any delays to the appeal process. If you don't, an industrial tribunal/arbitrator could increase any compensation it awards to the employee. The Labour Relations Agency Arbitration Scheme explained.