Employee law and relation
see assignment brief for the format and detailed information on what each section should contain. That is PART ONE AND TWO
Let me know if you need further clarification
2500 words excluding reference.

ASSIGNMENT BRIEF- EMPLOYEE LAW AND RELATION

“HR did not breach disciplinary process by disclosing written warning
But dismissal was unfair as employee was denied the chance to argue his case”
In the case John-Charles v NHS Business Services Authority [2015], the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) had to decide whether a dismissal for gross misconduct was unfair when the employee was not made aware of something that was a key factor in the employer’s disciplinary decision and, therefore, was not able to state his version of the events.
When deciding whether a dismissal is unfair, tribunals must consider whether the employer’s reason for dismissing the employee fell within the ‘range of reasonable responses’.
The employee in the case was employed as an IT network engineer from September 2009. He had a history of failing to follow reasonable management instructions which resulted in a first written warning in January 2013.
In October 2012, it was alleged that he had breached the employer’s IT policies, risked corrupting its systems by using an unauthorised device, and had gone in to an office building against the employer’s instructions. As a result of this, a formal disciplinary hearing was heard in March 2013.The employer told John-Charles that the manager in charge of the disciplinary hearing would not be told about the written warning unless the allegations regarding the 2012 incident were proven.
The disciplinary manager upheld some of the allegations and decided that John-Charles had committed gross misconduct, but did not decide on the sanction. She considered giving the employee a final written warning but became aware of the written warning before making a decision. The HR advisor also told her that giving him a final written warning would actually lead to his dismissal as he already had another warning on file, even though the events involved in the current disciplinary action actually pre-dated those that prompted the first written warning.
The manager in charge of the disciplinary process decided the employee had to be dismissed because he had continually failed to follow reasonable
management instructions. He was dismissed for gross misconduct and brought numerous claims, including one for unfair dismissal.
Employment Tribunal An employment tribunal decided the employee had been dismissed because of his conduct in 2012, and that this was a potentially fair reason. His employer had not acted unreasonably in taking the later written warning into account, so the dismissal was fair. The employee appealed.
Employment Appeal Tribunal The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) allowed the appeal. John-Charles had been unfairly dismissed because he had not been told about the significance of his written warning or been given the opportunity to make representations on what had become a decisive issue during the disciplinary process. This made the dismissal unfair and a ‘breach of the rules of natural justice’.
However, the EAT also held that it was not unreasonable for the employer to take the written warning into account, since it related to his conduct and failure to follow management instructions; it was the fact that he had not been given the opportunity to address it that made the dismissal unfair. The EAT also found that HR’s involvement in bringing the written warning to light had not breached the disciplinary procedure.
Comment Employees must be given the opportunity to argue their case on all factors that may be important in their employer making a disciplinary decision. If something comes to light after a disciplinary hearing, it should be reconvened to ensure employees have the opportunity to defend themselves; otherwise this increases the risk of the dismissal being unfair.
Earlier this year, in the Ramphal case, EAT found that HR’s involvement in a disciplinary process could make a dismissal unfair but this case serves as a useful insight into a tribunal’s approach. It shows there is some leeway in how much involvement HR can have before overstepping the mark.
Source: Paul Maunders, 17 December 2015, CIPD website. http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2015/12/17/hr -did-not-breach-disciplinary-process-by-disclosing-written-warning.aspx (accessed 04/01/16)
Task: Individual task (2000 words)
Managing a fair disciplinary process can be challenging for many organisations, particularly where there is limited access to objective advice for both managers and employees. There needs to be consideration of the role of HR within the process and indeed, support for employees, for example, in small companies and/or where there is no union representation. You are asked to write a report that consists of the following two parts:
Task Part One
Using the ACAS code and other models (for example CIPD guidelines), critically analyse what constitutes good practice relating to the management of disciplinary matters within an organisation. Your answer should include the following:
• The key components of a what should be a fair disciplinary process (you should distinguish the difference between dealing with capability and conduct matters);
• An evaluation of some of the challenges that can be faced in trying to implement disciplinary processes within an organisation;
• Provide examples from case law that have identified good practice principles within the last five years.
(Word limit: 1000 words)
Task Part Two
Following the completion of part one, you should identify and research into a company of your choice (to be agreed with your tutor by week three the latest) and address the following points:
• You should analyse the ways in which the chosen company manages its disciplinary process through its policies, procedures and practices;
• You should consider whether there are any aspects of the disciplinary process that may have any potential tensions with other HR policies and practices, such as their Equal Opportunities or Diversity management policies;
• In light of the news article above, draw conclusions and make relevant recommendations as to what could be done to deal with disciplinary matters more effectively within the company.
In the support of your discussion, you should use with examples, academic quotes and any relevant literature.
(Word limit: 1000 words)
The overall report should be no more than 2000 words long. You do not need to include formal report-style headings, although you may if you wish.

GUIDANCE FOR STUDENTS
Your report layout should be as follows:
The 2000 words report should be in a business report format:
Executive Summary, Introduction, Task/Assignment Discussion, Conclusion Recommendations
The sections comprise of the following:
An Executive summary: An overview of the assignment discussion including recommendations (the word count within the executive summary is exempt from the 2000 word count but should be no more than on 200 words)
Introduction: In the introduction, you should give the legal definition of what constitutes discipline within the workplace and give a brief outline of the legislation that relates this area. You should also identify and give a very brief background of the company which you have researched into for part two of the assignment.
Task/Assignment Discussion: You should divide this section into Part One and Part Two.
In Part One, you will need to:
1. Discuss the key components of a disciplinary process. You should support your answer with reference to the codes of good practice. DO NOT just copy parts of the ACAS code/CIPD guidelines. You MUST discuss why you think these aspects are of importance – which could be ones such as, legal, moral or ethical reasons. For example, is it a key component that employees are give prior sight of documents before a disciplinary hearing and if so, why? What would constititute a reasonable timeframe? Can an employee have the right to cancel a hearing?
2. You will need to analyse and discuss some of the challenges faced when implementing a policy. You may wish to pick up on some of the aspects that you discussed under key components. For example, if it is important that the employee has prior sight of the documents, then it will be challenging if you have witness statements where other co-workers may not wish to be identified. Your discussion should consider not only the organisation’s legal obligations for managing discipline but also its ethical obligations as responsible employer. Consider the implications of the article above and how this can affect a company’s procedures.
3. You should research into contemporary examples of case law (within the last five years) and discuss how these cases may have an impact on the ways in which organisations operate their policies effectively.
In Part Two, you are asked to identify a company into which you will research their discipline policies and procedures. Ideally, this should be a company that you are familiar with – maybe you or someone you know has worked there previously and you can gain access to their policies. The objective is to look at how the company implements its policies and consider how this might be made more effective. You may keep the company anonymous if you wish by calling it “Company X” but please include their policy as an appendices and blank out it’s name. If you do not know of a company that you can use please discuss with your lecturer. REMEMBER: do not cite any name any employees or managers in your discussion and refer to examples generally rather than specific incidents. You should analyse and discuss the following:
• How does the company manage its disciplinary process, for example, how are employees informed of the policy? Who manages the process – HR or line managers? What happens when the process goes wrong? Is there is trade union representation, what is their role? Try to evaluate what the company does in relation to the key components you identified in part one. Consider the article – how do the case law outcomes relate to your company’s procedures?
• Consider and evaluate how the company’s discipline policies and procedures impact on other policies that it may have. Discuss any tensions that may arise between the discipline policy and other operational policies. For example, are there a large number of non-English speaking employees working there and if so, are there implications for conducting hearings where English is not the employee’s first language? What is reasonable for an employer to do/expect when managing a hearing within these circumstances?
Conclusions :You should summarise your analysis with a conclusion In this section you may make general conclusions regarding managing discipline as well as any specific conclusions as a result of your research into the company.
Recommendations: You should ensure that your recommendations relate to future practices for the company and reflect best practice in employment law and the HRM field as a whole.
Your report should be properly referenced using the Harvard referencing format. It should also include a bibliography.
Marking Criteria: Marks Awarded Part one Analysis of best practice for disciplinary management
40
Part two : Discussion and analysis of the chosen company.
40
Conclusion and Recommendations 10
Presentation, Structure and Referencing 10 TOTAL MARKS 100