Staff Disciplinary and Dismissal Procedure
Introduction
1. Flexibility
The College will follow a fair procedure in the event that disciplinary action is necessary. There may be occasions when the College considers it appropriate to change or omit parts of this procedure.
2. Amendments
If the College amends the procedure from time to time, you will be given advance notice of the amendments.
3. Capability
This procedure does not apply to incompetence, incapability or other poor performance unless this is attributable to misconduct.
The investigation stage
4. Investigation
As a first step any disciplinary issue will be investigated. If, after investigating the matter, it appears that there are no reasonable grounds for concern, you will be informed of this in writing and, if relevant, allowed to return to work as normal.
5. Suspension
If the matter to be investigated is thought at any stage of the investigation to involve gross misconduct or it is in the interests of the College, a pupil, an employee or you, the Director of Studies may immediately suspend you from work on full pay and benefits whilst the investigation proceeds.
6. Separation of roles
The College will appoint a senior member of staff to carry out the investigation (the Investigating Officer).
7. Interview
As part of the investigation the Investigating Officer may (if considered appropriate) undertake an interview with you. First of all, you will be advised of the nature of the complaint. Then you will be given the opportunity to explain and/or respond to the complaint and submit any relevant documents. You will be given access to any relevant information and papers held by the College. There may be further interviews if necessary to complete the investigation.
The disciplinary stage
8. Next stage
If on completion of the investigation the Investigating Officer considers that it is necessary to take formal action in respect of the complaint, a disciplinary hearing before the Disciplinary Panel will be arranged and you will be invited to attend. You must take all reasonable steps to attend the disciplinary hearing.
9. Information
You will be given advance reasonable notice of the timing and the location of the hearing. You will be informed in writing of the purpose of the hearing and the allegations against you. You will be provided with a copy of any documents which may be referred to at the Disciplinary Hearing and invited to submit any relevant documents. You will be given a reasonable opportunity to consider your response to this information. If your dismissal is a possible outcome of the hearing, you will be informed of this possibility in advance.
10. Right to be accompanied
You may be accompanied to the disciplinary hearing by a colleague or trade union official.
11. Witnesses
You may ask relevant witnesses to attend the disciplinary hearing, provided it is reasonable to do so and you give the College sufficient advance notice to arrange their attendance. You will be given the opportunity to respond to any information given by a witness. However, you will not normally be permitted to cross-examine witnesses unless, in exceptional circumstances, the Disciplinary Panel decides a fair hearing could not be held otherwise.
12. Witness statements
If statements have been obtained from witnesses during the course of the investigation you will be given a copy of them. In certain circumstances it may be necessary to preserve the anonymity of a witness.
13. Disciplinary Panel
The College will appoint a Disciplinary Panel to hear the matter. In appropriate circumstances, the Director of Studies or another person may hear the matter on his own. The Investigating Officer shall not be a member of the Disciplinary Panel.
14. The disciplinary hearing
The hearing will be conducted by the Disciplinary Panel. The Investigating Officer will be asked to report on their investigation. Both you, or the person accompanying you, and the Disciplinary Panel may question the Investigating Officer and any witnesses. You will be entitled to give your explanation and may be questioned by the Investigating Officer as well as by the Disciplinary Panel. You or the person accompanying you and the Investigating Officer will be given the opportunity to address the Disciplinary Panel. The person accompanying you will not be permitted to respond to questions which are addressed to you.
15. Adjournment
The Disciplinary Panel may adjourn the proceedings at any stage if this appears necessary or desirable. You may request an adjournment if you need to consult the person accompanying you. If adjourning for the purpose of enabling further information to be obtained, the Disciplinary Panel will specify the nature of that information. Any adjournment will normally be for a specified period of time.
16. Decision making
On completion of the hearing, the Disciplinary Panel will retire to consider the decision. Neither you, the person accompanying you nor the Investigating Officer will be allowed to take part in nor be present during the Disciplinary Panel’s deliberations.
17. Communication of decision
The decision of the Disciplinary Panel will be communicated to you in writing as soon as reasonably practicable. If the complaint is upheld you will be informed of the action to be taken and your right of appeal.
Disciplinary action
18. Sanctions
Depending upon the nature of any misconduct found to have been committed, any explanation given by you and any mitigating circumstances, the Disciplinary Panel may impose any of the following sanctions:
19. Currency of warnings
A written warning will be recorded on your file for a period of 12 months from the date the warning is given. A final written warning will be recorded on your file for a period of 24 months from the date the warning is given.
20. Gross misconduct
Where there has been gross misconduct the Disciplinary Panel may impose dismissal without notice. Examples of what the College considers to be gross misconduct are set out in the Disciplinary Rules section of this Staff Handbook.
Appeal
21. Right of appeal
You have the right to appeal to an Appeal Panel against any decision made by the Disciplinary Panel if you are dissatisfied with it. Such a right of appeal must be exercised in writing and sent to the Director of Studies within five working days of your being notified of the decision giving full details of why you wish to appeal. The Appeal Panel will arrange a review hearing or a re-hearing to take place as soon as reasonably practicable. You will be informed in advance of its timing and location.
22. Appeal Panel
The Appeal Panel shall not include any member of the Disciplinary Panel nor the Investigatory Officer and may comprise one or more persons. As far as reasonably practicable the person chairing the Appeal Panel will be someone holding a more senior position than the person chairing the Disciplinary Panel.
23. Appeal procedure
The procedure at the appeal hearing shall be the same as that for the disciplinary hearing save that there will be no right of appeal from the decision of the Appeal Panel. You must take all reasonable steps to attend the appeal hearing. The Appeal Panel will be entitled to reach a different conclusion and impose a different sanction (although not greater) than that imposed by the Disciplinary Panel. You will be informed of the Appeal Panel’s decision in writing as soon as reasonably practicable.
24. Right to be accompanied
You may be accompanied to the appeal hearing by a colleague or trade union official.
25. Employment status
If an appeal is made against a dismissal decision, that dismissal decision will have immediate effect so that, if the dismissal is by notice, the period of notice will have begun at the date given in the dismissal decision. If summary dismissal without notice has been imposed, you will not be entitled to be paid for the period between that decision and the decision of your appeal unless you have been reinstated on appeal. If having been dismissed you are reinstated on appeal, your continuity of employment will be unaffected.