How to avoid job loss - Part 4

How can an employee who has done something seriously wrong at work avoid being sacked.

The short answer is of course that it depends on a number of factors, but there are some basic things an employee should do and some things an employee should not do.

The starting point is to understand a bit about the law, but not a lot.

If you have been employed for one year or more then not only must your employer have a good reason to dismiss you, he or she must follow a fair procedure.

Misconduct can be a good reason for dismissal but more of that later.

A fair procedure when it comes to misconduct will be the employers disciplinary procedure. If you are accused of misconduct and you don’t have a copy of the disciplinary procedure, ask for a copy. Make sure you read and understand it. If your employer fails to follow important parts of the procedure your dismissal may well be unfair even if your behaviour was so bad that you deserved to lose your job.

When it comes to misconduct there are various shades of bad behaviour.

In the absence of previous warnings which are still current an employer should not dismiss an employee for misconduct unless it is serious enough to be classified as gross misconduct.

The employer’s disciplinary procedure will normally list examples of gross misconduct. Typically it is things like theft, fighting, being drunk at work, clocking offences and falsification of records.

If you are accused of behaviour which could amount to gross misconduct you must understand that to dismiss you fairly, your employer does not have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that you did it. Your employer simply needs to convince an Employment Tribunal that having carried out a proper investigation, listened to your explanation in a disciplinary hearing, he had a genuine belief in your guilt. This is a much lower test than the criminal burden of proof, beyond all reasonable doubt.

This means if the evidence points to your guilt, denying your involvement and saying things like “you can’t prove it was me” will make your situation worse not better.

If you do something wrong and the evidence points to you, you are better off admitting your guilt and concentrating on explaining openly and honestly why you did what you did. In such a situation honesty may not save your job but you stand a much better chance than denying your involvement which just makes you look like a liar.

If you are required to attend a disciplinary hearing you are allowed to attend with a work colleague or trade union representative. Read any papers sent to you in advance by your employer. Prepare a written response to the allegations. Make sure that this is detailed. If you are guilty of some minor misconduct but not of the main allegations be prepared to admit to the lesser misconduct. At the hearing do not be aggressive, hostile or on the other hand too submissive. Whether you are guilty or innocent be reasonable and present your response to the allegations clearly and logically.

If you think an unfair sanction is imposed on you, appeal using the procedure laid down in the disciplinary procedure.

Published 27/09/2006.