
“Doing great work in a great place to work“
A disciplinary procedure is used by an employer to address an employee’s conduct or performance.
Types of conduct
The types of conduct which may lead to disciplinary action being taken according to the procedures detailed below are as follows:
- Wilful failure to perform the duties of the post.
- Refusal to comply with reasonable requests from the job supervisor.
- Persistent unsatisfactory timekeeping.
- Unauthorised absence from work.
- Incapacity to perform the duties of the post effectively due to drunkenness or unauthorised drug-taking.
- Acts of discrimination against any member of the University community on the grounds of sex (including gender reassignment), marital or parental status, race, ethnic or national origin, colour, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or age.
- Bullying or harassment of any member of the University community.
- Malicious accusations of bullying or harassment against another person.
- Breach of confidentiality.
- Breach of University or departmental safety regulations or rules.
- Breach of other University or departmental regulations or rules.
- Breach of any other conditions of employment.
Disciplinary procedures by staff category
At the University there are different terms and conditions for different staff categories in relation to disciplinary. Links to each procedure can be found here:
Stages
Fact finding should take place to find out what allegedly happened in a fair and balanced way, determining the seriousness of the situation. This will result in a Formal or Informal process depending on the nature of the allegation
If the disciplinary goes through a formal process and there is a formal sanction issued, the employee has the right to appeal the decision.
It is the line manager’s responsibility to initially gather the facts and try to mediate the situation. If support is needed please escalate this to your department’s HR team in the first instance. This will be your department’s HR team/contact or the Business and Operations Manager. They will provide the needed advice and additional support. If necessary the department’s HR team/contact or the Business and Operations Manager will escalate it further to the relevant contact in the Clinical School HR team.
Gross misconduct
Examples of gross misconduct can be found here (please note this is not an exhaustive list).
- Theft or misappropriation of University property, or the property of any member, employee, or visitor to the University.
- Forgery.
- Threatening or using physical violence against any member or employee of the University or any person legitimately present within the University premises, or against University property.
- Wilful refusal to carry out the duties of the post.
- Wilful and serious breach of confidentiality of work.
- Wilful and serious breach of University safety regulations or rules.
- Behaviour resulting from drunkenness or unauthorised drug-taking which endangers the health and safety of the assistant and/or others.
- Serious acts of discrimination against any member of the University community on grounds of sex (including gender reassignment), marital or parental status, race, ethnic or national origin, colour, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or age.
- Serious acts of bullying or harassment of any member of the University community.
- Any other act of serious misconduct.
If you think gross misconduct has taken place, escalate this to the Business and Operations Manager as soon as possible so that the matter can be dealt with promptly.
Further guidance and training
The Clinical School HR Team regularly deliver Management Essentials training sessions, which cover a variety of topics including disciplinary. To view relevant training sessions and to sign up, visit the Management Essentials webpages.