Disciplinary Meeting

The purpose of a disciplinary meeting is for an employer to give an employee an opportunity to refute or mitigate allegations raised against them before the employer makes a decision as to what to do next — for example issue a warning or terminate the employment relationship for cause. Taking an employment advocate to a disciplinary meeting will significantly increase your chances of having a successful outcome.

It is important that your rights are protected and you are treated fairly during the process — we work to help facilitate this. If you have been called to a disciplinary or investigation meeting at work, contact us immediately.

Disciplinary Meeting Case Form Quick Contact

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What you should expect (minimum standards)

When being invited to attend a disciplinary meeting you should expect:

1. Reasonable notice to attend the disciplinary meeting.
2. Particulars of the allegations and information pertaining to the allegations are provided in advance.
3. The range of options being considered for an outcome is stated. If termination of employment is to be considered, this must be stated.
4. The employer must advise the employee of their right to have a support person, lawyer, or legal representative attend the meeting.

Regardless of whether your employer is following the right steps, you may be facing a pre-determined outcome based on a relationship breakdown with your employer.

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Common mistakes employers make (that create leverage)

Often we find that the issues raised that give rise to the need to attend a disciplinary meeting are based on false allegations with unsupported facts. Sometimes we find that an employer has made a legal error in declaring serious misconduct when an action does not amount to serious misconduct.

Often we see performance concerns addressed by inviting an employee to a disciplinary meeting, but in employment law performance issues are not a disciplinary matter — only misconduct or serious misconduct would warrant imposing disciplinary sanctions. These are just a few common mistakes employers will make where disciplinary meetings are to be held.

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Bottom line

Every situation is different. If you are required to attend a meeting, contact us immediately to discuss your options and — where appropriate — have one of our advocates assist. Where you are motivated to stay employed no matter what, we work on an exclusive hourly rate basis to help achieve your goal. We offer competitive rates.

It is very useful to involve an employment lawyer or employment advocate to help reduce the amount of damage in an employment relationship. Often where termination of employment is likely, we are regularly successful in convincing employers to take alternative steps such as issuing a written warning rather than resorting to dismissal.

If a disciplinary matter results in termination, we may then offer to challenge your unfair dismissal on a no win no fee basis thereafter — provided you have a strong chance of success. When we become involved we are more likely to achieve a higher level of settlement for you. If your employment relationship has broken down, contact us to discuss your options.