Updated to include information on Talon Engineering Ltd v Smith, concerning the employer's refusal to postpone a disciplinary hearing to allow the employee to be accompanied.
Consultant editor Darren Newman looks at a recent decision highlighting the potential danger in proceeding with a disciplinary hearing where the employee's chosen companion is not available - even where the requested postponement falls outside the period allowed for under the statutory right to be accompanied.
This article looks at local authority discipline and dismissal procedures for senior officers, and the involvement of councillors in other disciplinary action.
In Talon Engineering Ltd v Smith, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that an employer's refusal to postpone a disciplinary hearing for two weeks to allow the employee's union official to accompany her made her dismissal unfair.
In Patel v Folkestone Nursing Home Ltd, the Court of Appeal held that the effect of a contractual right of appeal against dismissal is that a successful appeal revives the contract and extinguishes the original dismissal.