False Charges in Disciplinary Hearing

[BDAY61]

I would be grateful for some much needed advice. My daughter will be subject to a Gross Misconduct Hearing later this week. She is accused of 3 different misdemeanours. When she requests specific information regarding one of the misdemeanours she is refused it. Additionally, and probably even more serious is that the details of one charge are outright wrong. The third accusation is also factually incorrect. This hearing could have a detrimental effect on my daughters livelihood. The details of the case are available to those who carried out the investigation, therefore is it unlawful to charge an individual falsely. This is an extremely serious situation as one of the incorrect charges could be interpreted that my daughter was indirectly responsible for the death of a resident.

Furthermore, specific questions asked by my daughter at the interview and the responses have been omitted from the interview notes. The specific question asked was "How will this affect my career?" The response was "The suspension is neutral. You have done nothing wrong." When the notes from the interview were written up (not full transcript) this is omitted and the accusation "If XXX (my daughter) had been with her when she was walking, or stood next to her to support her when she was turning it is likely that XXX (the resident) would never have fallen". This statement was not said to my daughter at the time; in fact she was told the exact opposite. When we asked for a transcript of the taped interview the HQ have prevaricated and not provided.

I have a feeling that this is a company looking for a scapegoat.

Where does my daughter sit with these false and factually incorrect accusations and what can she do about them?

We have 3 days to prepare.

I will be eternally grateful for any help

[bedlington83]

Re: False Charges in Disciplinary Hearing

I am not an expert and I only hang around here because my wife is currently being scapegoated by her employer. I do know one thing though - the length of time that your daughter has worked there is crucial. How long has she worked there?

[leclerc]

Re: False Charges in Disciplinary Hearing

I would be grateful for some much needed advice. My daughter will be subject to a Gross Misconduct Hearing later this week. She is accused of 3 different misdemeanours. When she requests specific information regarding one of the misdemeanours she is refused it. Additionally, and probably even more serious is that the details of one charge are outright wrong. The third accusation is also factually incorrect. This hearing could have a detrimental effect on my daughters livelihood. The details of the case are available to those who carried out the investigation, therefore is it unlawful to charge an individual falsely. This is an extremely serious situation as one of the incorrect charges could be interpreted that my daughter was indirectly responsible for the death of a resident.

Furthermore, specific questions asked by my daughter at the interview and the responses have been omitted from the interview notes. The specific question asked was "How will this affect my career?" The response was "The suspension is neutral. You have done nothing wrong." When the notes from the interview were written up (not full transcript) this is omitted and the accusation "If XXX (my daughter) had been with her when she was walking, or stood next to her to support her when she was turning it is likely that XXX (the resident) would never have fallen". This statement was not said to my daughter at the time; in fact she was told the exact opposite. When we asked for a transcript of the taped interview the HQ have prevaricated and not provided.

I have a feeling that this is a company looking for a scapegoat.

Where does my daughter sit with these false and factually incorrect accusations and what can she do about them?

We have 3 days to prepare.

I will be eternally grateful for any help

They have to provide her with all the evidence that they are going to use in the disciplinary hearing. Have they provided this?

Furthermore, if she can prove that the allegations are factually untrue then make sure she does. I would urge her NOT to go to the meeting without a representative present, ie union rep or co worker that she trusts.

[Nikolai]

Re: False Charges in Disciplinary Hearing

Agree entirely with the above comments - take a representative to the hearing, that is her right. If there has been a taped interview which has subsequently been written up, she should demand a copy of the tape.
See ACAS website on grievance and disciplinary procedures. She might also take some advice from a union rep, or specialist employment lawyer before the meeting.