Right to be accompanied - Discipline at work

If they make a request to do so employees have a statutory right to be accompanied by a fellow worker or trade union official where they are required or invited by their employer to attend a disciplinary or grievance hearing. The right applies to all 'workers', not just employees. Worker being defined as including all employees, part or full time, casual worker etc but not the genuinely self employed.

Whether a worker has a statutory right to be accompanied at a disciplinary hearing will depend on the nature of the hearing. Employers often choose to deal with disciplinary problems in the first instance by means of an informal interview or counselling session. The statutory right to be accompanied only applies specifically to hearings which could result in a formal warning, suspension without pay, demotion or dismissal. So long as the informal interview or counselling session does not result in a formal warning or some other action it would not generally be good practice for the worker to be accompanied as matters at this informal stage are best resolved directly by the worker and manager concerned.

Equally, employers should not allow an investigation into the facts surrounding a disciplinary case to extend into a disciplinary hearing. If it becomes clear during the course of the informal or investigative interview that formal disciplinary action may be needed then the interview should be terminated and a formal hearing convened at which the worker should be afforded the statutory right to be accompanied.

In certain cases employers will receive a request to be accompanied by a friend or lawyer. Whilst the employer is not obliged to accede to such a request it is often far better to permit such accompaniment to ensure natural justice is seen to be done.