Escalating Warnings & Expired Warnings

[Loki]

ESCALATING WARNINGS AND WARNINGS THAT HAVE EXPIRED

The SYA process regarding escalating warnings:

SYA: 6.3

Escalating warnings - the previous warning has expired

> When issuing a warning for unacceptable attendance at work, it is only
    appropriate to escalate the level of the warning when the last warning has expired if:

    - there have been previous warnings for unacceptable attendance

      and;

    - the individual's previous disciplinary record for non attendance is
      characterised by a series of warnings that have corrected attendance for the 
      warnings 'lifetime' only, and it is clear that poor attendance re occurs shortly
      after the warning expires.

> When considering whether to escalate a level of warning particular care must
    be taken to review any mitigating circumstances and:

    - the length of time the previous warning has been expired (if longer than twelve 
      months this would be seen as unacceptable);

    - the level at which the previous warning was given;

    - the 'lifetime' of that warning;

    - the number of previous warnings on file.

Issuing warnings of the same level

> If it is clear that warnings work for just the period of the live warnings, escalate after
    two warnings of the same level.

> In exceptional cases you may feel it is appropriate to re-issue a warning of the same
    level whilst the warning is still live.This would be where the individual has not had
    time to improve attendance before being absent again (two or three weeks into a
    final written for example). Careful consideration should be given to the length of
    time since the warning was issued the level of the warning and the reason for
    absence.



The Disciplinary process and the stages involved regarding ones conduct:

Partnership Agreement 2.15 - 2.17

Disciplinary Stages

The stages described below would normally be followed in sequence, however if the
offence is sufficiently serious, disciplinary action can be taken at any of the stages. Where more than one disciplinary warning is issued, it may be that they are considered to be linked where they are all matters of conduct or all matters of capability.

This means that the person will not have multiple verbal warnings and instead go from
verbal to first written for unrelated matters, if they are both issues of conduct or both issues of capability.

Where following investigation and discussions there are insufficient grounds for disciplinary action, the case will be dismissed.

Copies of any meeting notes should be given to the individual concerned on request, although in certain circumstances, information may be withheld, e.g. to protect a
witness.

The various disciplinary stages are described in more detail below.

Stage 1 -Verbal Warning

If, despite informal guidance, conduct or performance does not meet the required standard, an employee will normally be given a formal verbal warning.

When this is done, they must have the required improvement and review process clearly explained to them as well as the period of time over which they have to achieve the improvement.

The verbal warning will remain live on the employee's personnel file for a period of eight weeks after which the documentation will be disregarded for disciplinary purposes.

Stage 2 - First Written Warning

If, despite a verbal warning, conduct or performance has not improved or still does not meet the required standard, or if the offence is more serious, an employee will normally receive a first written warning.

When this is done, they must have the required improvement and review process clearly explained to them as well as the period of time over which they have to achieve the improvement.

The first written warning will remain live on the employee's file for a period of thirteen weeks after which the documentation will be disregarded for disciplinary purposes

Stage 3 - Final Written Warning

If there is still no improvement in conduct or performance or the required standard has still not been met, or if an offence is sufficiently serious in itself, an employee will normally receive a final written warning.

When this is done, they must have the required improvement and review process clearly explained to them as well as the period of time over which they have to achieve the improvement.

The final written warning will remain live on the employee's file for a period of twenty six weeks after which the documentation will be disregarded for disciplinary purposes.

Stage 4 - Suspension/Demotion/Dismissal

If there is still no improvement in conduct or performance, or the required standard has still not been met, or if an offence is so serious in itself (i.e. gross misconduct), an employee will normally be dismissed.

In exceptional circumstances, the Manager may instead use demotion or an unpaid disciplinary suspension of no more than five days.

In this instance, they must have the required improvement and assessment process clearly explained to them as well as the period of time over which they have to achieve the improvement.

The unpaid disciplinary suspension will remain live on the employee's file for a period of 52 weeks after which the documentation will be disregarded for disciplinary purposes.

Time Limits for Warnings

There may be circumstances where the misconduct is so serious, for example Dignity at Work issues, that it cannot realistically be disregarded for future reference.

In these circumstances, it is important to see if there is a history of this type of behaviour and it should be made very clear that the final written warning will be retained for future reference.

Any recurrence of this type of incident will lead to dismissal.

Details of Disciplinary Action

On conclusion of a disciplinary procedure, the employee will be given confirmation in
writing of:

- The stage of the disciplinary procedure used.

- The reason for the disciplinary action.

- The required improvements in conduct or performance and a timescale for those
   improvements.

- The next stage of the procedure should the required improvement not happen

- The right of appeal.

In the case of Dismissal/Suspension/Demotion the employee will be advised of the reasons for the action and the exact terms of their dismissal, demotion or disciplinary suspension as applicable.



There has been much discussion on VLH as to whether or not lateness is deemed to be part of the SYA process or simply an issue regarding ones conduct.

Lateness

* Time keeping/lateness do not form part of the SYA process. These are matters of
   conduct (SYA 5.37).

* Lateness is not included in the absence level calculation.
   
* Once all avenues have been exhausted (IE Informal Discussion, Next Steps etc) an
   individual that continues to be late or has a general problem regarding their time
   keeping, are then referred to the Disciplinary process regarding misconduct.

* An individual's attendance history is kept on file. This forms a part of the bigger
   picture, where all relevant information needs to be considered in the Attendance
   Review Investigation Meeting.

* The Disciplinary process regarding SYA is different to that of the Disciplinary process
   regarding ones conduct (Partnership Agreement 2.17).

* To reiterate, poor time keeping/lateness would be dealt with as misconduct.


Related article(s):

SYA (Access to information/files/records)(Mitigating Circumstances)
Informals
Individual Review Level