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Engaging with hr
With HR expert Kirsten Cluer
T
he workplace is a complex arena for relationships, especially in the field of social media. So what would you do, as an employer, if you found that one of your employees had posted defamatory comments about you on facebook? It’s a scenario we considered recently at a mock employment tribunal at Bristol Chambers as part of our ongoing training. The employee in the case was claiming unfair and wrongful dismissal after being dismissed for doing just that. Wrongful dismissal and unfair dismissal are two entirely different concepts. A wrongful dismissal is a dismissal in breach of contract, usually where an employee is dismissed without notice or with insufficient notice under the terms of their contract. The right not to be dismissed unfairly, however, is statutory and depends on the employer’s reason for dismissal, if that was reasonable, and whether a fair procedure was followed. In the mock case, the claim of wrongful dismissal was not
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Visit our website upheld to see what our clients but the say about us claim of unfair dismissal was because of the failure to follow a fair procedure. Flaws in the process included using the same person to carry out the investigation and to hear the disciplinary hearing; using the person specifically referred to in the facebook comments to hear the appeal, and not warning the employee before the hearing that one possible outcome could be dismissal without notice. We see this all too often. An employee is caught red-handed and clearly at fault but because the employer hasn’t followed the correct procedure, all of a sudden they are in the firing line. If ever there was case in point for HR intervention it was this. HR support can help you to get the processes right, so that if the worst ever happens and you are taken to an employment tribunal, you can rest assured, knowing that you have followed the correct procedures and have a paper trail to prove it.
If you’d like a free initial consultation on receiving HR advice and ongoing support we’d love to hear from you. Please call on 01386 751740 or email info@cluerhrsolutions.co.uk
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