Letter rescheduling disciplinary appeal hearing

Where an employee appeals against a disciplinary sanction and you’ve arranged an appeal hearing, use our letter if either you need to postpone that appeal hearing or you’re agreeing to the employee’s request to postpone.

Acas Code of Practice

The Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures sets out the principles for handling disciplinary issues in the workplace. From an appeals perspective, this includes providing the employee with an opportunity to appeal where they feel that any disciplinary action taken against them is wrong or unjust, and then arranging an appeal hearing to hear any such appeal – use our Notice of Disciplinary Appeal Hearing for this. The Acas Code goes on to say that appeals should be heard without unreasonable delay and ideally at an agreed time and place. However, occasionally it may be necessary to postpone the appeal hearing and this could be at your behest or at the request of the employee. You can use our Letter Rescheduling Disciplinary Appeal Hearing for this. It covers two potential postponement scenarios.

Business need

The first is where you need to postpone the appeal hearing due to unforeseen business circumstances. However, don’t use this excuse lightly and do make sure it’s an essential and genuine business reason. You don’t want to turn a procedurally fair disciplinary process into one that’s now become unfair. Our letter sets out a new date and time for the appeal hearing and confirms that the postponement won’t in any way affect the conduct of the appeal hearing or its outcome. Ensure also that the new date for the appeal hearing isn’t too far in the future, ideally within a week of the original date, because of the requirement in the Acas Code for you to hear the appeal without unreasonable delay.

Employee’s request

The second scenario is where you agree to a postponement which has been requested by the employee. Under the legislation, if the employee’s chosen companion is not available at the time you originally proposed for the appeal hearing, the employee can suggest an alternative time which is both reasonable and falls within five working days beginning with the first working day after the original appeal hearing date (plus it may also be reasonable in some circumstances for you to agree to a postponement which is beyond the five working days). Other valid reasons why an employee may request a postponement of the appeal hearing include their genuine illness, pre-booked annual leave and to obtain legal advice. It’s advisable to allow at least one postponement if the employee’s reasons are valid. However, where the employee is repeatedly unable or unwilling to attend the appeal hearing (which is unlikely given that they were the one to exercise their right of appeal), you’ll then need to consider all the facts and make a decision on their appeal by holding the appeal hearing in their absence. In doing so, consider both their written grounds for appeal and all the evidence, including any new evidence. Our letter makes clear that as you’ve agreed to one postponement at the employee’s request, it’s unlikely you’ll agree to a second one, unless there are exceptional, unforeseeable circumstances.