Notification of disciplinary hearing

If you want to take disciplinary action against an employee, the first step is to write to them setting out the allegations and requiring their attendance at a formal disciplinary hearing. Our notification of disciplinary hearing letter ensures you get things off to a good start.

Hearing notice

Arranging a disciplinary hearing is the first step in the formal procedure once you have completed your investigation and taken the decision that the matter needs to be dealt with formally, rather than through informal counselling or coaching. Our letter lists the allegations against the employee, attaches the supporting evidence, explains what the employee’s rights are and sets out what the format will be for the hearing. Using our Notification of Disciplinary Hearing letter at every stage of the formal procedure ensures you act fairly whatever the outcome of the hearing might be, i.e. whether it’s a warning or dismissal. This is important because, should the employee be dismissed further down the line, you will need to show that your entire disciplinary procedure was fair and in accordance with the principles of natural justice, not just the final part when you took the decision to dismiss the employee.

Full and fair warning

You must provide advance written notice to employees of the disciplinary case against them, including copies of the relevant evidence, because a failure to do so could result in a procedurally unfair dismissal. This means setting out full details of the specific allegations and incidents, not just general observations like “you have a bad attitude”. The employee must then have sufficient opportunity to prepare their defence to the allegations.