During our recent webinar on Handling Workplace Investigations, we received several questions via the chat facility that we will address in a number of blogs over the next few weeks.
First off, we have some questions about who should carry out a workplace investigation.
If your policy states that a different manager will do the investigation versus the disciplinary/grievance hearing, should you follow that?
As a general rule, yes.
The first thing to say is that you should always seek to comply with your own policies and procedures unless there is a good reason for not doing so. Although a failure to comply will not in itself automatically render any subsequent decision unfair, a Tribunal will take such matters into consideration when considering the fairness of the overall process. If the policy is contractual (which we would generally advise against), a failure to comply could also give an employee grounds to claim breach of contract.
Leaving aside your policy, the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures makes it clear that when it comes to misconduct cases, where practicable, different people should carry out the investigation and disciplinary hearing. This is to help ensure the process is objective and reduce the scope for allegations of bias and impartiality through the perception of being both prosecution and judge. Acas’s separate Guidance on Conducting Workplace Investigations also recommends that a different person should handle each stage of...
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