Disciplinary & grievance

Open this screen in Saral/hr/disciplinary

Disciplinary and grievance cases run step by step in the shape of the Acas Code of Practice — invite, meeting, hearing, outcome, appeal — each step dated, with its evidence and its letter; the register of warnings, each live until the expiry your policy sets; and one employee's history in order. Flexible working requests run through the same case machine on their own tab. Employees only, confidential to the people who hold the permission, and never visible to the employee about whom a case is open. Saral prepares the record and the letters. Not legal advice — for legal advice, speak to your legal adviser.

You enter

A case: the employee, disciplinary or grievance, what it is about, the investigator, the hearing chair and the appeal chair; then each step as it happens — the date, the notes, the evidence files, the decision — and the case closed with its outcome.
A warning: the employee, the action (verbal, written, final written, improvement plan, suspension, dismissal), the date and a summary; an appeal lodged and its outcome.
A flexible working request received by letter or email, recorded on the employee's behalf; a legal hold on a case that must outlive the retention schedule.

Saral fills in

The next step to record, the checks the Code expects before it — notice given, a different person chairing from the one who investigated, an appeal chair not already involved — shown as a warning before Save, and the checks the server will refuse.
The expiry of each warning from your policy's live months, the appeal window from its appeal days, and the alert when a live warning is about to expire.
The letter for each step, drafted from the case for you to read and send; the statutory deadline on a flexible working request.
Who may see a case: nobody sees a case about themselves, nor, for a grievance, a case that names them.

It produces

The case file: every step in order with its evidence and letters, previewed and downloaded as PDF; the warnings register and one employee's timeline.
A dismissal recorded with its exit reason, ready for the leaver's record; a decision on a flexible working request, shown to the employee on their portal — never your notes or evidence.

What this page is for

A disciplinary or grievance matter is judged afterwards on whether a fair process was followed, and the record is the only proof. This page keeps that record as the matter runs: each step dated when it happened, with the evidence and the letter sent, the people involved named, and the checks the Acas Code of Practice expects applied before a step is saved. A warning is live because its date and your policy's live months say so, not because somebody marked it; an appeal window is open because the deadline has not passed. Saral prepares the file and drafts the letters; the decisions remain the employer's own, taken with their adviser where the matter warrants it. Not legal advice — for legal advice, speak to your legal adviser.

Employees only, and confidential

Cases and warnings are for employees: freelancers, CIS subcontractors, agency and professional workers are never offered, and the routes enforce it. The page needs the disciplinary permission to open at all, and within it nobody sees a case about themselves nor, for a grievance, a case that names them as the respondent — the list is filtered before it reaches the browser. Employees never see their disciplinary or grievance records from the portal; what reaches them is the letter you send. A flexible working request is different: it is the employee's own, made from their portal, and they see where it stands and the decision there, never your notes or evidence.

A case in the shape of the Code

A case names the employee, its kind and the people who will run it: the investigator, the hearing chair and, if it comes to it, the appeal chair. Each step is recorded in order — investigation invite and meeting, any suspension and its review, hearing invite and hearing, outcome, appeal lodged, appeal invite, hearing and outcome, with notes between — and each carries a date, the notes, the evidence files and the letter drafted for it. The rules are lines of the Code: notice before a hearing, a chair who did not investigate where practicable, an appeal heard by somebody not already involved, a decision within the options the step allows. A warning given at the outcome goes onto the register with its expiry; a dismissal records its exit reason for the leaver's record. A case on legal hold is kept whatever the retention schedule says, with the reason recorded.

The register and the timeline

The warnings register is every formal action with its action type, date and Live until, worked out from the policy's live months for that action — six months for a verbal warning and an improvement plan, twelve for a written and a final written warning, unless your account changed them. A warning about to expire is flagged for the alert days the policy sets; an expired or spent warning stays on file, hidden by default. The timeline reads the same records for one employee in order, states their current standing — the most severe unspent action — and shows any appeal window still open, so the next decision is taken knowing what is already on file.

Where the settings live

HR → Settings → Disciplinary & grievance owns the policy this page reads: how many months each action stays live, the appeal days, the hearing notice days and the alert days before a warning expires. Code defaults apply until your account sets them — appeal within 7 days, 2 days' notice of a hearing, a 30-day expiry alert. Who holds the disciplinary permission is a role matter on Settings → Roles; how long closed cases are kept is on HR → Settings → Data retention, and a legal hold on a case overrides it.

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