Hi, does anybody know where I could find a template for a letter of dismissal.  Reasons being gross misconduct and incapability.  thanks, Max.

Hmm templates can be dangerous. The dismissal letter must be written ONLY with the original terms and conditions to hand as they must reference them.

YOu must reference the sections which out line what gross misconduct is, how the terms and conditions have been breached and also you must reference the disiplinary process.

If you are writing it dont rely on someone elses. BE careful without a doubt what reference you use for capability and how it is measured. NOT one I would really use unless I had to. Gross misconduct may be the better one.

Get your points and reasons written down and make sure they are spot on.

I have just sat through a a few cases where the company thought they had it all stitched up.. thought. Cost them £250K for not getting it right.

IF you have a registered business ACAS will offer some advice free of charge.

What is gross misconduct?

Conduct so bad that it destroys the employer/employee relationship, and merits instant dismissal without notice or pay in lieu of notice.

What counts as gross misconduct?

Most employers would identify intoxication (whether from drink or drugs), fighting or other physical abuse, indecent behaviour, theft, dishonesty, sabotage, serious breaches of health and safety rules and gross insubordination as examples of gross misconduct.

You might want to specify other offences, depending on the nature of your business (for example, accepting bribes, offering bribes, downloading pornography, using personal software (with the risk of importing viruses), misusing confidential information or setting up a competing business).

Does this mean I can decide for myself what conduct merits instant dismissal?

To a limited degree. But instant dismissal is a very severe penalty, and if the employee takes you to an Employment Tribunal, you would have to be able to demonstrate that your decision:

· would be one that a reasonable employer would have made;
· was itself both fair and reasonable in the circumstances.

You would also have to show that the offence was so wrong that dismissal was an appropriate sanction. It is always advisable to list the offences which merit instant dismissal in the disciplinary policy - though you should make it plain that the list is not exhaustive.

New regulations, which came into effect in October 2004, set down minimum procedures which have to be followed, even in gross misconduct cases


From ths guidance site

Hmmm, don't you first have to write a letter pointing out what the gross misconduct and incompatibility is?  Then lay out steps taken to correct said conduct and remedy the compatibility and set the time allowed for such?  Then monitor and document responses from the individual?  I other words, perform and document a job appraisal on a systematic basis?

Well to be honest I thought you had to go through all appraisal - performance improvement etc.  The situation is my mother is chair of the board for a TMO on an estate that is largely council tennants and used to be run by the council.  They moved on to this TMO (think Tenant Managed ??).  Employed an estate manager and caretakers, no signed contracts were put in place, no job descriptions, no handbood guidelines nothing - only the recruitment advert.   The estate manager has proved completely incompetent and for the gross misconduct bit she has given out the personal phone numbers and addresses of all the members of the board to the tennants on the estate.  My mother first asked me for advice at the stage of poor performance and I suggested first of all getting proper job descriptions written up, then establishing a process for performance review etc.  However as it has got so bad they (the board ) have decided they want to dismiss her and asked me for advice and if I knew if they specify gross misconduct do they have to go into detail.  I said I am not qualified to answer that but would see if I could find any informtion out...All I will do is pass on any information I can find and let 'the board' make their own decisions.  My advice was as all parties involved seem to be mutually unhappy and dissatisfied why dont they invite her to resign ...

I think this is one for ACAS!

Margot

i dont really understand from your post....who exactly is employing this person? the council? a private employer? Are wages involved? Who did the appointing?The employer is obliged by law to provide a contract of employment. If no guidelines have been given as to what is expected, then frankly it would be hard to discipline the employee. Does the advert mention confidentiality? Its a pretty bad thing to do to give out the phone numbers, but the EMPLOYER is liable for the behaviour of its employees.
The person seems to be incompetent, but frankly so is the employer. They most certainly ARE  incompetent if they are asking you for advice (no offence) and you are asking the advice of people on a message board!!! This is a persons job
I would advise that the board get a solicitor for some real advice.

I agree with you that the board are incompetent in the way they have gone about the HR process.  How it works is that the council give the money they would have used to run and maintain the estate to the TMO who are then responsible (like running a company/business of their own).  I got involved when my mum was complaining about the performance of the officer and I started to say well what do you expect where is the guidance, objective setting, etc etc.   I am a manager and one of my strengths is getting the best out of my team so I tried to offer some advice on how to improve matters but the direction they want to go in is definitely not my area of expertise and certainly nobodys on the board.  UNBELIEVABLE isnt it....  Anyway thanks for all advice and points of reference - I really hope this doesnt come back and bite them!

Isn't it also illegal to employ someone and NOT provide them with a contract ofemployment? and also they should have a book of guidelines and rules and regulations AND health and safety issues AND the list goes on...tbh I don't think they've got a hope in hell of dismissing someone who doesn't have a contract let alone a job description and Rules and Regs guidelines etc?? GOODLUCK!!!

Isn't it also illegal to employ someone and NOT provide them with a contract ofemployment?

:D   I started a part-time job at the beginning of June, two and a half days a week, with a local firm of solicitors ......guess what?    I didn't even get a letter of offer, let alone a contract of employment ....it's 15 weeks now - and I'm debating whether I shall ask them where my contract is or not :rolleyes:

They are a new crew ...... just a trifle - shall we say ....disorganised :rolleyes:?

Margot

And where I work I have a contract that references the employee handbook on several issues and the condition of the employee handbook is that they can change it at any time without notice.  So what use is that really.......

Plenty use.

Only very small changes to the Terms & Conditions can be done through the hand book without proper consultation  and these changes of course must affect everyone . IE changes to internet use, phone use. Expense claim dates etc.  Employer must also let people know of any changes to Hand book with reference to the date of change. They can't just change this and not tell people.

Any changes to the T&C that are fundamental must be done through the normal channels.   IE in Writing with at least 30 days notice and a consultation period if either party is not happy.

Thanks for that Blue, we are just reviewing and signing our new contracts this week and just got the new handbook yesterday which details all our extra payments allowances we get,  Max.

Mum has been on to ACAS and they have helped her out so hopefully there wont be any fall out on the dismissal front either.

thanks again everyone

Max

H Max

How did it all go? Wish I had seen this before as a HR Manager I may have been able to help ;) Hope it all went ok.

Caroline