Agenda item

The Committee to consider and determine a request for a review of a decision of the Council to dismiss an employee.

(This item contains personal information regarding the appellant, which is exempt from publication by virtue of Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972).

The Committee considered a request to review the decision of the Council to dismiss an employee.

The appellant, accompanied by a Trade Union representative, were in attendance at the meeting.

Mrs Roberts (Employee Relations Manager) and Ms Goodall (Head of Corporate Legal) were in attendance to advise the Committee on policy and procedure only and had taken no part in the original decision. Also in attendance was Miss Burnett, Clerk to the Committee.

The relevant Head of Service, Investigating Officer and Employee Relations Adviser presented the case on behalf of the Authority.

The Committee carefully considered all the representation and documentation put forward by both parties and acknowledged the appellants’ acceptance that a serious error in judgement had been made, but was of the opinion that that the Council’s Disciplinary Procedure and Managing Poor Performance policies were not sufficiently robust and custom and practice varied as to their implementation. Due to a lack of clarity, the interpretation and application of the Managing Poor Performance Policy by the Service had raised concerns and both policies were currently being reviewed by the Council and the Trade Union.

The Committee, on the evidence of doubt, agreed that the appellant had not received adequate training, supervision and support. In addition, the Committee noted that following an internal investigation into the incident, it had been recommended that written procedures for every element of the service should be developed and discussed within induction and supervision with all staff and actions from previous disciplinary investigations were understood across relevant managers and implemented in a timely manner, which suggested some failings in the service.

The Committee considered that that the Council had failed to provide the appellant with sufficient training, supervision and support and had not fully adhered to its own policies and the failings were so significant as to undermine the reasonableness of the original decision.

Resolved:

1.That the original decision to dismiss the employee be overturned on the grounds that the Council had failed to fully comply with the relevant policies and procedures and the decision taken could be deemed unreasonable based on the evidence presented.

2. That officers be requested to ensure that recommendations of the internal investigation, if not already in place, be implemented with immediate effect.

Background papers:  Exempt