{"id":884,"date":"2015-09-07T16:15:04","date_gmt":"2015-09-07T16:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogsite\/?p=884"},"modified":"2015-09-07T16:15:04","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T16:15:04","slug":"right-accompanied-appropriate-companion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/right-accompanied-appropriate-companion\/","title":{"rendered":"Right to be accompanied: Who is an appropriate companion?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/TE.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/TE-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/TE-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/TE-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.tayloremmet.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/TE.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>HR and people managers who regularly deal with disciplinary and grievance issues\u00a0will be familiar with the situation where an employee requests to be accompanied to an internal hearing by someone who isn&#8217;t a trade union representative or work colleague. The usual position is that they do not have this right in law and\u00a0therefore the request can be declined with relative confidence. However, just to keep us all on our toes the High Court have\u00a0made a decision in the recent case of <i><u>Stevens v University of Birmingham<\/u><\/i> which tests this perceived wisdom.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 provides workers\u00a0with the statutory right to be accompanied by a trade union representative or a fellow worker at a disciplinary or grievance\u00a0hearing\u00a0and\u00a0this right is\u00a0repeated in the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievances and most internal disciplinary and grievance procedures, however as this case shows the story does not end there. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Stevens<\/em><\/span>\u00a0the <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Claimant was employed by the university as a Chief Investigator of clinical trials. His contract of employment was dependent on him having an honorary appointment with the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT). Disciplinary investigations were started against the\u00a0Claimant by the university after allegations were made about the way in which he conducted the trials.\u00a0He was invited to an investigatory meeting and was informed by the university that he could be accompanied\u00a0to the investigatory meeting by a trade union representative or a university employee as set out in their disciplinary procedure.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Claimant requested to be accompanied by the MPS (Medical Protection Society) representative who had supported\u00a0him through the allegations and had the necessary technical knowledge\u00a0of the clinical trials that\u00a0he had been conducting.\u00a0He claimed he had no friends\u00a0at the university who could accompany him as they would all be\u00a0involved\u00a0in the investigation as witnesses. The university refused this request and the Claimant commenced proceedings in the High Court for appropriate declarations of his rights.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Court rejected the Claimant&#8217;s arguments that there was an express or implied term of his contract of employment that allowed him to be accompanied by someone from MPS. However, the Court did take into account the fact that if the\u00a0HEFT\u00a0disciplinary procedure\u00a0had been used he\u00a0would have be entitled to be accompanied to the investigatory meeting\u00a0by an MPS representative. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The High Court held the right to be accompanied by a work colleague or trade union representative was intended as a minimum level of protection to ensure a fair outcome\u00a0and therefore there was nothing to prevent the university from exercising their discretion\u00a0by allowing\u00a0the Claimant his choice of companion. The Court came to the conclusion that even though there was no contractual right for the Claimant to be accompanied it was nevertheless a breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence to deny his request. This decision that it would be unfair for the university to proceed without allowing the Claimant his choice of representative was reached on the specific facts of this case for the following reasons:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1)\u00a0A companion with a good grasp of the relevant technical issues was needed.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">2) It was not realistic for\u00a0the Claimant\u00a0to bring a university colleague because all his friends who worked at the university would already be involved in the process as witnesses. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">3) The HEFT disciplinary procedure would have allowed the Claimant his choice of companion. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">4) The witnesses to the investigation had been allowed a wider choice of companion.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">5) The MPS representative was from an organisation similar to a trade union. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">6) The outcome of the disciplinary process\u00a0was potentially career ending for the Claimant.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This case goes further than you would at first think when you take into account the fact that the case revolved around the right to be accompanied at an <em>investigation <\/em>meeting not even a disciplinary hearing. It is therefore\u00a0important for people who conduct disciplinary and grievance\u00a0processes to\u00a0view\u00a0the situation in the round and take into account the impact that their decisions will have on the employee who is the subject of the process rather than\u00a0always sticking <span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">rigidly <\/span>to the letter of their organisation&#8217;s procedure. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Employees who have been denied the right to be accompanied can bring a claim for up to two weeks pay as a stand alone claim but what is of more critical importance is that employers who breach the implied term of mutual trust and confidence run the risk of the employee resigning and claiming constructive dismissal. An employee with more than two years&#8217; service can bring an unfair constructive dismissal claim in the Employment Tribunal where the compensatory award is capped at the lower of 52 weeks&#8217; gross pay or \u00a378,335.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This was an unusual case but it is not difficult to think of o<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">ther situations in which employers may\u00a0inadvertently breach trust and confidence by refusing an employee&#8217;s request to be accompanied. For example if an employee does not speak English it may be unfair not allow a family member or friend to accompany them as an interpreter and in some situations\u00a0it may be a failure to make reasonable adjustments as well as a breach of trust and confidence not to allow a disabled employee their choice of companion. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As with many aspects of employment law the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Stevens<\/em><\/span> case\u00a0demonstrates that\u00a0things are not as straight forward as they\u00a0seem at first glance\u00a0which is what makes it\u00a0<span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">fascinating<\/span> and frustrating in equal measure!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HR and people managers who regularly deal with disciplinary and grievance issues\u00a0will be familiar with the situation where an employee requests to be accompanied to an internal hearing by someone who isn&#8217;t a trade union representative or work colleague. The usual position is that they do not have this right [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[6,52,17,7,39,18,13],"class_list":["post-884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-plib","tag-tribunal","tag-disciplinary","tag-employment-law","tag-employment-rights","tag-hr","tag-trade-unions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Right to be accompanied: Who is an appropriate companion? | Blogs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"HR and people managers who regularly deal with disciplinary and grievance issues will be familiar with the situation where an employee requests to be accompanied to an internal hearing by someone who isn&#039;t a trade union representative or work colleague. 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