Keeping and monitoring records


Reps should keep a record of penalties imposed on employees. Ideally, the record should include:


• names of panel members and witnesses;


• factual findings; 


• summary of employee’s defence;


• decision reached;


• reasons (including reasons for taking no action, or for choosing a lesser sanction);


• mitigation arguments, and employer’s response;


• appeal grounds; 


• appeal decision, with reasons; 


• whether the case raised broader issues about adequacy of procedures, training, workload and so on, and how these issues are to be carried forward; and


• what happened to the employee after the disciplinary action, for example, did it impact on promotion prospects, did they leave shortly afterwards, and so on.


The employer should provide copies of meeting records. A reluctant employer can be reminded that under section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998, any employee can access information about them, or that refers to them, using a Data Subject Access Request.


A good disciplinary procedure will give workplace reps access to records in enough detail to show the grade, gender, race, age, and so on of any workers who have been subjected to a disciplinary procedure, regardless of whether they sought union representation. This kind of data (anonymised, if necessary) can show whether, at an individual level, any proposed sanction is too harsh. It can also indicate whether, at an organisational level, there are patterns of discrimination or victimisation, for example evidence of black workers, or workers who draw attention to safety concerns, receiving more serious penalties.