General arguments to make in disciplinaries


The choice of argument obviously depends on the allegations faced. It is important to concentrate on the strongest arguments — the ones that could make a real difference to the outcome. Possible general arguments include:


• failure to draw a rule to the worker’s attention;


• changes to a rule (or to the rules about publicising the rule) after the incident that resulted in the disciplinary;


• failure to provide training;


• failure to apply a rule consistently, giving a false sense of security that it will not be applied, or that it will not lead to dismissal; 


• unexplained differences in treatment, compared with the way other employees are treated, or the way the member was treated in the past. This could suggest discrimination or victimisation; or


• an argument that a rule should not be rigidly applied because of the member’s personal circumstances.