Preparing grounds of appeal

The Acas Code requires employees to let employers know the grounds of appeal in writing. These should be clear and concise and should emphasise the strongest points, i.e. those most likely to change the outcome.

It is important to meet the timescale for confirming that the member intends to appeal. In many procedures this is quite tight, for example, just five working days. This is based on the Acas Guidance (not the Code), although it does say that the five-day deadline could be “extended in particular circumstances”.

The Acas Code does not give any timescale for submitting grounds of appeal, although there is a general obligation not to engage in “unreasonable delay” and to “deal with issues promptly”. Neither does it say how much detail is needed. In practice, an employer must still conduct the appeal hearing thoroughly even if, for good practical reasons, the grounds cannot be finalised and sent to the employer until the last moment, although this could result in the meeting being adjourned to a later date.

Where there has been any suggestion of bias or other significant irregularity in the dismissal hearing itself, it is usually best to ask for the appeal to be a complete re-hearing of all the issues.

A disciplinary hearing is not a court of law, so reps should not feel reluctant to raise at the appeal stage any new arguments or points of mitigation that were not put at the original dismissal hearing, even if no new facts have emerged since the original hearing, and regardless of whether they are mentioned in the written grounds of appeal. Most importantly, the member must remain consistent, truthful and credible throughout.

Remember that managers are only expected to take into account facts known to them (or facts they should have found through a fair investigation) at the date of dismissal or any appeal. Anything that happens after the appeal has been decided is irrelevant to the fairness of any dismissal decision, unless it is information that should have been discovered on a fair investigation.