Possible arguments to use in mitigation

The arguments available for use in mitigation (i.e. to argue in favour of a less severe punishment) will obviously depend on the facts of each case. Possible arguments include:

• long service;

• previous disciplinary record — any live warnings;

• apology;

• positive attitude of customers;

• previous good work record;

• relevant personal circumstances — for example, stress, ill-health, marital problems;

• medical conditions;

• provocation, history of poor behaviour by co-workers;

• treatment of other workers;

• normal workplace standards of behaviour;

• employer behaviour, for example:

◊ Was it clear that this misconduct would lead to this sanction?

◊ Has the employer’s own behaviour misled the employee into believing the conduct was acceptable?

• lack of information or training;

• unclear rules;

• language problems;

• availability of other sanctions and the member’s willingness (if true) to accept these. Tell the employer the worker’s position on this, and get it recorded in the minutes;

• (if true), that the offence had little impact on the organisation (for example, nobody was affected, no money was lost, nothing was harmed, no customers saw it, etc).