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).