Hi Karl, I did ask “did you consider...” not “did you investigate before suspending”. You seem to be doing to me what you are accusing me of ...jumping to critical conclusions.
I do beg your pardon, Jeffrey, for posting an alternative opinion to your own HR professional post.
And clearly I stand corrected – (excuses I need to rely upon perhaps: it’s late, it’s the weekend), but I’m still bamboozled as to where in
Suspension is not necessarily a neutral act - what risk to an investigation, or the business, did the agent pose by being in the workplace? Could they have been put on some non-phone duties for a while? Did you risk assess all of this and note it? Did you type and send a suspension letter, and engage an officer to investigate? If you missed any of these things, you do not know enough about HR to be suspending staff.
you did ask if the OP considered anything.
It’s that last sentence of the quote that really throws me: “If you
missed any of these things, you do not know enough about HR to be suspending staff.”
I was at a dunce at school, still am quite terrible with my command of English, but I would never have related “missed” to “considered” – one infers a necessity; the other an option. Having read it again, I can’t see where you suggest “did you consider…”, but as I say, it’s late, I’m tired, I’m clearly missing something glaringly obvious.
You seem to be doing to me what you are accusing me of ...jumping to critical conclusions.
I again beg your pardon. I didn’t seek to jump to any critical conclusions. But to answer your questions:
Perhaps you have successfully represented an employer at tribunal who disregards the ACAS code of practice by issuing written verbal warnings, or issues written warnings unilaterally without investigation, or destroys the employment relationship by suspending without due diligence. In which case I shall stand corrected.
Absolutely yes, to all of this – although where I am involved earlier in the process, I much prefer to ensure the final stages of a dismissal process are so tidy that at that (final) stage an employee has no cause for complaint. The stages before dismissal though – first/verbal/stage one/whatever new term HR use today Warning would be irrelevant, extremely exceptional for a tribunal to hear evidence on, let alone consider within its deliberations, regardless of compliance with the ACAS CoP.
And most importantly, I would certainly & strongly support the rights of any manager to suspend any employee where they felt it necessary, until further advice could be taken on the continuance of the suspension. If a manager cannot make an immediate decision about suspending their staff without consulting superiors & filling-in a series of forms, they’re not fit to be managers; if a manager cannot take an immediate decision about their staff without consulting superiors & filling-in a series of forms, their superiors & HR managing & advising them are not competent.
Karl Limpert
