1
Disciplinaries and grievances
You are approached by Alice who works in finance and alleges that Jane
has posted inappropriate comments on facebook on the page of a mutual
‘friend’ (an ex-employee).
Jane reports to you. She has been with the Southampton Track and
Field Club for 5 years. She is white, aged 36, no children and the Track
and Field Club is not aware of any disabilities.
The Facebook posting was generally inane, concerned bad days at work,
and referred to one of the coaches at the Track and Field Club. The
exchange was initiated by the ex-employee but the relevant extract is
reproduced below:
J:
Ex-ee:
J:
Ex-ee:
J:
.… I know lol! Almost as bad as his training sessions!
Nothing has changed then?!
Yeah, still leering at the girls. Certainly nothing has changed
since you left!!!!
ha ha ha ha ha! He’s disgusting! Lol!
ha ha! I know!! Xxx.
You look at the posting, (Jane’s security settings are low, so it is easy to
find) and discover this exchange happened between 3.02pm and 3.23pm
on Tuesday afternoon.
Fortunately, you have a social media policy which sets out what is
considered appropriate use of social media. For example, it states that it
should not be used on ‘behalf of the Track and Field Club’ without express
permission, should not be used during working hours and posts should not
be offensive.




What
What
What
What
do you do?
are the allegations against her?
other information might you need to know?
should you consider before taking any action?
2
The day after you send the letter inviting Jane to a disciplinary
meeting, you receive an email from Jane:
Dear Boss,
I would like to raise a grievance about my recent treatment at work and
the spurious charges levelled against me.
It is totally unacceptable for you to look at my private facebook postings
between myself and a personal friend and I am appalled that I have
become the subject of disciplinary proceedings because of this! It is a
clear breach of my human right to privacy and in treating me this way you
are discriminating against me.
I am aware that Alice was the person who breached my confidentiality in
this way and this is a clear example of bias at the Club. Alice has been
pursuing some sort of vendetta against me and this is clearly an attempt
by her to force me out and victimise me.
You have not even provided me with a copy of the Track and Field Club’s
disciplinary procedure, so I am not able to prepare properly for the
hearing and clearly will not be receiving a fair trial – another breach of my
human rights.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Jane.

What legal issues does the email raise?

What do you do about this email and its relationship with the
disciplinary process?
3
The disciplinary and grievance meetings
You hold the disciplinary meeting with Jane.
At the meeting Jane admits the posting but maintains that:





it was a joke and clearly meant in a jokey fashion;
she thought it was private and that no work people could see;
she is not ‘friends’ with any athletes/parents/ coaches/ other people
in the sports world etc;
the Track and Field Club has not suffered any loss;
she is very sorry about it and has posted a note on her ‘wall’
extolling the Track and Field Club’s virtues.
You hold the grievance meeting with Jane.
At the meeting Jane makes it clear that she and Alice have fallen out. The
“vendetta” appears to be that Alice has stopped including her in the tea
run and occasionally fails to say “Good morning”. Jane admits that she
doesn’t make tea for Alice either but claims it is because she can’t stand
the smell of the soya milk Alice uses.
It appears from your questioning and previous knowledge of the situation
that there are no discrimination issues.

What do you do about the grievance?

What sanction do you impose for the disciplinary?