Initiating a Disciplinary Hearing

This course gives you as an initiator, the knowledge and understanding to prepare for a disciplinary hearing. This will enable you to handle challenges that you may encounter with the implementation of disciplinary action.

Focus is on the importance of Law of Evidence. How to gather evidence, lead witnesses, cross examination techniques and argue your case in opening and closing statements.

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Introduction to Disciplinary Principles and the Law of Evidence

This chapter focus on the matter of fairness. Fairness in hearings, the role of the disciplinary procedure, code and company rules, progressive discipline and the difference between misconduct and incapacity due to poor performance and ill-health. Videos and relevant case law are used as examples of how to correctly deal with misconduct offences and appropriate sanctions.

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Disciplinary Hearing Preparation

A disciplinary hearing can be a make-or-break situation for many an employee. It can mean the difference between continued employment and searching the market for months, even years, looking for another job. It is not a process that should be taken lightly. It is therefore of utmost importance that the accused employee and employer representative (initiator) prepare for the hearing as professionals.

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Presenting Your Case

Employers very frequently lose their cases as result of weak case presentation. There are two important reasons for this. The person presenting the case for the employer may be insufficiently trained and therefore unskilled in case presentation. Secondly, the employer may have failed to prepare the evidence properly.

The reasons for this failure include:

The employer does not want to spend the time necessary to carry out proper preparations for the hearing.
The employer does not know how to prepare properly for a disciplinary hearing.