TM1. The attendance procedure
TM2. The background to improving attendance
TM3. Investigating poor attendance
TM4. The informal attendance session
TM5. Setting out the allegation
TM6. Time and location of the formal attendance meeting
TM7. Suspension
TM8. The companion - work colleagues & union reps
TM9. Formal and informal warnings
TM10. The formal attendance meeting
TM11. Appeals
TM12. Atttendance and disability
TM13. Disability, attendance and reasonable adjustments
TM14. Dismissal
TM15. Findings
TM16. Sanctions
TM17. Note of formal attendance meeting

For notes on relevant law go especially to: Disciplinary procedures and/or at Time off work/unauthorised time off work

TM1: THE ATTENDANCE PROCEDURE

In brief, the procedure is as follows:

1. Investigate the alleged poor attendance so that you have the correct facts.
   
2. Meet with the employee informally to discuss the poor attendance, to consider the reasons for it and to look at options for improvement.
   
3. Monitor the employee’s attendance.
   
4. If the poor attendance continues, write to the employee and invite them to a formal attendance meeting.
   
5. Have the formal attendance meeting (at which the employee must be allowed to take a companion and have a chance to state his or her case).
   
6. Write to the employee to inform them of the sanction, if any, and to offer them the chance to appeal.

   If the employee appeals:

7. Write to the employee to confirm the dates of appeal.
   
8. Hold the appeal meeting.
   
9. Write to the employee with the appeal decision.
   
10. Monitor the employee’s attendance.

TM2: THE BACKGOUND TO IMPROVING ATTENDANCE

• There are two ways of improving attendance: carrot, and stick. This procedure is the "stick" when the carrot has failed.
  
• It is hard to discipline someone who is genuinely sick, but there does come a point, even with an employee who is genuinely sick, where an employer decides that he / she can no longer support that employee.
  
• On the other hand, there are those employees who clearly do not have any genuine underlying health problem but absent themselves from work when they feel like it. Classically, you will notice patterns in the poor attendance such as the employee missing work the day after bank holiday Monday three times in a row.

• If you are going to give an employee a formal attendance warning, you need to follow the procedure (TM1) carefully. If you get the procedure wrong it could result with a finding of unfair dismissal against you, as well as enhanced compensation payments.
  
• Please ensure that, in using these procedures, you do not either intentionally or unintentionally discriminate against your employees on the grounds of sex, race, disability, religion, or sexuality. If in doubt, speak to your h2r advisor.
  
• The main area you need to watch out for with attendance issues is disability and you should ensure that you understand this area if there is any risk that the employee may be disabled. (Note: disability in this case means any physical or mental condition which has an impact on the employee’s day to day activities. This is a very wide definition). If there is a risk that your employee has a disability, you should complete TM:12 attendance and disability.
  
• If you have any concerns relating to these issues you should ring your h2r advisor immediately.
  
• In using these procedures it is a general requirement that you act reasonably and consistently and that you are thorough and prompt. You should be careful not to delay unduly. Generally speaking, a warning should be given within a matter of days - or weeks at the most.

Dismissal

• You should never be in the position of dismissing an employee for poor attendance unless you have already followed the early stages of the procedure (i.e. verbal/ written / final written warnings).
  
• In other words, if you are in the position where you wish to dismiss someone for poor attendance you have a simple choice.
  Either:

  • The dismissal amounts to gross misconduct in which case you should use the conduct procedure (this would be very unusual for attendance); or
    
  • You should follow the correct procedure set out in this attendance wizard; or
    
  • The dismissal is likely to be unfair, leading to a claim for compensation in the employment tribunal.

• If you have followed the procedure through and the employee is on a final warning, you must warn them in advance of the formal meeting of the chance that they may be dismissed.

TM3: INVESTIGATING POOR ATTENDANCE

• You should not have an informal meeting, and you cannot hold the formal meeting until you have properly investigated the poor attendance.
  
• Investigating attendance should be very simple: you are providing evidence of non-attendance or lateness.
  
• Remember that at the formal meeting you may only rely on such evidence as you have given the employee in advance .
  
• In other words, if you have an allegation to put to an employee, you need to be able to back it up with evidence. This might simply be a short witness statement from an employee, or it might be documents, such as time sheets.
  
• If there are related issues to the attendance (e.g. if the employee alleges that he had good reason for being absent which you do not believe) then you may need to investigate these as thoroughly as you can.

  Aim of the investigation

• Your aim is to produce one set of documents which are copied to the employee and used at the formal attendance meeting itself. The formal attendance meeting should normally be able to progress without any halts.

TM4: THE INFORMAL ATTENDANCE SESSION

Inviting the employee

• As this is an informal session only, you do not need to follow the usual statutory procedures that you need for formal meetings. See TM9: formal and informal warnings.
  
• It may be a good idea though to write to the employee in any event before the session, and to allow the employee to bring a companion with the m if they so wish. See TM8: companions. An example letter is set out as Form1: example invitation to an informal attendance session.

The objective of the informal attendance session

At the informal attendance session you should:

1. set out in detail the nature of the poor attendance;
   
2. try to establish the reasons for the poor attendance, if any;
   
3. discuss if there are ways in which the employee needs support; and
   
4. set goals for improvement.

Setting out the poor attendance

• If you can provide statistics and objective evidence e.g. clock cards etc, so much the better. See TM3: investigating poor performance.

The reasons for the poor attendance

• You should try and establish the reasons for the poor attendance.
  
• You should try to establish if there are any underlying health reasons which may be affecting the employee. Ask directly if the employee has any health problems which are causing the poor attendance. Make a careful note of the answer. If the employee answers in the affirmative, you should get as much detail as you can about the nature of the illness: diagnosis and prognosis (i.e. what the illness is and how long it will last).
  
• If there is an issue with ill-health you should complete TM12: attendance and disability and TM13: reasonable adjustments.
  
• Note that some employees will be genuinely ill and deserve considerable sympathy. This does not mean however that you should not give them a warning. Despite the genuine nature of their illness you are entitled to expect reasonable standards of attendance.

Helping the employee improve

• You should discuss whether there are any ways in which you can assist the employee. How much you will want to do this will depend of course entirely on the employee’s circumstances and whether or not you believe that the employee is genuinely ill.
  
• It may be that the employee requests to be relocated or given different tasks. You should consider these points carefully and respond appropriately.
  
• You do not have to act on the employee’s requests, however it is good policy to do so if the request is reasonable, appropriate and proportionate.
  
• If the employee has a disability you should carefully consider making reasonable adjustments. If you are unsure what this means, you should complete TM13: disability, attendance and reasonable adjustments.

Setting goals for improvement

• You need to be very clear about the attendance you need from the employee, whether they are genuinely ill or not. This does seem very harsh in certain circumstances and you must make a business decision as to how tough you are going to be in a given situation. Remember that you are not responsible for the employee’s health and there does come a point where an employer is no longer able to help an employee. The larger you are as an employer, the more room for manoeuvre you will probably have.
  
• You must set a date for a review. Ensure that you give the employee enough time to demonstrate improvement.
  
• You do not have to wait for that date to progress to the formal stage of course. If the informal session is about lateness for example and then the employee is late again the following morning, you could move to the formal procedure immediately.

Keeping a note

You should complete Form2: note of informal attendance session with the employee throughout the session. It is a good idea to give the employee a copy of the note at the end of the session.

TM5: SETTING OUT THE ALLEGATION

• You need to set out in one sentence what the poor attendance allegation is. If relevant include any dates if you can. Be specific but do not go into too much detail.
  
• For example:
  It is alleged that:

  1. You had seven periods of absence over a four-day period.

• If there is more than one allegation, set each one out individually, as follows:
  It is alleged that:

  1. During December 2004 you were late five times.
     
  2. You had seven periods of absence over a four-day period.

• Before you decide on when and where to have the meeting, you need to consider the issue of whether you need to undertake an investigation to ensure that you have the full facts.
  
• If you would like to know how to undertake an investigation, take a look (optional) at TM3: investigating poor attendance.

Reasonable time and location

• Whether you set the date for the formal attendance meeting now or later, you should hold the attendance meeting at a location which is reasonable and at a time which is reasonable. As far as the location is concerned, this normally means your premises, but if the employee in question has problems attending your premises for some reason (for instance of they are poorly), or if it is not appropriate in the circumstances you could meet at a neutral venue, for instance a hotel.
  
• As far as the date is concerned, you should ensure that the employee has sufficient time to prepare a response. How much time is "reasonable" will vary depending on the circumstances of the case and you should use your common sense to set a date. An employee might want to collect witness statements for example from other employees.
  
• You should allow at the very least a minimum of one full working day (do not require the employee to attend a formal attendance meeting tomorrow - this is not reasonable!). The employee should not normally need more than five working days to prepare unless the case is very complicated.

TM7: SUSPENSION (for relevant law see notes at Suspension of employee/general )

• Suspension of an employee is a very serious thing. It should be used with real caution and not used "on a whim". If you are going to suspend an employee, you must have a good reason to do so such as:

  • In order to complete an investigation properly, it is necessary that the employee be off the premises. This is particularly so if the employee has tried to influence witnesses or other evidence in any way.
    
  • The employee has threatened violence or damage to property.
    
  • Suspension is necessary for the protection of individuals.
    
  • Where the allegation is so serious as to warrant dismissal if upheld and all the evidence points at the investigation stage to a dismissal. If this is the case you should consider carefully whether or not this is genuinely an attendance issue or whether this is a gross misconduct issue. If unsure about this please contact your h2r advisor.

• You should normally suspend only on full pay.
  
• It is quite unusual to suspend employees for attendance issues and therefore you should only suspend where you absolutely have to.

TM8: THE COMPANION - WORK COLLEAGUES & UNION REPS (for relevant law see notes at Disciplinary procedures/Right to be accompanied )

• The employee is allowed by law to bring with them a work colleague or a union rep (even if you as an employer are not unionised) and you must state this in the letter
  
• If a work colleague is selected as companion, you must allow them a reasonable time off work to attend the formal attendance meeting.
  
• It would not be reasonable for the employee to select an employee from another geographic location (unless there is a very good reason for doing so).
  
• At the formal attendance meeting, the work colleague must be allowed to address you and to ask questions, but they may not answer questions on behalf of the employee against whom the allegation is made.
  
• If the employee’s companion is unable to attend on the date you give, the employee is entitled to by law to suggest another date (which must be possible for you) within five working days of the date you requested.
  
• The employee may request someone other than a work colleague or union representative. If they do, you have the choice as to whether to accept or not. Partners and family members may cause problems if the issue is a difficult or emotive one. If the employee is vulnerable somehow then this might however be a good idea.
  
• If the employee asks for a solicitor or other legal adviser you should only normally agree with caution - particularly if you are unrepresented yourself.
  
• If the employee does not have a union rep or work colleague then you may consider requests to bring in third parties more favourably. Generally speaking however it is not a good idea.

TM9: FORMAL AND INFORMAL WARNINGS

• An informal warning is a normal "telling off" at work. If the warning is "informal" you may not keep a copy of the warning in written form, although you may of course keep a note of the circumstances that lead to an informal warning being given, such as an incident of lateness.
  
• For a warning to be a "formal warning", you must have followed the correct procedure. That means, in each case:

  • You wrote to the employee in advance; and
    
  • You had a formal meeting and allowed the employee the chance of having a representative if they wanted one, and allowed the employee a chance to put his or her case; and
    
  • You wrote to the employee after the formal meeting and offered the chance of an appeal.

• Finally, note that the warning itself has an expiry date. The procedure set out in the h2r Employee Guide sets out the length of warnings, but you may need to check out your own policies if you have not incorporated the h2r Employee Guide.

TM10: THE FORMAL ATTENDANCE MEETING

Evidence

• By the time of the formal attendance meeting, the employee should have received all the evidence which is to be used at the attendance meeting, in advance (i.e. giving them enough time to prepare a response). Late evidence from either side can be admitted, but if the admission of that evidence means that the other party needs to prepare their response, a postponement should be considered.

1. Introductions and clarifications of roles and procedure for the day.
   
2. Set out the nature of the poor attendance clearly.
   
3. Allow the employee to set out his or her case. If the employee denies that he or she attends poorly allow the employee to put their reasons.
   
4. Discuss the reasons for the poor attendance. If the reasons why are connected to work, such as relationship problems with managers etc, you may be able to suggest ways to improve the situation.

   • You should try to establish if there are any health reasons which may be affecting the employee. Ask directly if the employee has any health problems which are causing the poor attendance. Make a careful note of the answer. If the employee answers in the affirmative, you should get as much detail as you can about the nature of the illness: diagnosis and prognosis (i.e. what the illness is and how long it will last).
     
   • If there is an issue with ill-health you should complete TM12: attendance and disability.

5. Discuss if there are any ways in which you can help the employee improve their attendance.

   • It may be that the employee requests to be relocated or given different tasks. You should consider these points carefully and respond appropriately.
     
   • You do not have to act on the employee’s requests, however it is good policy to do so if the request is reasonable, appropriate and proportionate.
     
   • If the employee has a disability you should carefully consider making reasonable adjustments. If you are unsure what this means, you should complete TM13: disability, attendance and reasonable adjustments (and see Disability Discrimination/reasonable adjustments )

6. At the end of the session you should set goals for future attendance. You should be as clear as possible about these. You could set out for instance that any more examples of lateness in the next six months would be deemed inappropriate.

   One very important feature of setting goals is the timeframe for monitoring. You must set a date for a review. Ensure that you give the employee enough time to demonstrate improvement.

7. Deal with any outstanding issues. Make sure you ask the employee if they have anything to add. For instance they may wish to apologise, or give a reason for any poor attendance such as personal circumstances. You may wish to ask again at this stage if the employee has any health problems (see TM12 and TM 13)

8. The employee leaves.

9. Being absolutely sure you have seen all the evidence that you need to, make a decision as to: 1. Whether the allegation of poor attendance is upheld and if it is, 2. which sanction is appropriate (see below).

10. You can either tell the employee about the decision then (calling the employee back in to the meeting) or tell the employee that they will be informed shortly of the decision in writing. If the employee is going to be dismissed it is recommended to inform them of the decision (unless it is obvious) by writing the following day to avoid any angry confrontations.

Keeping a note

• You should complete Form4: note of formal attendance meeting with the employee throughout the formal meeting.
  
• You may wish to refer to TM17: note of formal attendance meeting.

Sanctions

• Please refer to TM16: sanctions.

Preparation for the formal meeting

Ensure that:

• you have a copy of the bundle (i.e. the evidence) for each person involved.
  
• the witnesses (if there are any) know where they have to go and what time. Ensure that there is somewhere for them to wait as it is not appropriate that they wait in the meeting itself.
  
• everybody has enough paper and there is water to drink.
  
• the room is well set out, ideally in a non-confrontational way, with enough chairs for everyone.

If the employee fails to attend the formal meeting

• If the employee fails to attend without warning you of a good reason for non-attendance, you may proceed with the meeting and make a decision. You should then contact the employee to establish the reason why they failed to attend. If they had a good reason for non-attendance that:

  • Prevented them from attending; and
    
  • Was not foreseeable in advance; and
    
  • Was entirely outside their control
    
  • You should re-arrange the meeting for another date. If the employee failed to attend a meeting and the reason does not conform to the above, the decision can stand.

• If the employee fails to attend the second formal meeting, you may proceed with the meeting and come to a decision whatever the reason for non-attendance. You do not need to hold another meeting.

TM11: APPEALS

• Employees who have had an attendance sanction imposed on them always have the right of appeal. You should handle the appeal reasonably quickly and an appeal should not normally take more than five days to prepare for and have.
  
• An employee may choose to appeal for a number of reasons such as:

  • they think the decision is wrong;
    
  • they think sanction is too harsh;
    
  • new evidence has come to light; or
    
  • because they think that the procedure was used wrongly.

• If you have made procedural errors at the first formal meeting, don’t worry, you can use the appeal to hear the matter properly, without any procedural errors.

  Who should hear the appeal?

• If at all possible a more senior manager should make the appeal decision, than the decision maker at the first formal meeting. In smaller organisations this might not be possible. If the same person who heard the first formal meeting has to hear the second, they must do their best to be as impartial as possible.

  What is the deadline for appeal?

• If you have an h2r Employee Guide you will find the appeal deadline on the Standards Procedure. If not, you should find it in your own disciplinary, attendance, or appeals procedure. If you don’t have one, at all, give a reasonable time, i.e. five working days.

TM12: ATTENDANCE AND DISABILITY (for relevant law see notes at Disability Discrimination )

• If you treat somebody less favourably for a reason connected to a disability, you commit discrimination which can be very expensive!
  
• As far as attendance is concerned, you would commit discrimination if you disciplined someone for poor attendance and the reason for that poor attendance is connected to their disability. As you will see below, you may have a defence to such discrimination if it is objectively justified.
  
• The legal issues surrounding disability are very complex. It is highly recommended that if you are in doubt about whether or not one of your employees has a disability, you should behave cautiously and treat them as if they do.
  
• The objective of this TM is to help you to spot disability issues when they arise. When they do, you need to be extra cautious, and it is recommended that you get advice from your h2r adviser.
  
• Please note: this TM is only the briefest overview of disability. You should not make any important decisions relating to an employee on the basis of the information in this TM. You should take separate legal advice.
  
• Please also note the related issue of considering reasonable adjustments. See TM13: reasonable adjustments.

What is disability? (see notes at Disability Discrimination/meaning of disability )

• The legislation defines a disabled person as someone who has "a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities".
  
• This is a very wide definition. It can include almost anything from back-ache to depression. The following conditions have been found to be capable of being a disability:

  • ME
    
  • Club-foot
    
  • Back injury
    
  • Epilepsy
    
  • Cerebral palsy
    
  • MS
    
  • Diabetes,
    
  • Cluster headaches (migrainous neuralgia)
    
  • Dyslexia
    
  • Visual impairment.

• Your lack of knowledge of the disability is no defence. In other words if you discriminate you cannot defend the claim by stating that your employee did not tell you.
  
• The following points should be noted:

  • "long-term" means has lasted or is likely to last for more than 12 months. An injury that will completely heal in six months cannot amount to a disability, however severe.
    
  • Certain conditions are excluded from the definition for social reasons e.g. alcoholism (although any resulting depression can amount to a disability), kleptomania, drug addiction etc.
    
  • The previous requirement that, to amount to a disability, a mental impairment must be a recognised medical condition no longer applies.
    
  • If an employee has a past disability that re-occurs, they are treated as though the disability has continued.
    
  • If an employee is on medication, the effects of the medication are ignored in assessing whether or not the condition amounts to a disability.
    
  • As employer you must be careful not to unnecessarily disclose confidential information about the employee's disability.

• The legislation states that an employer discriminates against an employee if "for a reason which relates to the disabled person’s disability, he treats him less favourably than he treats or would treat another to whom that reason does not or would not apply; and he cannot show that the treatment in question was justified".
  
• To take an example, if you had an employee who was attending poorly, you may be tempted to give him or her a warning for poor attendance. If the poor attendance is due to ME however, you could be discriminating if you give the employee a warning.
  
• As stated above, your knowledge or lack of it is no defence.

Justification (see notes at Disability Discrimination/Justification )

• In some circumstances, it is possible to behave in a way which would otherwise be discriminatory. This is possible if the behaviour can be "justified". Please note that justification in this sense is a legal term which has a specific meaning.
  
• Less favourable treatment can be justified if the reason for it is both "material to the circumstances of the particular case and substantial".
  
• Judging whether something is justification or not is a difficult business. You need to use your common sense and try to judge whether in the circumstances the reason for the treatment is significant and real. To take an example, if you have thousands of hourly-paid employees employed on a production line, and one employee who is not attending properly due to ME, it is unlikely that giving the employee a warning is justified because your business is unlikely to suffer in any way: you can merely rota other employees in to do this employee’s work. On the other hand, if you employee a senior manager whose bad back means they cannot drive and your business is suffering as result, you could well be justified in giving a warning.
  
• Justification is a complex issue and you would be well advised to take legal advice before proceeding on the basis that an action is justified.

TM13: DISABILITY, ATTENDANCE AND REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS (for relevant law see especially notes at Disability Discrimination/reasonable adjustments )

• If your employee is disabled ( see TM12 if you have not already done so), you have a duty as the employer to consider "reasonable adjustments".
  
• This is particularly so if you are considering disciplining a disabled employee for poor attendance. You must consider reasonable adjustments before disciplining the employee.
  
• A reasonable adjustment is, in short, a change to your workplace premises or systems which “even up the playing field” for a disabled employee.
  
• Please note that your failure to consider reasonable adjustments (regardless of attendance issues) is in itself discrimination. You must therefore in every case consider reasonable adjustments for every disabled person.
  
• The duty to make reasonable adjustments arises when the working arrangements or the physical features of your premises place the disabled person concerned at a substantial disadvantage in comparison with persons who are not disabled.
  
• The duty only arises when the disabled person is placed at a substantial disadvantage. In other words, trivial matters need not be adjusted.
  
• In addition, the adjustment itself has to be reasonable: i.e. proportionate. A request for a £1,000 special chair may be disproportionate for a small employer, whereas a request for a £250 special chair might be appropriate for any employer. What is and what is not reasonable is pretty much a matter of common sense in the circumstances.
  
• The kind of steps which might need to be taken include:

  • Making adjustments to premises;
    
  • Modifying or buying equipment;
    
  • Changing hours of work;
    
  • Changing duties or job spec; and / or
    
  • Modifying manuals or systems.

• Remember: you not have to make unreasonable adjustments - you only have to consider if an adjustment is reasonable or not. Of course, if it would be reasonable to make the adjustment you must make it.
  
• Please remember your duty of confidentiality towards the employee.

TM14: DISMISSAL (for relevant law see especially notes at Unfair dismissal/conduct and misconduct as reason for dismissal )

• You should never be in the position of dismissing an employee for poor attendance unless you have already followed the procedure. In other words, if you are in the position where you wish to dismiss someone for poor attendance you have a simple choice. Either:

  • The dismissal amounts to gross misconduct in which case you should use the conduct procedure; or
    
  • You should follow the correct procedure set out in this attendance wizard; or
    
  • The dismissal is likely to be unfair, leading to a claim for compensation in the employment tribunal.

• If you have followed the procedure through and this employee is on a final warning, you must warn them in advance of the formal meeting of the chance that they may be dismissed.

TM15: FINDINGS

In the letter to your employee following the formal attendance meeting, you should set out the following clearly:

1. The allegation. Set the allegation/s out as it was discussed at the meeting.
   
2. Set out your finding - in other words is the allegation upheld or not?
   
3. Set out your reasons for your findings.

Take a look at this example:

If you are writing to the employee after an appeal meeting, you need to set the decision out as follows:

TM16: SANCTIONS
(note: if you are unsure of the difference between formal and informal warnings you may wish to complete TM:9 formal and informal warnings)

• If you uphold the allegation following a fair procedure, you will want to decide if a sanction is appropriate and if so, which sanction is appropriate.
  
• If your meeting is an appeal meeting, you may decide to reduce a sanction. You may not increase it.

• The options are as follows:

  1. No sanction. You may consider giving no sanction even if you find the allegation of poor attendance against the employee is upheld. This may be the case for instance if you feel that there are strong mitigating circumstances such as a personal problem; particularly if the employee convinces you that the problem was a "one-off" which is now over with.
     
  2. Informal warning (of which no record is kept - see TM5 for more info).
     
  3. Formal Verbal Warning. Note that despite the fact that this is a Verbal Warning, you should still set it out in writing (in this respect it differs from the informal warning of which no written record can be kept).
     
  4. Formal Written Warning.
     
  5. Final Written Warning - only suitable for a very serious attendance problem, or where previous warnings have been ignored. Note that you should only impose a Final Written Warning for a first attendance problem where the offence is so serious as to almost warrant dismissal. In such circumstances it may be more appropriate to use the conduct procedure.
     
  6. Dismissal. Please note however that you should never be in the position of dismissing an employee for poor attendance unless the employee has already been given valid warnings using the procedure. In other words, if you are in the position where you wish to dismiss someone for poor attendance you have a simple choice. Either:

     • You should follow the correct procedure set out in this attendance wizard; or
       
     • The dismissal amounts to gross misconduct in which case you should use the conduct procedure (which you will find elsewhere in this website); or
       
     • The dismissal is likely to be unfair, leading to a claim for compensation in the employment tribunal.

• If you have followed the procedure through and this employee is on a final warning, you must warn them in advance of the formal meeting of the chance that they may be dismissed.

The order of sanctions

• Note that, if you are using the h2r Employee Guide, you do not have to follow the above order, you can jump to any warning that is appropriate. As a general rule, you would not jump to a Final Written Warning unless the attendance failure is very serious; you would normally choose between a Written Warning and a Formal Verbal Warning.

Sanctions - expiry dates

• Please note that sanctions do not remain outstanding on an employee’s file indefinitely. In the Standards Procedure set out in the h2r Employee Guide, the sanctions are set normally to the following lengths:

  Sanction	Expiry
  Formal Verbal Warning	12 months
  Written Warning	12 months
  Final Written Warning	24 months

• You may have different expiry dates for your sanctions if you use your own conduct, attendance or performance procedure (please check your policy if you do).
  
• If you do not have an expiry date for sanctions set out in your procedure, you will need to use reasonable lengths of time and we do not suggest that you exceed the levels shown above.

TM17: NOTE OF FORMAL ATTENDANCE MEETING

• It is highly recommended that wherever you can, you keep a careful note of all that takes place at the meeting (we provide a form you can use: Form4: note of formal attendance meeting or Form2: note of informal attendance session).
  
• If possible, you should give a copy of the note you made at the meeting to the employee. In some circumstances however, you may not wish to.
  
• If the meeting is a formal meeting and you do not provide a copy of the note, any subsequent tribunal could consider that unfair (although the failure to provide it may not of itself make the whole dismissal unfair).
  
• Your note should be as full as possible. The ideal is to have someone keep a shorthand note of what is said and then have that note typed up immediately following the meeting.
  
• If this is not possible, simply keep a note of the main points using Form2 or Form4 (depending on whether it is a formal or informal meeting).
  
• If the meeting is highly contentious, and you have used Form2 or Form4, you should type up a full note immediately after the meeting.
  
• An example of an extract from a note is:

  JJ:said he was upset because he was sure the clocking-in machine was not working.
  HR: Referred to the statement of the Process Manager that made clear that the machine would have to be out for everyone, it could not be faulty just for him. The machine showed four thousand other employees clocking in at 8.50, and showed him clocking in at 9.10.
  JJ: said he now understood, but was still unhappy at the tone of the letter. He felt that someone should have spoken to him first.