COURSE OVERVIEW

This 2-day course is intended for line managers who chair disciplinary enquiries within organisations. It will give delegates a comprehensive portfolio of skills that will enable them to chair internal disciplinary enquiries (DEs). Within a workplace context, delegates will become subject matter experts on the chairing of DEs. More than this, the course will provide delegates with a thorough understanding of the law and practice of dismissal.

 

CONTENT / OUTCOMES (Know, Do & Feel)

KNOW:

• What discipline is
• The various approaches to handling discipline
• The company policy and procedures on discipline
• The code of good practice on dismissals
• What substantive and procedural fairness is
• The roles of the participants in a DE
• The different values of evidence
• The generally accepted principles on discipline
• The process of a disciplinary enquiry
• The rights of the company and the employees in regard to discipline
• The rules of chairing DE

DO:

• Chair a disciplinary enquiries
• Evaluate evidence
• Write case minutes
• Make sound judgements
• Advise on disciplinary matters

FEEL:

Confident in chairing DEs in a legally compliant manner.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

All Line Management that may be are required to chair Disciplinary Enquiries.

COURSE SIZE

Minimum 4, maximum 10

 

PRE-WORK

 

Reading the Code of Good Practice on Dismissal

Selected articles on chairing DE

Company policy and procedures

TRAINER

Darren Coetsee

 

 

TRAINING SESSION OVERVIEW

The course will include case studies, role-plays and practical tasks for the portfolio of skills required to chair disciplinary enquiries.

COMPETENCIES and PROFESSIONAL SKILLS COVERED

The Chairing Disciplinary Enquiries course will assist in the development of the following competencies and professional skills:

COMPETENCIES

Delivers through people-influencing skills- persuades directly- tries to persuade through logical argument in discussion and listens and interacts with others in an effective tactful way.

Delivers through people-influencing skills- uses multiple actions to persuade-think through all aspects of a presentation and how the different audience will receive it and thinks of alternate solutions which will be more likely to appeal to the audience

Achieves through integrity, teamwork and learning-self confident integrity- acts independently according to personal judgement or belief in presenting own work confidently.

Achieves through integrity, teamwork and learning-self confident integrity-strong self belief in that maintains a strong self belief even when others disagree, has courage to stand up for his or her convictions and speaks up confidently when in disagreement with others.

Possesses the intellectual power to determine direction-concern for rigour and order-attention to order and detail- follows procedures and protocol accurately, rigorously checks accuracy and keeps detailed and accurate records/ minutes of meetings.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

Employee relations- develop employment policies - in understanding the business context and desired employee relations and ensuring the execution of policies and practices are consistent with legislation (BCEA) and advise employees on implications of employment legislation

Employee relations-Human resources legislation-keep abreast of changes and updates to key legislation

Employee relations-manage conflict-facilitating the appropriate ER climate, advise line managers on the handling of breaches of discipline and ensuring consistency in the application of rules.

Employee relations-provide employee assistance - by providing individual advice/counselling

 

COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAMME

The CDEs programme is run over 2 days and is broken up into various sessions, which will each assist in the development of the delegate’s skills, knowledge and competence in chairing disciplinary enquiries.   Specifically the programme will provide the following skills:

Session 1         Introduction and Ice-Breaker

This will entail an introduction to the principles of Disciplinary Enquiries (DEs) via the use of a role play exercise. It makes use of humour to address the mistakes we all make in DEs. It also provides a useful icebreaker to put delegates at ease. The learning objectives are:

• Understanding what Discipline is

Session 2         Understanding the basics

Being able to chair DEs requires an understanding of certain legal basics. These principles come from a combination of internal company documents e.g. Policy and Procedure and Recognition Agreements, as well as external documents e.g. Labour Relations Act 1995, Code of Good Practice on Dismissals. This session will provide delegates with a foundation from which to build DE expertise. The learning objectives are:

• Understanding company Policy and Procedures on discipline
• Knowing your Recognition Agreement
• Understanding key chapters of the Labour Relations Act – 1995
• What is substantive and procedural fairness
• What is the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)
• Learning Activity 1 Case Study: To test substantive and procedural fairness understanding

Session 3         All about Disciplinary Enquiries

In this session the focus is on the practicalities of DEs. In particular the process/stages and the roles of the participants are dealt with. The learning objectives are:

• Steps in a DE
• Understanding the basic process/stages of DEs
• Understanding how an effective hearing official handles the process
• Understanding the various roles of participants in the DE
• Understanding the different objectives of the role players

 

 

Session 4         Understanding the law of evidence

The most important skill in DEs is understanding the different weights that various kinds of evidence have. The majority of cases are won or lost on the standards of evidence presented and, therefore, the skill of understanding the value of evidence is critical. The learning objectives for this session are:

• Understanding different values of evidence
• How to distinguish between good and bad evidence

 

Session 5         Chairing at DEs

This session deals with the main skills of chairing DEs.   In this session skills will be provided to enable delegates to structure their enquiries into main points of argument presented by each side and to actively seek evidence and credible argument for these. The learning objective’s are:

• Tools to know what you have to listen for
• Presenting your opening introduction
• How to assess evidence and argument
• How to question the witnesses
• How to identify good evidence
• Learning Activity 2: Practical role play to practice chairing DEs

Session 6         Punishment fit the crime

This session looks at the censure and provides delegates with a feel for how serious various offences are. The objectives are:

• Understanding the seriousness of various offences
• Understanding the concept of progressive corrective discipline
• Knowing how to write summaries , outcomes and censures

Session 7         Assessment and Q and A