presiding officer must hear all the evidence
19 September 2008

The central reason that a presiding officer (PO) attends a disciplinary hearing is to hear and understand the evidence from both sides. The PO must hear this evidence properly in order to be able to consider it once the hearing is adjourned for purposes of a verdict. The PO then assesses evidence collected at the hearing in order to decide whether the employee is guilty or not guilty of the charges.

Later in the process, if the verdict is guilty, the PO must decide on the corrective action most appropriate to the circumstances. But this key task is more difficult to achieve if the PO's collecting of evidence is hampered.  Such obstacles could, for example, include the absence of key participants, unjustified objections, unnecessary adjournments and disruptive behaviour by the parties at the disciplinary hearing.

Absence of key particulars - Participants in a disciplinary hearing would typically include:

The presiding officer, the accused, the accused's representative, the complainant (person bringing the charges on behalf of the employer), an interpreter (where required), witnesses and a scribe. Sometimes an HR adviser also attends for procedural reasons.  Where the accused fails to attend, continuation of the hearing in his/her absence should be considered as a possibility only if it is established that the employee has chosen not to attend without good reason.

The employer must, at the outset, ensure that the accused's representative and witnesses are released from duty to be at the hearing. The employer must also offer to arrange for an appropriate interpreter if the hearing is not being conducted in the accused's home language. Objections - Where parties raise procedural objections the PO must give these serious consideration, assess their validity and deal with those problems that merit correction.

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Ivan Israelstam,  www.labourguide.co.za