If you feel that action needs to be taken against one of your employees, before you do anything you must first establish the facts behind the incident before you decide to take it any further.  Do this as soon as you can especially if it involves another staff member to ensure the details are clear and fresh in their mind.

You now need to decide if the incident is worth perusing any further.  You could decide to drop the case or speak to the person involved in an informal unofficial capacity or deal with it officially from this point on under the disciplinary procedure.  This decision is only one which you can make, however, if you decide to drop the case or deal with it informally, you will be unable to use this incident as evidence should disciplinary proceeding be needed on the second occurrence of the same offence. If you deal with an issue informally, you must make it clear what will happen to the employee should the situation not improve.

Should you decide to take official action, you need to inform the employee of the seriousness and organise a meeting where you can both discuss the situation.  Should a conclusion be made that you need to take disciplinary action then you need to decide what action you intend to take, however, you must ensure at this stage that all parties involved are aware of what is about to happen and why.  Keep records of what has happened and what actions you have taken.

Warnings

There are three types of warning you may decide to issue - oral, written and final written warning; which you decide to use will depend on the seriousness of the incident and the number of times it has happened

Oral - For minor incidences you may decide to issue a verbal or oral warning.  Here you would verbally advise the employee on the reasons for the warning and inform them that this is the first steps of the disciplinary procedures.  Include steps they can take to improve. Keep a written record of what has been said in their employment file.  This should stay official for around six months and should be spent after this period.

Written Warning - This would be used for more serious offences and involves issuing an employee with a written account of the incident, what improvements you expect to be made by the employee and in what timescale you expect the improvements to be made.  You must also state that the employee will be issued with a final written warning if the situation does not improve. A copy of your letter should be kept on file and should be spent after a period of around 12 months.

"An employer must act reasonably in all the circumstances in treating the reason for dismissing the employee as a sufficient reason for the dismissal.  Not only must the employer have a valid reason for the dismissal, but also he or she must have acted reasonably in all the circumstances in dismissing the employee for that particular reason."

DTI - Fair and unfair dismissal: A Guide for Employers PL714 (REV 9)