Disciplinary Procedure definition

A disciplinary procedure is a process for dealing with perceived employee misconduct. Organisations will typically have a wide range of disciplinary procedures to invoke depending on the severity of the transgression.

Disciplinary procedures vary between informal and formal processes. Informal disciplinary procedures may not be codified and may be handled ‘discretely’ by a manager, while formal procedures are more likely to be codified in a company handbook or employment contract and followed closely by the employer because disagreement over handling could result in an employment tribunal.

For serious transgressions, employees are likely to be suspended from work while the disciplinary action is on-going.

Acas provides guidance to UK HR departments on how to handle disciplinary procedures and while there’s no legal requirement to follow them, pay outs at employment tribunals may be larger if you don’t.