Who can I take with me to a disciplinary hearing?
Short answer
A trade union representative or a workplace colleague — the statutory right under section 10 of the Employment Relations Act 1999. Your companion can put your case and confer with you, but cannot answer questions on your behalf. Solicitors, friends and family have no automatic right to attend.
Every worker facing a formal disciplinary hearing has a statutory right to be accompanied. The choice is limited to a trade union representative or a workplace colleague, and your employer must agree to your chosen companion unless there is an exceptional reason to refuse. A companion can address the hearing, present your case and confer with you during it — but cannot answer questions for you.
There is no obligation on your employer to admit a solicitor, partner or friend, although some allow it as a matter of policy. If you are a union member, use the representative: they know the employer’s procedure and can spot procedural failures as they happen.
What should have happened before the hearing
- An investigation into the allegations, before any formal hearing is arranged.
- Written notice setting out the allegations, the evidence relied on, and the possible consequences — including whether dismissal is a possible outcome.
- Enough time to prepare, and sight of the evidence, so you can respond to it rather than hear it for the first time in the room.
If the allegations concern events long in the past and the delay has damaged your ability to respond — witnesses gone, records lost — raise that as a procedural objection at the hearing and repeat it on appeal.
Outcomes and appeals
Sanctions must be proportionate, and they escalate: a first written warning for minor misconduct, then a final written warning if similar misconduct occurs while the first is live, then dismissal. Every warning should state how long it stays live on your record.
You have the right to appeal any formal outcome, including a warning, and your employer must tell you so in writing. The appeal should be heard by a different and more senior manager wherever possible.
Being dismissed with no hearing at all is a serious procedural failure that will usually make a dismissal unfair. Write immediately asking for the employer’s appeal process and, after two years’ service, for written reasons for dismissal. Then notify Acas for Early Conciliation — the tribunal deadline is three months less one day from the dismissal date, and it does not wait for your internal appeal to finish.
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