Guidance notes for officers appealing
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Once the decision has been made
Within 48 hours of the hearing a letter will be sent to you, your
representative and to the department/agency giving the Board’s decision.
This will be followed within a period of 20 working days by the detailed
reasons for the Board’s conclusions (the Hearing Report).
If the dismiss is found to be fair, no further action can be taken by the
Board once the Report has been issued.
If the Board decides that the Department’s/Agency’s decision was unfair:
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it may recommend that you should be reinstated or
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decide that compensation should be paid or
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recommend that some other course of action it considered to be
appropriate should be taken.
The Head of your department/agency takes the final decision on whether to
accept a recommendation to reinstate. If your appeal is upheld and a
recommendation to reinstate is made, the department/agency are expected to
notify the CSAB of
its decision within 28 days of the hearing report being issued. If the
decision is not to reinstate then an award of compensation will be made.
The compensation awarded by the Board may be increased or reduced from 100%
for one of three reasons. Failure by a Department or Agency to follow the
statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedures, which were brought into
effect by the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004,
will result in an adjustment to the level of compensation awarded. Equally,
if the Board finds that an employee has been dismissed unfairly but has
failed to follow the statutory procedure (for instance they did not attend
the disciplinary hearing without good cause), compensation will be reduced.
Reductions can also be made if the case was found procedurally unfair (the
“Polkey” factor), but, apart from that, the dismissal was justifiable and
also if it is felt that you were in some way responsible for the
circumstances which led to your dismissal (the contributory fault factor).
Representations will be sought from both you and your representative and
the department/agency before the Board take a decision on any reduction to
be made. When compiling your representations you will need to bear in mind
the following questions:
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“Polkey” factor - what was the likelihood of dismissal had the correct
procedures been followed?
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Contributory fault - did my actions lead to dismissal? In your
representations you should note down the reasons why you do or do not
believe you are either wholly or partly responsible and how much you
believe the impact of your actions affected the decision to dismiss.
When the award has been calculated you will be sent details of the award
and you will also be sent a copy of the representations made by the
department/agency and they will be sent yours. The CSAB follow the guidelines set out
by the Employment Tribunal Service. It is expected that the award should be
made within 42 days of the compensation award details being issued.
