Saving a business time and money on an employee gross misconduct case

Nick Hobden recently advised a commercial client following the suspension of one of their employees who was accused of gross misconduct.

Following the suspension, the employee raised a grievance against one of our client’s directors that required a separate investigation.

There was a considerable amount of evidence of gross misconduct against the employee which could have resulted in summary dismissal without any payment in lieu of their notice. Due to the fact that it was highly probable that the employee would have been dismissed for gross misconduct, our client wanted a more time/cost effective option and so we suggested a settlement agreement and assisted them in putting together an initial offer.

The employee came back with a counteroffer and overall there were a number of areas of agreement but ultimately, after a couple of rounds of negotiation we were able to assist our client with the successful exit of this employee at a cost which was satisfactory to them and no higher than they had wanted to pay.

As a result, a huge amount of management time and money was saved by avoiding the need to investigate the two separate allegations. Instead, our client could invest that time and money into their business, giving them peace of mind.