An employer came to us with a tribunal claim from a supervisor dismissed for repeated lateness. The lateness was real, witnessed and undisputed. Nothing about it had ever been written down.
Our advice on the second day was to settle, and we explained why: the tribunal would be asked whether a fair process had been followed, not whether the employee had been late. There was no process to show it.
The matter settled at nine weeks for less than the cost of defending it, and we then spent two days writing a warning procedure the company now actually uses. The uncomfortable part of that job was the advice, not the work.
