Disciplinary Defence
Specialist representation at your hearing
Direct, in-room defence at disciplinary, grievance and appeal hearings, delivered under your statutory right to be accompanied (Section 10, Employment Relations Act 1999). We attend as a trade union representative accredited by Unite the Union as competent to accompany a worker, one of the three categories the section specifies. We put your case, sum it up, respond on your behalf to views expressed, and confer with you throughout.
Why it works
What this gives you
Accredited statutory standing
Section 10 specifies three categories of companion. We attend as a trade union representative accredited by Unite the Union as competent to accompany a worker, which is the third. Where your request is reasonable and falls within those categories, your employer must agree to it. A solicitor acting as a solicitor sits outside them and can be refused.
A prepared voice in the room
Your employer arrives with HR, a manager and a file. You arrive with a representative who has already stress-tested the evidence and mapped the procedure against the ACAS Code.
Forensic, not emotional
We defend on the evidence: allegations tested against documentation, witness accounts examined, procedural failures identified and put on the record.
Independent of your employer
We act for you alone. We are not HR, not employer-aligned, and not constrained by union qualifying periods.
Scope, in writing
What’s included
- Representation at disciplinary, grievance or appeal hearings
- Attendance as a Unite-accredited trade union representative within the Section 10 categories
- Statutory role exercised in full: putting your case, summing up, responding on your behalf, conferring throughout
- Postponement requests under s.10(4)–(5) where your representative is unavailable
- Procedural benchmarking against the ACAS Code of Practice
- Written record of representations made at the hearing
- Coverage across England & Wales, in person or remote
Transparent fees
What it costs
Every engagement is a fixed fee scaled to your salary band and confirmed in writing before any work begins. No hourly billing, no VAT, no hidden costs.
How salary-banded fees work
Fees are scaled to your gross annual salary — Band A (under £30,000), Band B (£30,000–£39,999), Band C (£40,000–£59,999), Band D (£60,000–£79,999) and Band E (£80,000+). Your exact fixed fee is confirmed in your Engagement Letter before any work begins. We are not VAT registered, so no VAT is added: the fee quoted is the fee you pay.
Questions, answered plainly
Frequently asked questions
No. The Section 10 right to be accompanied applies to workers regardless of union membership, and there is no qualifying period. Most of our clients are not union members, or joined a union too recently to qualify for its support.
The third. Section 10 recognises a fellow worker, an official employed by a trade union, and a trade union representative certified by their union as competent to accompany a worker. Your representative is a trade union representative accredited by Unite the Union as competent to accompany a worker, and that accreditation is the basis on which he attends. It is personal to him: Zhan Associates is an independent practice, this is not union representation, and you do not need to be a member of any union to instruct us.
An employer must permit a companion within the statutory categories where a reasonable request is made, and we fall within them. We issue a formal Notice of Representation to your employer before the hearing, setting out the accreditation and the statutory framework, so the point is settled in correspondence rather than at the door.
Under the statute, your representative may put and sum up your case, respond on your behalf to views expressed, and confer with you during the hearing. We cannot answer questions put directly to you, but we prepare you thoroughly so you answer them well.
The law allows the hearing to be postponed to a reasonable alternative time you propose within five working days of the original date. We manage that request formally.
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