Guides
Workplace defence guides
Written for the person who has just had the letter. Each guide answers one situation completely: what your employer has to do, what you are entitled to ask for, what the deadlines are, and where these cases are actually won and lost. No sign-up, no gate, no obligation.
Where to start
Find the stage you are at
A workplace disciplinary runs in a fixed order, and what you can usefully do changes at every step. The most common mistake is not a bad answer in the hearing. It is arriving at the hearing having already lost the ground that was available two weeks earlier, when the allegations could still have been narrowed and the evidence could still have been requested.
| Stage | What is happening | What is worth doing now |
|---|---|---|
| Investigation | Facts are being gathered. You may be suspended. Nothing has been decided. | Get the allegations, the evidence and the policy in writing. Keep your own dated note of every conversation. |
| Invitation and hearing | A case to answer has been found. You are notified in writing with a date. | Check whether the notice period is genuinely reasonable, request anything missing, and decide who is coming with you. |
| Categorisation | The allegation is labelled misconduct or gross misconduct. The label sets the range of sanctions. | Test the label itself. A great many allegations are pitched a category higher than the conduct supports. |
| Outcome and appeal | A decision is issued in writing. A short internal deadline to appeal starts running. | Lodge in time even if the full grounds follow. Remember the tribunal clock is not paused by the appeal. |
| After dismissal | Employment has ended. Time limits, conciliation and settlement all engage at once. | Notify ACAS early. Start a job search log the same week: it protects the largest part of any award. |
Zhan Associates is not a firm of solicitors and does not provide legal advice. These guides explain published law and procedure so you can make your own decisions about your own case.
The library
All guides
The disciplinary process
Investigation and suspension
What an investigation is for, what it is not, and why being suspended is not a finding against you. Includes what to ask for in writing on day one.
Read the guide → The hearingDisciplinary hearings
What actually happens in the room, what your employer has to do first, and how to prepare in the days you have rather than the days you want.
Read the guide → The allegationGross misconduct allegations
What makes conduct gross rather than serious, why summary dismissal still requires a fair process, and where these cases are most often won.
Read the guide → After the outcomeAppeal hearings
The most misused stage in the whole procedure. How to write grounds that work, what an appeal can cure, and the clock that keeps running while you use it.
Read the guide →Your rights in the room
The right to be accompanied
Who you can bring, what they are allowed to do, what happens if the date does not work, and the limits nobody explains until you are already sitting down.
Read the guide → Raising a complaintRaising a grievance
How to put a complaint in writing so it has to be answered, what happens when a grievance collides with a disciplinary, and when a grievance is the wrong tool.
Read the guide → Losing your jobUnfair and constructive dismissal
The two routes people search for most, the tests that apply to each, and why the sequence before you resign decides more than the resignation itself.
Read the guide → Equality Act 2010Discrimination and dispute resolution
Protected characteristics, the shifting burden of proof, mandatory ACAS Early Conciliation, and what an ET1 has to establish.
Read the guide →The law is changing
What changes in October 2026
Tribunal time limits double on 1 October. The harassment and trade union duties land on 30 October. Two dates, routinely reported as one.
Read the guide → Dated changeWhat changes in January 2027
Unfair dismissal protection at six months instead of two years, the compensatory cap abolished, and fire and rehire becoming automatically unfair.
Read the guide →Free tools
Put a number on it
Two calculators sit alongside these guides. Both run entirely in your browser and nothing you type is sent to us. The Schedule of Loss calculator works out what a tribunal could award if a claim succeeded, applying the statutory reductions in the order the legislation requires. The Settlement calculator works out a realistic negotiating range, which is a different question with different variables and almost always a smaller number.
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