Communications giant O2 has sacked at least six workers who used staff discounts to buy Apple iPhones and sold them on the internet at a profit, according to reports. Employees in London-based stores allegedly bought large quantities of the fashiona  More...
02 June 2008 16:13

A country-wide database of 'workplace offenders' will be launched later this month to combat the annual loss of half-a-billion pounds through staff theft and fraud. The National Staff Dismissal Register will allow employers to share and access detai  More...
08 May 2008 14:58

The recent media spotlight on the expenses claims of MPs should be a reminder to employers to keep an eye on the expenses claims of their own staff. In fact, recent surveys suggest that 5% to 20% of all expenses claims are either inflated or simply fic  More...
17 March 2008 16:00

Q One of our managers was out at a social event with staff. In an incident witnessed by everyone present, he got a female member of staff in a headlock and grabbed her breasts. The woman later reported the incident, but stated that she didn't want it ta  More...
13 March 2008 11:39

Court staff will face disciplinary action for serious failures that resulted in hundreds of defendants escaping trial and thousands more avoiding being recorded on the Police National Computer (PNC). Justice secretary Jack Straw announced an urgent   More...
13 March 2008 09:33

Half of small and medium-sized firms are "afraid" to discipline staff for fear of being sued, new research has found. A survey of 1,100 employers conducted by employment law firm, Peninsula, found that nine in 10 respondents would discipline staff i  More...
28 February 2008 11:28

One-third of Liverpool-based employers believe they should take an interest in the drinking exploits of their staff outside working hours. A survey of 300 businesses by the Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University, found that  More...
26 February 2008 15:21

Two staff who bound a student with plastic cable ties during a lesson at Folkestone Academy in Kent have been sacked. The teacher and a class instructor tied up 16-year-old Jamie Rolfe during an engineering lesson at the flagship academy, and were  More...
15 February 2008 14:24

In many cases, employees who are subject to disciplinary action are suspended as a matter of course. However, the recent case of Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust v Atkinson has highlighted the danger of suspension witho  More...
04 February 2008 13:00

Christmas parties are being binned like week-old turkey, according to the first of what will surely be a stockingful of surveys tenuously related to the birth of Jesus. More than a third of organisations will not be holding festive bashes this year,   More...
29 November 2007 10:09

An Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report has found that Commissioner Sir Ian Blair tried to prevent its investigation into the death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005. The report underlined a series of failings, including  More...
09 November 2007 08:00

Say it quietly but, it seems, the "S" word is alive and well in the workplace and having a positive effect on morale. Swearing, according to recent research from the University of East Anglia-based Norwich Business School, is regularly used to re  More...
29 October 2007 00:00

A total ban on employees accessing Facebook, MySpace or Bebo at work is an "over-reaction", the TUC has warned. Instead, employers should trust staff to spend a few minutes of their lunchbreak 'poking' their friends or making plans for activities out  More...
30 August 2007 12:37

Doctors trained overseas are twice as likely as those who graduated in the UK to face formal disciplinary hearings after a complaint has been made against them, it has been revealed. A General Medical Council (GMC) report showed that less than 16%  More...
10 August 2007 15:00

Poor timekeeping, unauthorised absence and poor performance levels are rife in the average workplace, according to research by Personnel Today’s sister publication, Employment Review . When HR practitioners were asked about the issues that frequent  More...
10 July 2007 00:00

New legislation handing local authorities the power to issue parking-style fines to businesses for breaching trading and environmental health rules could be abused as a council revenue raiser, retailers have warned. The British Retail   More...
18 May 2007 11:30

BP  sacked 642 staff and contractors in 2006 for unethical behaviour and for breaking laws and other regulations. The figure - the largest since 2002 and an increase of 164 cases on 2005 - excludes dismissals from its retail business, the en  More...
15 May 2007 00:00

If a member of staff is convicted of a crime or is part of an investigation, how should HR react? Kate Hilpern reports.  More...
01 May 2007 10:47

Employee blogs are an increasing concern for UK businesses and could have legal ramifications, a law firm has warned. Nick Poole, partner at law firm Latimer Hinks , has urged employers to review their policies to cover internet blogging, followi  More...
20 April 2007 10:30

Mezey v South West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust [2007], EWHC 62 Dr Mezey was a consultant psychiatrist. One of her patients, while on release from hospital, murdered someone. Internal enquiries were critical of Mezey  More...
10 April 2007 00:00

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is a the centre of a bitter dispute with unions after suggesting that up to 14,000 employees could face disciplinary action unless they open an account with the RBS group and have their salary paid into it. The b  More...
23 March 2007 11:20

I was disturbed to read your news story headed 'Theft: Bye Chocolate' ( Personnel Today , 30 January). The trust is currently engaged in an investigation into the theft of significant quantities of food at Christmas (estimated to be in the region o  More...
06 March 2007 00:00

Leicester University recently conducted a survey among a representative sample of 2,000 people, asking whether they would commit fraud if they knew they could get away with it. Disturbingly, seven in 10 admitted they would. So it is not su  More...
30 January 2007 08:00

Three nurses were facing disciplinary action last week for one of the most hideous crimes known to employees. The three villains of Mayday Hospital, Croydon, were hauled in front of bosses after being caught on CCTV cameras eating chocolate cake that wa  More...
30 January 2007 00:00

Public disciplinary tribunals in the police service would be a "nightmare to manage" and should only be used in exceptional circumstances, force HR chiefs have warned. Senior figures have voiced concerns after reports last week that the Independent P  More...
09 January 2007 09:25

Tesco is yet to decide on its position regarding employee Tom Stephens, who was suspended after being identified as a suspect in the investigation into the murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich. Stephens, 37, was arrested in December on suspici  More...
03 January 2007 11:08

Police officers face the prospect of public disciplinary tribunals for the first time in the force’s history, according to reports. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is said to have identified a potential case for a public hearing  More...
03 January 2007 11:05

Suffolk strangler suspect Tom Stephens will give Tesco a huge HR headache if he is released by police this week, according to experts. Stephens, 37, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of the murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich. He is currentl  More...
21 December 2006 11:54

HR professionals have been warned they must discipline office Christmas party-goers who step out of line - or risk being sued. Greg Campbell, head of employment at law firm Faegre & Benson , said companies needed to be seen to enforce a strict polic  More...
06 December 2006 08:05

Hertfordshire Police has insisted that an e-mail distributed among employees showing a black man being decapitated is not a sign of racism within the force. The service has disciplined 140 officers and staff for circulating the offensive e-mail, whic  More...
05 December 2006 07:57

Almost one third of UK directors have stolen confidential information from their employer, research has revealed. About 29% of the 1,385 employees surveyed by Hummingbird IT company and YouGov pollsters admitted to taking confidential company materia  More...
18 September 2006 14:04

Brent Council has experienced a dramatic drop in the number of employment tribunals it fights by setting up a review panel to determine the "lessons learned" from cases. Tribunal numbers peaked at 33 back in 2000, but have now fallen to a low of just   More...
13 September 2006 08:00

Lusty Rural Payments Agency staff held to account for inappropriate behaviour.  More...
10 August 2006 11:53

Consultation on disabled access to police complaints procedure launched.  More...
12 July 2006 16:09

by Michael Bll, employment partner, Halliwells  More...
11 July 2006 00:00

This year’s study found employers dealing, on average, with around 66 disciplinary cases and 19 grievances over the previous 24 months. This represents a three-fold increase on the numbers reported in a similar IRS survey last year. Despite t  More...
28 June 2006 10:40

More than three-quarters of employers have disciplined staff in the past two years because they were simply not up to the job, according to research by Personnel Today’s sister publication IRS Employment Review. Poor performance and capability is  More...
27 June 2006 00:00

Loud dresser pays price for defying company dress code.  More...
07 June 2006 09:35

Carole Spiers, business stress consultant  More...
25 April 2006 00:00

Insurance worker faces disciplinary action over online activities.  More...
11 April 2006 12:44

Three immigration officials had sex with visa applicants wanting to extend their stays in the UK, the Home Office has admitted.  More...
16 March 2006 10:34

The Commission for Racial Equality is to investigate Merseyside police officers who circulated overtly racist e-mails.  More...
20 February 2006 11:27

The former vice-chairman of Wal-Mart faces a maximum prison sentence of 28 years and a $1.35m (£757,000) fine after pleading guilty to fiddling his expenses.   More...
08 February 2006 08:00

Michael Corcoran, a solicitor in the Steeles employment team, offers advice on disciplinary procedures  More...
17 January 2006 12:29

What action can employers take if workers behave inapproriately?  More...
15 November 2005 00:00

Employers are already beginning to regret agreeing to stage works Christmas party.  More...
11 November 2005 08:58

British Airways is to discipline three senior shop stewards behind August's wildcat strikes at Heathrow  More...
25 October 2005 15:57

British retailers are suffering from thefts by staff which is costing employers £1.5bn last year, a report has found.   More...
05 October 2005 11:05

British Airways has begun disciplinary proceedings against three shop stewards following August's unofficial strike action at Heathrow Airport.   More...
21 September 2005 11:15

Lawyers have warned employers to tread carefully when dealing with staff discipline in the wake of the London terror attacks.  More...
22 July 2005 09:00

The GMB is calling on the EC to outlaw the use of RFID and GPS satellite linked tags to track workers in the workplace  More...
18 July 2005 15:25

A man has been sentenced to three years' probation and placed on the sex offenders register after trying to carry out an interview in the nude.  More...
15 June 2005 09:00

The discovery of a huge industrial spying ring in Israel which used computer viruses to probe the systems of a host of major rival companies has brought the issue of industrial espionage firmly back into the limelight. Daniel Thomas reports.  More...
07 June 2005 00:00

Staff who spend work time on the internet or e-mailing friends gain an equivalent of seven to 14 days paid leave a year  More...
14 April 2005 10:10

Unethical behavour cost 252 employees their jobs at BP in 2004   More...
12 April 2005 08:00

The home office review of disciplinary procedures in the Police Service has called for modern mangement practices to be introduced  More...
18 March 2005 10:35

Wading through reams of new legislation and caught between frustrated managers and aggrieved employees, the lot of the HR manager is often unenviable.  More...
08 March 2005 00:00

A Stansted Airport check-in worker suspended for having too much gel in his hair will have to wait a week to find out if he has been sacked or not   More...
16 February 2005 09:10

Most organisations have had to deal with incidents concerning illegal or inappropriate images in the workplace, according to a recent survey  More...
15 February 2005 00:00

What can you do when you suspect an employee is faking their sick leave or stealing company property? Roisin Woolnough finds that it pays to look and learn   More...
08 February 2005 00:00

The case of a care home nurse suspended over an allegation of assault proves that employers must make sure they have contractual grounds to withhold pay   More...
25 January 2005 00:00

Alarm bells could replace Jingle Bells for employers holding Christmas events this year if they fail to prepare for a number of 'party pitfalls', warns Croner Consulting  More...
21 December 2004 10:30

Survey reveals substantial admissions that staff are aware of dishonesty at work  More...
20 December 2004 09:15

A naval officer will not return to command HMS Somerset following an investigation into his management style  More...
17 December 2004 11:08

Almost three-quarters (71 per cent) of UK companies have had to take disciplinary action as a result of employees viewing pornographic images on their company computers, according to research. The survey, by the Chartered Institute of Personnel  More...
15 December 2004 15:50

As Christmas approaches, be wary of the expectations employees may have of your obligations towards them. Andrew Yule, in the litigation team at Withers LLP, explodes 12 Festive Office Myths  More...
23 November 2004 08:00

The Seven Deadly Sins of Discipline, compiled by employment law specialist Kate Russell, are a sure way to poor staff relations and standards, dismissals backfiring, and even compensation claims totalling tens of thousands of pounds  More...
16 November 2004 08:00

Lunchtime drinking is making a comeback, according to a survey by employment law consultancy Peninsula. A third of the 1,300 people questioned said they had a  lunchtime drink three times a week, while three-quarters admitted to having had a few  More...
27 October 2004 12:26

Employers need to make small but significant changes to internal processes surrounding discipline, illness and annual leave for temporary workers. If they do not, a tribunal may decide that a long-term temp is under the control of the firm and the  More...
01 June 2004 17:35

Employers must strike a balance between keeping an eye on poor performance and protecting the employees' rightto privacy if monitoring policies are to work. Liz Hall reports  More...
01 June 2004 11:12