The Chairman Of The Hearing

The Chairman of the hearing must be impartial and not display any bias in favour of the Employer. For this reason, the Chairman should be a member of senior management who was not involved in the investigation of the alleged offence. If the size of the Employer or the seniority of the offender makes this practically impossible, and the seriousness of the offence warrants it, consideration should be given to engaging the services of an outsider, such as a labour consultant or any attorney, to chair the hearing.

The requirement that the Chairman should not be biased is fundamental to the fairness of the hearing. Some of the more important implications of this requirement are:

• The Chairman should not have made his mind up prior to the hearing.
• He should not discuss the detail of the matter, either with the managers investigating the offence, or the offender or his representative.
• The Chairman may ask questions at the hearing, but only to clarify issues. The questions should not be of such a nature that they indicate he has already come to a decision, or that he is taking sides in the matter.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the Chairman should adjourn the proceedings for sufficient time to allow him to consider all the evidence that has been placed before him, both verbal and documentary. In hearings where the issues are relatively straightforward, this may be a very short adjournment. However, at the close of lengthy hearings where considerable evidence of a contradictory nature has been led, the Chairman may require a day or two to come to a decision.

At the reconvened hearing the Chairman must advise the parties of his findings on the charges. The range of possible findings would include:

• Not guilty of all charges.
• Guilty on some of the charges, and not guilty on others.
• Not guilty of the offences as charged, but guilty of a lesser related offence (i.e. not guilty of theft, but guilty of unauthorised possession of Employer property).

If there is any finding of guilt, the Chairman should then request the employee (or his representative) to address him on an appropriate sanction, or factors that would mitigate against dismissal. Such factors would include:

• Length of service and a clean disciplinary record.
• Provocation (e.g. abusive language from a foreman leading to assault by an employee).
• Personal circumstances, such as sole breadwinner for a large family, a child requiring expensive long-term medical treatment, etc.).

After an adjournment to consider these factors the Chairman should return and advise the hearing of his decision regarding sanction, e.g. summary dismissal, dismissal with notice, final warning.

The Chairman must then inform the Employee that his written decision will be available within a reasonable time (see paragraph “How to write a Judgement” below).

Alternatively; the chairman may request the parties at the conclusion of the hearing to address the issues of an appropriate sanction should the employee be found guilty. Thereafter the chairman may take a few days to consider both the question of guilt and an appropriate sanction and provide each of the parties with a copy of the written judgement.