How To Write A Judgement

In writing a judgement the chairman of a hearing should endeavour to strike a balance between dealing with all the relevant issues raised at the hearing and being concise. In order to assist in reaching this balance, we suggest that the judgement should:

Emphasize the Issues be decided by the Chairman

During the hearing, it will become apparent to the chairman that issues are in dispute between the employer and the employee.

These should be stated by the chairman at the commencement of the judgement, e.g.: “I am required to decide upon the following issues:

• Was Mr Smith in the store on the afternoon of 8 December 1997?
• Did he have the authorisation to be in the store?
• Did he remove goods from the store?
• Did he have the authority to remove these goods?

Identifying the issues in this manner will assist the chairman in writing a logical judgement dealing with each of the issues.

Summarise and Analyse the Evidence

It is not necessary to repeat all the evidence in the judgement. The evidence should be summarised and either accepted or rejected, e.g. “I find Mr Jones to be an unreliable witness who contradicted himself on several occasions and who could not possibly have seen what he claims to have seen from the position where he was starting. Accordingly, I reject his evidence as unsatisfactory.”

The judgement should also deal with any problems that the chairman has with the probability and logic of the evidence that he has heard, as well as the consistency of the evidence. In this regards the chairman will often be required to decide which of two mutually contradictory versions of the same events from two different witnesses he will accept. In doing so he must give reasons why he accepts witness A’s version and rejects witness B’s.

Deal With The Version Of The Events Which The Balance Of Probabilities Supports

Having summarised all the evidence and rejected that which is found to be unsatisfactory the chairman will be in a position to indicate in his judgement which version of events is more likely on a balance of probabilities.

Draw Conclusions

Once the evidence is accepted and the balance of probabilities established the chairman must make it clear in his judgement what conclusion he draws, i.e. his judgement as to the facts of the matter.

Conclude With the Sanction

In arriving at an appropriate sanction, the chairman must deal with any evidence in mitigation as well as any aggravating factors presented on behalf of the employer. If the sanction is one of dismissal, the chairman should indicate why he rejected alternative sanctions short of dismissal.

Should the sanction be a final written warning, the judgement must indicate how long the warning will be valid, as well as the fact that the commission of the same or a related offence during the validity of the warning will lead to dismissal.

As a discipline in the workplace should also be corrective in nature a final warning should also include any remedial action that the employee must take to avoid a repetition of the offence, e.g. “During the next month Mr Jones must carefully study the employer’s manual on stock requisition procedures and clarify any areas of uncertainty with his immediate superiors”.