If you stay quiet about your suspension, a tribunal can weigh that against you later, but the duty to investigate fairly still sits with your employer.
“Put your objections and evidence requests in writing during the process, because your silence can be weighed later even though the duty to be fair stays with your employer.”
Put your objections and evidence requests in writing during the process, because your silence can be weighed later even though the duty to be fair stays with your employer.
- If your suspension feels wrong, object in writing straight away.
- Name any witness who could support you and ask, in writing, for them to be called.
- Ask for the evidence and statements the employer is relying on, and keep copies.
Suspension response letter generator
Generate a formal letter responding to your suspension. Five letter types cover common situations, with the first one free.
Open tool →The situation
The employee was a teacher with long service and, until this, a clean record. A pupil accused him of grabbing him, pushing him into a wall and holding fingers to his throat. The teacher was suspended and denied the allegation throughout. He did not suggest at the time that his suspension was inappropriate, and at his disciplinary hearingA formal meeting at which your employer sets out the allegation against you and gives you the opportunity to respond before any decision is made. You have the right to be accompanied by a colleague or... he did not ask for further witnesses to be called or further questions to be put. He was summarily dismissed and later argued that the investigation had been inadequate, in particular because the employer had not passed on to him, or to the disciplinary panel, statements from three people who had said they saw nothing.
What the tribunal found
The Employment Appeal Tribunal dismissed his appeal. It accepted that where an allegation could end someone's career, a higher standard of investigation is expected. On the facts, though, it held the employer had stayed within the range of reasonable responses when it decided that witnesses who had seen nothing of the specific incident added nothing worth putting before the panel. On the teacher's silence, the tribunal said his failure to raise points during the internal process was "not an irrelevant consideration", but it was clear that the obligation to run a fair investigation remained with the employer, not the employee.
Hargreaves v Governing Body of Manchester Grammar School | UKEAT/0048/18/DA | Employment Appeal Tribunal | 11 June 2018