Predetermination is when the outcome of a disciplinary or grievance has effectively been decided before you’ve had a real chance to explain your side. It can look like a decision-maker treating the hearing as a formality, or an outcome letter that reads as though it was written before the meeting even happened.
In the Smith case, an employer ran a ten to fifteen minute meeting and dismissed the employee by text two hours later, having already treated her guilt as settled. The tribunal found that predeterminationPredetermination is when the outcome of a disciplinary or grievance has effectively been decided before you've had a real chance to explain your side. It can look like a decision-maker treating the he... made the dismissal unfair, even though the underlying belief about what she'd done was reasonable.