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In Secretary of State for Justice and Mansfield, the EAT has held that whilst an employer is undertaking disciplinary proceedings against an employee at the same time as a criminal investigation is ongoing, the employer has a wide discretion to decide whether to continue with the disciplinary or postpone it, pending the outcome of the police investigation.
Mr. Mansfield was being investigated by the police in relation to allegations of planting drugs. His employer, the Secretary of State for Justice was conducting disciplinary proceedings against him for the same offences and decided to postpone the disciplinary proceedings pending the outcome of the criminal investigation. The EAT found that this could not be criticised as being unreasonable in the circumstances.
The EAT also found that the Tribunal at first instance had mistakenly confused the lack of honest belief in the alleged misconduct with the lack of reasonable grounds for such belief. It was not for the Tribunal to determine who they believed in respect of the misconduct, rather it was for them to determine whether the employer had reached a reasonable decision having considered all the evidence available to them.
It has long been considered the case that it is not always necessary for an employer to postpone disciplinary proceedings pending a criminal investigation, and this case serves to assert that principle. That being said, each case should be considered on its merits and employers should exercise caution when running disciplinary proceedings alongside an ongoing criminal investigation.
