This procedure hasn't been fit for use since the day it was introduced and has been widely abused by the managers. Under the B&T agreement this procedure has been looked at and is being changed to reflect some of the issues raised throughout this thread and others. The most important being that we will have the right of appeal at each stage and so this should help with the management culture of issue all warnings, because we don't have the right of appeal.
Unfortunatly, this agreement relies on the managers to use common sense and apply fairness, I don't think so.
Below are some of the mistakes made with the agreement.
TIME SCALES.
I triggered a stage 1 in 1988 (but haven't had an interview) and according to HQ the business could actually still request this interview and presumable issue me the stage warning. This is because the agreement only has trigger points and doesn't actually state time scales for interview because HQ thought that it would allow for medical reports,etc....
Appeals managers have the unwritten rule that 12 weeks is the maximum time frame that they feel comfortable with and guess an ET may have shaped there thinking?.
I remember getting a reply from Mr M Collins national indoor sec (retired) informing me that a number of agreements sit outside the grievence procedure and the attendance procedure was one of them, hence in my patch the managers often say that the stage 3 is to hear your grievences. Although it would seem that some people have used the grievence procedure so give it a go.
It would be useful to know the managers rational for issuing the warning and if he has just said something like you have breached the standards agreed withe the CWU then you would have strong grounds to challange the procedure on the basis that the manager must explain his rational for making the decision and consider all your mitigation. Appeals manager and ET's would struggle to except that all your mitigation had been taking into consideration if the managers rational didn't show it.
You could also send all your paperwork to Mr Ray Ellis at CWU HQ for some guidance on how best to deal with the issue.
Perhaps you can provide the rational used by this manager inorder that a better response could be formulated.
