What happens if an employee is suspected of gross misconduct – do you automatically suspend them?

Does your suspension letters say: ‘Suspension is a neutral act’?

Here’s a secret. Suspension is NOT a neutral act. As we know there’s no smoke without fire. Anyone who comes into contact with that employee knows they’ve been suspended. That includes colleague, clients, customers and suppliers. They assume the employee must have done something seriously wrong and it can tarnish their reputation.

I am of the view that there are TWO, and only two, occasions when it is acceptable to suspend an employee. The threshold is low, but you’ve still got to reach it. This is where the employer reasonably believes that they need to keep the employee out of the workplace because:

1. there is a real risk the employee will interfere with the investigation; or,

2. there is a real risk the employee’s presence will damage the business interests.

This point has been looked at in the Tribunal. The most recent of which was in the Employment Appeal Tribunal last year. This case involved a school, which suspended a teacher when it was not justified. The EAT decided that their act of suspension was enough to allow the employee to resign and claim unfair constructive dismissal.

It was found that the school’s act of suspension was a breach of trust and confidence which entitled her to resign and claim unfair dismissal. It will be interesting to see how this develops with further case law as it will be reviewed again.

So make sure before you just suspend an employee think very carefully if what they have done justifies this action.