I was suspended from work on full pay after a false, unfounded allegation was made against me. During that period, I received no updates or contact from my company.
When I returned to work after the allegation was deemed unfounded, I put in a grievance regarding the handling of my suspension.
I argued that the policies used for my suspension were not implemented properly, and that members of the management did not adhere to procedures that are standard practice.
The grievance panel eventually found for the company and rejected my grievances. They recognised that lessons were learned and recommendations will be made going forward.
Your work questions answered: I was humiliated and verbally abused by my manager, what rights do I have?
Your work questions answered: My employee has changed hours without permission, what can I do?
My company is clamping down on working from home. Can I reject this change?
Your work questions answered: ‘I have ADHD and so work from home a lot. When I go to the office, nobody speaks to me’
I have been out sick with work-related stress and, in total, have been out of work for more than a year. I am now considering legal action – what are your thoughts on this?
There have been several high-profile cases before the courts in recent years concerning suspensions, including some which acted as “wake-up calls” for employers carrying out workplace investigations, says Anne O’Connell, principal of employment law firm AOC Solicitors.
“Once you were paying them [employees], and it wasn’t a sanction, you used to be able to do it no problem,” she says, but several cases have brought to light the reputational damage that can arise when an employee is placed on suspension.
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“You have to justify to the employee that it’s necessary to suspend them,” she says, adding that the employee in question should be allowed to respond to the proposed suspension, which should be considered before any decision is made.
Suspensions during workplace investigations should only be used where warranted, which could take into account the nature of the alleged misconduct, or inability to keep parties separated in the workplace.
Where a suspension is deemed necessary, the workplace investigation should be carried out as promptly as possible.
“The suspension for six months would have been an unlawful suspension if it wasn’t explained as necessary, but it also depends on the nature and seriousness of the complaint,” she says.
First and foremost in this situation, O’Connell advises for legal advice to be sought. Generally speaking, those who feel their suspension is unfair can apply to the High Court for an injunction preventing the suspension.
Given this opportunity has passed for this reader, O’Connell says the option of a personal injury case claiming distress can be “very hard to get over the line”.
“They would need to prove they had an actual injury, and they would have to prove that the injury was caused by the action of the employer – which is quite hard to prove,” she says.
“You’d also have to prove that the company was on notice that their actions could have this impact on them,” she adds.
A breach-of-contract case is another option for those who feel they have been unfairly suspended, though O’Connell advises seeking legal advice where all facts can be laid bare.
Although employers are legally obliged to investigate such complaints, the process, including suspensions, “can cause a lot of suffering and stress to all parties”, says Michelle Halloran, independent HR consultant and workplace investigator with Halloran HR Resolutions.
While the reader was vindicated regarding the allegation of misconduct, affected parties rarely gain any “emotional closure”, and employers often have difficulty knowing how to manage the aftermath of such situations.
“If I was the HR manager, I would apologise if their own procedures were found to be flawed, and the company should be looking at how to alleviate their stress,” she says.
If the employer did not adhere to its own procedures, and the reader felt the suspension in itself was a sanction, they could take a case through the Workplace Relations Commission, she says.
Due to the duration of investigations, Halloran would often advise employers not to place employees on suspension, though companies are frequently stuck between “a rock and a hard place” as these scenarios can be difficult to manage.
“Normally, if you’ve got to suspend someone, it’s the person accused of wrongdoing, but I would always suggest to companies that they temporarily separate them [accuser and accused] so they’re not working closely with each other, and keep them both in a job pending the outcome of the investigation,” she says. This is not always possible, however, she adds.
