Employment - Notice of Suspension

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Notice of Suspension

An employer must provide an employee with this notice of suspension, with clear and concise reasons for the upcoming suspension. A Notice of Suspension is given to an employee pending the outcome of an investigation by an employer.

The Labour Relations Act requires that an employer must conduct an investigation prior to taking disciplinary action against an employee and in order to do that the employer may suspend an employee pending a hearing.

When is a Notice of Suspension required?

Suspension reasons checklist:

1.Is there from the evidence available reason to believe that the employee was involved in the misconduct? Yes/ No

2.Is the alleged misconduct of a serious nature? Yes/No

3.Do you believe that the employee may seek to interfere with witnesses, in an attempt to change their versions? Yes/ No

4.Is there critical evidence in the workplace which will be needed during a disciplinary hearing for the employee and do you believe that the employee may tamper with evidence? Yes/ No

5.Could the employee retaliate against the complainant, especially if the complainant is in a lower position that the accused? Yes/No

6.Is there a possibility that the employee may commit further similar acts of misconduct if not suspended? Yes/No

Do not suspend the employee if the answer to either question 1 or 2 are “no”.

Suspension may be considered if the answers to question 1 and 2 are “yes” and at least one other question is answered as “yes”. The Notice of Suspension will provide you with an opportunity to complete the details of the charges against the employee, confirming the date, time and place of the allegations as well as the number of witnesses etc. The Notice of Suspension will further contain a list of the charges against the employee.

Tip: We suggest that you keep a record of each notice of suspension in the employee’s HR folder.

Barter McKellar Law

This document is supplied by Barter McKellar Law.

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