My friend works in a hostel where young troubled people live.

Hello, my name is XXXXX XXXXX it is my pleasure to assist you with your question today.

What remark was made?

How long has she worked there for?

is she being disciplined?

ok let me get my response ready please

It is not illegal to have recorded the conversation in the first place so if needed the person could have forwarded it to the employer to raise a complaint. However, what really matters is how the employer deals with it and what happens next.

As this is an alleged act of misconduct, that is a common reason for taking disciplinary action against an employee. It could be due either to a single serious act of misconduct or a series of less serious acts over a period of time.

In order to justify that disciplinary action on grounds of misconduct was fair, the law requires that the employer:

• Conducts a reasonable investigation;


• Follows a fair disciplinary procedure; and


• Shows they had reasonable grounds to believe the employee was guilty.

In addition, the employer is expected to follow the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures.

In general, before any formal decision and penalty are taken the employer must consider how serious the offence is, how it has impacted the business or clients and if it warrants formal action being taken. After all, in this case this was a comment made in private, not directly to the person’s face, and not intended to be made public or reach the person about whom it was made. It was also only discovered through covert recording, when she had no expectation for it to be there.

So whilst she cannot really take any action against the person who made the complaint, all eyes are on the employer now and how they deal with this issue, ensuring it is done in a fair and reasonable manner. If she has any concerns then she can always appeal any formal decision taken against her and depending on the outcome – consider further action as appropriate.

for example if dismissal is the outcome - claim for unfair dismissal in the employment tribunal

if personal information about others was recorded and is being used there would be potential data protection issues but even then that is not for your friend to be concerned with as it is the people whose information was recorded that would have the right to complain