It was interesting to hear on the radio yesterday how Oscar Pistorius' sentence has been increased on appeal.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/06/africa/oscar-pistorius-sentence/
ACAS guidance states that "An appeal must never be used as an opportunity to punish the employee for appealing the original decision, and it should not result in any increase in penalty as this may deter individuals from appealing".
I remember dealing a long time ago with a case of alleged sexual harassment where the disciplinary hearing manager gave a final written warning as they ignored a previous discplinary penalty on the employee's file (for the same misconduct) as it had recently expired. The appeal hearing manager on appeal increased the penalty to dismissal as even they the warning had recently expired they took this and other factors e.g. duty of care into account.
So my question is what are your views on if at an appeal the hearing manager has the option to increase the penalty or is this fundamentally against natural justice?
It would be great to hear your views on this.
All the best
Sarah
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