Help worried sick here. Gross Misconduct

A question about : Help worried sick here. Gross Misconduct

I am currently suspended due to a supposed incident at work. I recieved a letter over a week ago inviting me to an investigation meeting because a manager in my company heard apparently heard a homophobic comment.
The first I knew about this was in the investigation meeting. the manager heard the comment and turned round and saw me and two other workers in the vicinity of where this comment came from.
I never heard anyone say anything homophobic and I know i definately didnt say anything.
I was asked who the other work collegues were because they could only identify one of them, apparently the manager couldnt see the other person clearly even though we were meant to be stood together.
I could not remember who I was with at that specific time over a week after the event because to me it was just like any other day.
I was suspended while they do a full ivestigation and i have recieved a disciplinary letter with all the evidence against me.
They have interviewed the other collegue who was identified and he heard nothing and couldnt remember the third collegue. (it could have been one of about 10 people).
The only other person interviewed was the manager himself, who doesnt implicate anyone, just says who was around at the time. None of the work collegues who could have been witnesses have been interviewed.
I am now being accused of either saying the comment or covering for someone that has when i Have not even heard the comment in the first place.
Any advice would be helpful because i am so scared of losing my job over something I really have nothing to do with.
I have no warnings at all and have nevewr been in any disciplinary meetings before. Sorry if this is in the wrong area didnt know where else to write this.

Best answers:

• All you can do is tell the truth - you did not hear such a comment and you did not make such a comment. If the manager themselves cannot say who said it, and other employees there at the time cannot recall hearing anyone say this, then they are unlikely to have sufficient evidence to dismiss.
• Thanks thats what I thought. I have been through the statements and like I say the only evidence they have is the managers statement. they have not found the third person involved and are saying that me and the other colleague are aiding and abetting a colleague in homophobic abuse by not saying who the third person is. now i never heard the comment and the only evidence that the comment was made is the managers statement.
• Tell the people falsely accusing you of being a homophobe that you'll have them for defamation of character
• Were you accompanied in the investigative meeting, either by your union rep if you have one or a friend from that workplace?
  Was there a note taker and is the person doing the investigation an appropriate manager? ie one who has the authority to deal with cases like this
  Ask for witness statements and also put in a grievance against the manager if you were not given the chance to be accompanied at the meeting.
  Have a look at the ACAS website, Code of Practice 1. https://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2174
• Remember that you are legally entitled to be accompanied by a colleague or a trade union rep. This is useful as they can take notes for you, as you are likely to be too busy with the interview to take your own notes, and the chances are that you won't remember half of what was said afterwards.
  Also if a disciplinary sanction is applied (warning or dismissal) you have the right to appeal. The appeal will (should!) be heard by someone impartial and not involved in the original investigation/disciplinary.
  From what you say, it seems that there is insufficient evidence to justify dismissal - but do be aware that the decision maker does not have to prove anything 'beyond reasonable doubt'. Rather s/he must come to an honest and reasonable conclusion based on the facts produced by a thorough investigation.
  Good Luck and let us know what happens.
• i was accompanied by my shop steward in the investigation meeting. I was told I was being suspended so i couldnt interfere with the investigation which i fully understand. I assumed they would ask any other people in my department if they heard the comment but all they have done is re-interviewed the manager. The only evidence they have that the comment was made is from the manager. Neither me nor my collegue heard anything so how could they possibly come to am honest and reasonable conclusion that a. The comment was made and b. i am aiding and abetting somebody who made the comment?
  Thanks for everyones help you are making me feel better. My Union delegate is coming to my disciplinary hearing of course I will let you know what happens.
• k66yla how long did it take for you to qualify to become a workplace representitve and what did it involve? I am very interesed in this and there is a vacancy at our place of work if i still have a job to go to fingers crossed.
• I was asked to become a rep last xmas. Though you can put yourself forward to do the job, if there is someone already doing that job you could be sub rep. My union branch office sent me off to their union school for a weeks residential course, though there are courses available online. I'm guessing different unions have their own education department. Check out https://www.solihull.ac.uk/trade_unio...ies-49625.html to get an idea of whats involved.
• If the manager did not know who said it why would they report it? Freaks me out that! Not only that, they were not standing in the group so could easily have misheard or misconstrued something entirely innocent.
  It shocks me that this has gone this far, and all my best wishes to the OP that this action gets nipped in the bud asap without any undue stress.
• I know I could not believe it when they suspended me. I am quite a vocal member of the workforce and am willing to let the management know when i feel something is not dealt with correctly. ie, health and safety issues etc but I have never ever said anything to upset any manager personally. It is just worrying me that they have done this investigation and they are saying I have allegations to answer to when there is little or no evidence to say that i have done anything wrong. Just to add in the ivestigation meeting I was told that the comment was shouted and the manager heard it from 10-15 metres away yet in his interview he says that we were discussing something and he wasnt meant to hear the comment so their story has changed from their original statemen
• The person accusing u could be lieing or said it their self! I would as another person said on here is tell the truth the WHOLE way though. If ur true to ur word then u can't stuff up on anything u say!
  Hope u don't lose ur job over something u haven't done hun
  Good luck x
• Thanks JoJo I have told the truth the whole way through this issue and thats all I can do. my disciplinary is on Tuesday so I will let you know the outcome when I can.
• Can I just say that most employers today take a very strong stance against comments that are potentially unlawful discriminatory - and this stance will be supported by the union, in principle.
  What this means is that any complaint of homophobic behaviour is likely to result in a disciplinary. Why? Because the lower managers or HR won't want to make a decision on such a 'hot potato'.
  So just because you are up on a disciplinary, it does not follow that you will in fact be disciplined - far from it. It means that something has happened which is serious enough to warrant further investigation, and invoking the disciplinary procedure is the correct way to do this - simply to ensure a fair procedure by someone who is impartial.
  The purpose of a disciplinary hearing is to give you the opportunity to put your case, and to say anything that you believe to be relevant. The disciplinary hearing will (should) be chaired by someone who was not involved in the complaint or investigation. S/he will make a decision based on the facts that the investigation has revealed, which includes anything that you have raised at the disciplinary.
  If you are found to have done nothing wrong, there will be no record on your file of the incident or the disciplinary.
  But the employer will still have sent out a clear message that such behavior will not be tolerated.
  I know this probably doesn't make you feel any better about all this as a disciplinary is a stressful experience. But as others have said, all you can do is attend and tell the truth.
• Thanks zzzLazyDaisy. I completely understand that an investigation has to be done due to the serious nature of the comments. I am just stressed because I know I have done nothing but tell the truth during this time. I have not always seen eye to eye with the manager taking the disciplinary however I am sure my Union delegate will help me in my disciplinary meeting. I am just very annoyed that a proper investigation hs not been conducted to establish the full facts of the case.
• Wot annoys me is that this happened to my mate (she got blamed for a racist remark) and it was never proven but went on her notes. Basically people can lie about other people and then when it's said to someone it sticks like mud :/
• A quick update for anyone whos interested, spoke to my union this morning to make sure they had recieved notification of my disciplinary hearing which I was told would happen because my shop steward informed HR he was on holiday this week.
  This hasnt happened and if I had not spoken to the union this morning I would have travelled to my disciplinary and arrived with no representation. The Union are now in the process of postponing the meeting. More time for me to worry about my job which is not great.