Deciding an incident: the statement, the verdict, referral and HR

What this guide covers

Working an incident from Ready for verdict to closed on the Incident Detail screen: the Sanction Lock, the employee's record, confirming you read the statement, who may decide, Refer to HR, HR taking over, and what happens after the verdict: the employee's signature for receipt and appeals.

Who does this: the decider. That is the issuing manager, the next-level manager from working day 5, HR, or the Managing Director once HR is overdue. Confidential.

The flow

Raise, the employee is heard, the Sanction Lock, ready for verdict, the issuing manager or HR decides, closed with reasons, the employee signs for receipt of a warning or refuses, the employee accepts or disagrees, HR decides the appeal

The detail screen

The document: employee, who raised it, category, incident date, the objective facts and the evidence. Documents the employee added themselves are tagged From the employee, with the date.
Right to Reply: the receipt acknowledgement and the employee's statements, each with its time and the device it came from, plus the time left in the reply window.
The employee's record (managers and HR only): earlier incidents, the warnings that still count, and the next rung on the ladder.
Verdict: who decides and by when, and the verdict form.
Employee's signature (receipt of the sanction), after a warning: every signature request and the employee's answer.
Appeal, if the employee disagreed.
Audit timeline: every step, append-only.

The Sanction Lock

No verdict, a sanction or Not upheld, until the employee's statement is logged or the reply window has lapsed. This applies to both tracks and is enforced by myWork.
An acknowledgement of receipt does not release it; only the statement or the lapse does.
If the employee asks for more time, the manager or HR can click Extend by one working day, once, while the window is still open and before the statement.
HR can click Start the reply clock now for an employee who never clocks in.

Read the statement first

When the employee has given a statement, the Verdict card first shows Read the employee's statement first and the button I have read and considered the employee's statement. The verdict form opens once you click it.

Each decider confirms for themselves: the manager, the next-level manager, HR or the MD.
A statement added later needs a fresh confirmation.
A document from the employee counts too. Documents and photos the employee adds themselves carry a From the employee tag under Evidence. One added after your confirmation also needs a fresh one, so open it before you confirm. A document alone does not release the Sanction Lock; only a written statement or the lapse does.
The confirmation is recorded on the timeline and in the incident's channel, so the employee sees they were heard.
If the window lapsed with no statement, there is nothing to confirm.

The employee's record and the next rung

The record card shows the highest warning that still counts and the next rung on the ladder. On a formal incident the level picker starts at that rung when you may impose it. It is a guide, not a rule: weigh the facts, the statement and how serious the conduct is. Expired warnings stay on file but do not count.

Who decides, and by when

The issuing manager decides up to a Second Written Warning, within 2 working days of the statement or the lapse. The Verdict card shows the due date. Day 3 brings a reminder; from working day 5 the next-level manager may decide too.
A mandatory referral: for Dishonesty / Theft, Assault / Violence / Threats, Harassment and Under the influence, or when the employee already holds a valid Final Written Warning, the card says the incident must go to HR, and only Refer to HR is offered.
Refer to HR: when a Final Written Warning, a suspension or a dismissal hearing is needed, refer with your reason. HR then decides within 3 working days, after which the Managing Director may. Once referred, you can no longer decide or withdraw it. The Verdict card then says so: HR sees a note that the incident is already with HR, so there is nothing to take over, only the statement to confirm and the verdict to give; the manager sees that only HR decides it now.
HR takes over: HR can take any open incident over, at any point before the verdict, with a reason. From then on only HR decides it (the MD if HR misses its 3 working days); the issuing and next-level managers can no longer decide, refer or withdraw it, and the incident's channel tells them why. HR's 3 working days count from the takeover, or from the statement if that comes later. It is not offered on a referred incident: the referral already gave it to HR.
A conflict of interest: if you are a victim, the only witness or personally involved, refer the incident to HR with that reason, or HR takes it over.
Nobody decides an incident about themselves.

Recording the verdict

Impose a sanction: choose the level and write the reasons (required): the finding, what the employee said, and why this level fits. Then Impose Sanction & Close.
Not upheld: if the allegation does not hold up, close it with no sanction and record the finding (required). The employee is cleared on the record and nothing counts toward the ladder. It waits for the Sanction Lock like a sanction.
HR only: set a written warning's validity to 3, 6 or 12 months (a reason is needed when it is not the policy period), on the form or later with Change validity.
HR only: Download warning letter (PDF) for any warning, a Verbal Warning included: a Notice of a First, Second or Final Written Warning, or a Record of a Verbal Warning, for a wet signature. Once the employee has signed in myWork, or the refusal is confirmed, the letter also prints the e-signature or the refusal with who confirmed it and the witness, and a signature record of every request.

After the verdict: the employee signs for receipt

Every warning, a Verbal Warning included, asks the employee to sign that they received it. A Not upheld outcome has nothing to sign.

Receipt, not agreement: signing does not mean the employee agrees, and it is separate from accepting or disagreeing with the outcome.
The time to sign: one working day from the outcome, to the same time of day (weekends and public holidays are skipped: Friday 10:00 runs to Monday 10:00). The card Employee's signature (receipt of the sanction) shows the status and the sign-by time.
What is recorded: for each request, the typed full name, the time, the device, the network address and a fingerprint, or the employee's reason for refusing.
Who follows up: the issuing manager, the employee's direct manager, whoever decided the sanction, or HR. Never the employee.

What you can do on the card:

Confirm the employee's refusal: the employee clicked I refuse to sign and gave a reason (status Refusal to confirm). Tick I confirm the employee was shown the sanction and refused to sign, add a witness and a note if you have them, and click Record the refusal. Until you confirm it, the employee can still sign. Once confirmed, the refusal is final for that request.
Employee refused to sign (in person): the employee has not answered in myWork but refused in front of you, for example in the meeting. Tick the same box, name a witness if one was present, and describe what happened (required). There is no waiting period.
Request signature again: after a confirmed refusal, when the employee now wants to sign. Give a reason; a new request opens with a fresh working day, and the refused one stays on the record unchanged.

Good to know:

No answer in time: the person who follows up gets one reminder in the incident's channel. myWork never records a refusal by itself: confirm one, record one, or chase the employee.
A refusal in myWork opens a card in the follow-up person's Pending Approvals; act on it on the incident page.
The sanction stands either way: a refusal is evidence that the employee was given the warning, not a reason to change it.
After an appeal: a reduced warning asks for a new signature at the new level; a warning set aside leaves nothing to sign.
Find the outstanding ones: the Incident Log list has a Signature filter: Outstanding (to sign or to confirm), Awaiting signature, Refusal to confirm, Refused to sign, Signed for receipt.

After the verdict: the employee's answer and appeals

The employee accepts the outcome, or disagrees within 3 working days, giving written grounds. A disagreement is an appeal.
HR decides every appeal: an HR officer who did not decide the verdict, or the Managing Director. The next-level manager does not hear appeals. HR decides within 3 working days, after which the MD may.
The appeal can confirm the outcome, reduce it to a milder warning, or set it aside (the employee is cleared). It can never increase it. A reduced warning runs from the date of the original outcome.
Open appeals wait for HR on the Incident dashboard, under Employees who disagree.

Exporting the record (PDF), HR only

Two buttons at the top of the incident page give HR the case file as a PDF, on the company letterhead.

Export PDF: this incident's full record: the details, the objective facts, the employee's acknowledgement and statements, the outcome and its reasons, any appeal, the signature for receipt, the evidence, the audit timeline and, last, every message in the incident's channel.
Employee's record (PDF): every live incident of the same employee in one file, a summary table first, then each incident on its own page. Withdrawn incidents are left out; to include them, use Export employee's record on the Incident Log list.
Images are printed: photos in the facts, image evidence and images sent in the channel appear in the PDF. Other files, such as a PDF or a spreadsheet, are listed by name: open them in myWork24. A file that is missing is named, not left out silently.
Every export is on the timeline: each incident in the file gets a Record exported (PDF) entry with who and when. The PDF is a confidential HR record; share it only with people entitled to see it.
Not the warning letter: Download warning letter is the notice the employee signs. The export is HR's file of everything that happened. Nobody can export a record about themselves.

Other actions

Amend facts: only before the employee acknowledges.
Withdraw: for an incident raised in error, before the verdict, with a reason. Once HR has the incident, only HR can withdraw it.

Good to know

The incident's card in Pending Approvals follows the decider. It closes when the incident is referred or HR takes it over.
After a warning, the employee has a signature card in Pending Approvals until they sign or refuse.
Everything is on the timeline: it is your defensible record.

Raising an incident (formal or verbal): the step before this.
My Incidents: if an incident is raised about you: what the employee does.
Incident dashboard (HR): HR's queues and the close-out report.
The Incident Log (QIL): how a disciplinary incident works: the overview.