The Incident Log (QIL): how a disciplinary incident works

What this guide covers

The Incident Log (QIL) is how the company records and handles disciplinary matters fairly and defensibly. This explains the two tracks (verbal vs formal), the lifecycle of a formal incident, and the Sanction Lock that guarantees an employee's right to reply before any sanction. The deep-dive guides cover each screen.

Who can use it: raising incidents needs the incident-create permission; imposing a sanction needs the sanction permission; the dashboard needs HR-admin. Managers see incidents they raised or about their own team; HR admins see all. This is sensitive, legal-grade information — treat everything here as strictly confidential.

The lifecycle

How a disciplinary incident works: an incident is raised, then either the Verbal track (logged and closed immediately as a record) or the Formal track (Pending Employee Ack, sanction LOCKED, 24-hour reply window; once the employee acknowledges or the window expires it becomes Ready for Sanction with the lock released). The officer then decides ONE of two outcomes: Not upheld, meaning no sanction and the employee is cleared with a recorded finding (also allowed while still Pending Ack, because clearing never waits for the lock), or Impose a sanction, choosing a rung on the ladder from verbal through first written, second written and final written to a dismissal hearing. Both outcomes end at CLOSED with the outcome stated. The Sanction Lock guards punishment, not the exit; acknowledging is not an admission of guilt; the employee can reply in a private thread; not upheld is not the same as withdrawn, which hides the incident; everything is audited.

The two tracks

Track	When	Flow
Verbal Warning / Counselling	Minor matters — a recorded conversation.	Logged and Closed immediately as a record.
Formal Incident Report	Serious matters.	Goes through the right-to-reply window and the Sanction Lock before any sanction.

The formal lifecycle in words

Raised → the incident enters Pending Employee Acknowledgement. A message notifies the employee with a link; they have 24 hours to review and reply. The Sanction Lock is on — no sanction can be issued yet.
Acknowledged, or 24h expires → the incident becomes Ready for Sanction and the lock is released.
Impose sanction → a sanction officer chooses a rung on the disciplinary ladder (verbal → first written → second written → final written → dismissal hearing) and the incident is Closed.
…or Not upheld → if the allegation is investigated and found baseless, the officer closes it with no sanction. The employee is cleared, a finding records why, and the incident stays on the record. This one doesn't wait for the lock — the window protects someone from being punished unheard, and clearing them harms nobody.

The principles that make it fair

Sanction Lock is server-enforced. A formal sanction genuinely cannot be imposed until the employee acknowledges or the window passes — it can't be bypassed in the UI or otherwise.
Not every incident ends in a sanction. An allegation that doesn't hold up is closed as not upheld — the employee is cleared on the record, which is different from the incident being withdrawn and hidden.
Acknowledging = "received and read", not guilt. The employee keeps the right to dispute.
A private reply thread lets the employee state their case to HR (the manager can't see it) — "hear the other side."
Everything is audited. Every step is recorded on an append-only timeline; facts can only be amended before the employee engages.
It links to the ladder. Enough verbal warnings in the window open a formal escalation in the disciplinary inbox.

The guides in this section

Guide	For
Raising an incident	Managers/HR logging a verbal or formal incident.
The formal process: acknowledgement, the Sanction Lock & imposing a sanction	Working a formal incident through to a decision.
If an incident is raised about you	The employee's review-and-acknowledge guide.
Incident dashboard (HR)	HR's overview of where incidents are stuck.

Disciplinary Report — one employee's whole-picture view (incidents + escalations + attendance + KPI).
Disciplinary Escalations — the attendance-strike ladder that QIL also feeds.