"Scripting" A Hearing: How Careful Should You Be?

A recent Employment Appeal Tribunal has placed the spotlight on "scripts" written for disciplinary hearing managers, and other aspects of procedural fairness including how much information from an investigation must be shared with employees.

This recent EAT decision will feel familiar to many employers: how far can HR go in helping managers prepare without unfairly steering the outcome; when do privacy rights bite on work-device searches; and how much evidence must be disclosed to the employee? The judgment is a helpful reminder of the basics—identify the allegations with care, ensure the decision maker and employee see the same core material, avoid the appearance of prejudgment, and keep HR's role to law and process, not conclusions. It's a practical reminder that small procedural missteps won't necessarily sink a dismissal, but straying from these fundamentals might.