All individuals engaged under a contract of employment, agency workers and home workers have a statutory right under Article 12 of the Employment Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1999, to be accompanied to a disciplinary or grievance meeting. The accompanying individual may be a colleague, trade union representative or an official employed by a trade union.

If the employee is deterred or prevented from doing so, they may bring a complaint to the Tribunal on the basis that their employer has failed or threatened to fail to comply with statutory procedure. A reluctance to re-schedule the hearing if the employee's companion is unavailable is an example of a threatened failure to comply with statutory procedure.

Additionally, many individuals struggle to know what actually constitutes a disciplinary hearing. Essentially it is a meeting that could result in a formal warning or other disciplinary action. For the avoidance of doubt, the right to be accompanied does not extend to investigation meetings or hearings but it is considered good practice to facilitate this when requested.

Further, workers who choose to exercise their absolute right to be accompanied must not suffer any detriment by their employer.