Investigations into Alleged Misconduct: Police Involvement
Published on: 15/08/2017
Issues Covered:
Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Patricia Rooney Partner and Head of the Employment Team, Tughans
Patricia Rooney Partner and Head of the Employment Team, Tughans
Patricia rooney

Patricia is Partner and Head of the Employment team at Tughans.


Patricia is a senior lawyer with extensive experience in dealing with both contentious and non-contentious employment matters. Patricia specialises in TUPE/outsourcing matters and regularly advises administrators on redundancy, “pre-pack” administrations and their TUPE obligations.


Patricia is qualified in NI and ROI and works regularly with clients with an all-Ireland presence. She is also qualified in England & Wales. She has appeared in the Industrial Court on union recognition matters, in the Industrial & Fair Employment Tribunal, before the NI Court of Appeal, and before the WRC and Labour Court in Ireland and the Employment Tribunal.


Patricia is very highly regarded, with a broad range of clients across all sectors, advising on all aspects of employment law, from recruitment to dismissal. She has extensive experience in transactional work, working closely with her corporate colleagues and has broad experience in advising on mergers and acquisitions and TUPE/Service Provision Change.


Patricia regularly speaks on employment law and developments, presenting the Employment team’s breakfast briefings. She also lectures in the UU/Legal Island Post-Graduate Diploma in Employment Law and has provided tailored training and seminars on various topics and regularly writes articles, including monthly articles for an all-Ireland human resource training provider.
She is a member of the Council of the CBI in Northern Ireland as well as a member of the Employment Lawyers Group (NI).


Patricia’s clients include non-departmental public sector bodies and employers throughout the UK.

“I am a HR Manager of a business and believe one of our employees has stolen some money.  When the matter came to light we reported the incident to the Police and the PSNI are currently investigating the matter.  What can I do about this employee, considering the ongoing Police investigation?”

You have not indicated whether you have suspended the employee. Subject to your contractual rights to suspend, it would be advisable to suspend the employee pending the outcome of your own investigation.  You should write to the individual suspending him/her from employment, providing some information about the restrictions placed on the employee in that he/she should refrain from contacting potential witnesses, attending the workplace.  You should also give some brief information about the allegations against the individual which has led to the suspension.

In view of the nature of the allegations against this employee, you might also consider taking steps to ensure the integrity of the information you hold, e.g. financial journals/accounts, bank statements, monthly drawings, email passwords etc.

Even if you believe you have sufficient evidence to establish this person’s guilt, considering you have also reported the matter to the police, you will still be required to carry out a full investigation and disciplinary process, observing the requirements of the statutory dismissal procedures and taking sufficient steps to ensure that your internal processes are fair and transparent.

You will be aware that, as far as possible and considering the size of your organisation, each stage of the investigation and disciplinary process should be carried out by a different person, who has not been involved in the matter already, with any appeal falling to the most senior level of management within the business.

Remember too, that the employee has the right to access the evidence against him/her as part of the proposed disciplinary process.  As you will know, the individual will also have the right be accompanied at the disciplinary hearing, and any subsequent appeal.

Of course, if the Police investigation is still underway, you should bear in mind that the employee may be reluctant to provide any information to you as part of an internal process that would implicate them in the criminal investigation currently being undertaken by the Police.  You might wish to consider the stage of the Police investigation/potential prosecution in considering your own internal investigation.  You should however be aware that there is no absolute requirement that you must postpone your own internal investigation pending the outcome of any Police involvement.  Much will depend on the individual circumstances, the availability of evidence, willing witnesses and whether the Police have already interviewed the particular employee.

I recommend you liaise with the PSNI about their investigation.  Your investigation however does not concern a criminal matter and you will not be expected to demonstrate that the individual was guilty of theft, beyond unreasonable doubt.  Conversely, if the Police decide not to take further action, it does not automatically mean that you cannot continue with your internal process.  As you will know, your investigation, and disciplinary process, proceeds on the basis of a reasonably held belief that the employee committed misconduct, and that belief is based on a reasonable investigation.  Your investigation and subsequent disciplinary process must establish allegations of misconduct against the employee, on the balance of probabilities, always considering that any sanction should be within measures that a reasonable employer might take.

The PSNI may ask you to delay your internal investigation to protect the validity of their evidence, interview of witnesses etc.  I suggest you should think carefully about any such request, to ensure the fairness, of your own internal processes.  You will be aware that any investigation/disciplinary process should be undertaken without unreasonable delay.  Subject to the outcome of your own investigation, you could still move to discipline/dismiss the employee before the outcome of any PSNI matter.

The outcome of a successful PSNI prosecution will not automatically justify your internal process, and dismissal of the employee.  It will be necessary to proceed with this investigation/disciplinary process as with any other employee, where criminal proceedings are not anticipated.  As indicated above, you should ensure you follow the three step statutory procedure to avoid a finding of automatic unfair dismissal and a risk of an increase in any damages awarded.

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Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 15/08/2017