The risky business of suspension

Employers can face swingeing legal penalties if they rush into suspending an employee under suspicion of misconduct

In cases of suspected employee misconduct, the first instinct of an employer is to suspend the employee under suspicion rather than risk ongoing damage to the business by keeping the person in his or her role pending the outcome of what could be a protracted investigation.

However, there are significant legal risks with suspension and there have been a number of high-profile cases in recent years where the courts did not accept that ...