Domestic Inquiry & Misconduct Handling
Employers rarely lose misconduct cases because the employee was innocent. They lose because the show cause letter was vague, the panel included the complainant's own manager, the employee was not allowed to question a witness, or the punishment was out of proportion to the offence. This one-day programme walks the full disciplinary process end to end and closes with a live inquiry simulation, so participants make their procedural mistakes in the training room instead of in front of the Industrial Court.
Programme Agenda
Misconduct, Poor Performance and the Right Route
Defining misconduct and grading it by severity. Why poor performance is a separate track with a separate remedy, and what goes wrong when a performance problem is pushed through a disciplinary process.
Preliminary Investigation Before Anything Formal
Gathering facts before an allegation is put to anyone, preserving evidence including system logs and CCTV, deciding whether suspension is justified, and paying a suspended employee correctly.
Writing a Show Cause Letter That Works
Particularising the allegation with dates, conduct and the rule breached, instead of writing that the employee was unprofessional. Reasonable reply periods, service of the letter, and how to handle a reply that admits some allegations and denies others.
Constituting the Inquiry Panel
Independence and the conflicts that void an inquiry. Roles of the chairperson, panel members, presenting officer and note-taker. The employee's right to be accompanied, and how to respond when they ask for a lawyer.
Natural Justice in the Room
The two rules that matter: the employee must know the case against them, and must have a real chance to answer it. Examination and cross-examination of witnesses, handling documentary evidence, adjournments, and the standard of proof on the balance of probabilities.
Findings, Proportionate Punishment and Documentation
Writing findings that address each allegation separately. Choosing between warning, final warning, demotion, suspension without pay and dismissal. Mitigating factors, consistency with past cases, and how inconsistency alone can lose a case.
Where Employers Lose at the Industrial Court
The recurring procedural failures in Malaysian dismissal cases, how section 20 representations proceed, and what back wages and reinstatement exposure looks like. Reading the shape of a losing case before you are in one.
Full Inquiry Simulation
Participants run a complete inquiry from a realistic case file, rotating through panel, presenting officer, employee and witness roles. Facilitated debrief identifying exactly which steps would have failed under scrutiny.
Learning Outcomes:
Route a case correctly between misconduct and poor performance
Run a preliminary investigation and decide on suspension properly
Draft a show cause letter that particularises the allegation
Constitute an inquiry panel free of disqualifying conflicts
Chair or present at an inquiry that satisfies natural justice
Decide a proportionate punishment and document the reasoning
Identify the procedural failures that lose unfair dismissal claims
Duration: 1 Day (8 Hours)
Training Hours: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Level: Intermediate
Training Mode: Physical, Online, or Hybrid
HRD Corp SBL-KHAS Claimable
Certificate of Completion included