A colleague has brought to our attention that one of his team mates is surfing the internet and looking at hardcore porn websites. I spoke to him last year and told him not to do it again. I have told him he is likely to be dismissed so he should resign to save face!
Telling or even asking someone to resign is as good (or bad) as dismissing them. An employment Tribunal will count it as a dismissal not a resignation so you would be defending a simple unfair dismissal case not a constructive dismissal case which are much more difficult for ex employees to succeed with. Given that most employers would regard looking at hardcore pornography during work time as gross misconduct you might be lucky and find that they contributed substantially to their dismissal so get a reduction in compensation but this will not be much compensation if you could have done it properly. You may face substantial difficulty if it is said that last year’s incident shows that you do not take such behaviour too seriously hence the verbal caution which would seriously undermine the position which is that such behaviour can constitute gross misconduct not least because it can constitute harassment/discrimination to others.
You must fully investigate the matter having suspended the employee on full pay and consider the strength of his counter arguments assuming he does not decide that “it’s a fair cop” and ask about resignation, or just resign. If he resigns voluntarily it is important to ensure that he was not forced or otherwise induced to do so. Somehow you need to retract your ‘threat’ and if possible let someone else handle the disciplinary procedure.
