How to prepare for a disciplinary hearing as an employee

A notice to attend a disciplinary hearing usually arrives with little warning and a short deadline. Most employees have never been to one, and many walk in with nothing prepared, hoping to explain themselves on the day. The hearing decides whether you keep your job, and what you do in the days before it often decides the outcome, both at the hearing and at the CCMA later. Our guide on how a disciplinary hearing works explains the process and the chairperson's role. This guide is the practical checklist: what to do, in what order, from the moment the notice arrives until after the outcome.

This guide is part of our Discipline at work: warnings, hearings and dismissal, which links every guide on the topic.

Step 1: Read the notice and the charge properly

Read the notice twice, slowly. Write down:

• the date, time and place of the hearing
• each charge, separately
• the rule or policy you are said to have broken
• the date and details of the alleged conduct
• who the chairperson is, if named
• what the notice says about representation, interpreters and witnesses

Item 11 of the Code of Good Practice: Dismissal, 2025, which came into force on 4 September 2025, says that before a dismissal decision you should usually be notified of the allegations, preferably in writing, and that the allegations should be made available or explained in enough detail to allow you to understand them. A charge that just says "misconduct" or "gross insubordination" does not meet that standard.

Work out what kind of charge it is. A charge of poor work performance or of being unable to do the job is about capacity, not conduct, and calls for a different process. Our guide on incapacity versus misconduct explains the difference, and pointing out that you were charged on the wrong track can decide the case.

Step 2: Ask for particulars and documents in writing

Send a short, polite email or letter the same day, and keep a copy. Ask for:

• further particulars of any vague charge: what exactly you did, when and where
• copies of every document the employer will rely on, such as statements, CCTV, emails, logs, policies and your previous warnings
• the names of the employer's witnesses
• a copy of the disciplinary code and the policy you are said to have broken

The employer does not always have to give you everything, but a reasonable request that is ignored or refused is a strong point at the CCMA. Check any warnings it plans to rely on: has the validity period in the code expired? Our guide on verbal, written and final warnings explains how long they usually last.

Step 3: Check the timeline and ask for more time if you need it

Item 11 says you should have an opportunity within a reasonable period to prepare. No law fixes the period. Many codes use 48 hours or two working days, which may be enough for a simple charge. It is not enough for a complex one with a folder of documents, or if the employer has not yet given you what you asked for.

If you need more time, ask in writing before the hearing and give reasons: the documents are outstanding, your representative is unavailable, or you need to trace a witness. Do not simply stay away. A hearing can go ahead without you if you were properly notified and chose not to attend.

If you are suspended, you can still prepare and contact witnesses, unless the suspension letter forbids contact with specific people. Our guide on suspension pending investigation explains your rights while suspended.

Step 4: Choose your representative

The Code gives you the right to be assisted by a fellow employee or a trade union representative. Choose someone who is calm, can take notes, and knows the workplace. A shop steward who has sat in many hearings is ideal. A fellow employee who is also a witness is a poor choice, because they cannot do both jobs well.

Meet your representative before the hearing and go through the charge, the documents and your version. Agree who will ask the questions.

A lawyer is not an automatic right at an internal hearing. If your code excludes lawyers, you can still ask the chairperson in writing, explaining why the case is complex or serious. Our guide on being represented by a lawyer at a disciplinary hearing explains when that is likely to be allowed. The Code also says that where reasonably possible you should be able to speak in a language you are comfortable with, so ask for an interpreter if you need one.

Step 5: Prepare your evidence and witnesses

Write your own version of events now, while you remember it: times, places, who was present, and what was said. Then gather what supports it:

• WhatsApp messages, emails, photographs, time sheets and logs
• your training records and the job description, if the charge is about a procedure
• examples of other employees who did the same thing and were not charged, with names and dates, because inconsistency is one of the strongest arguments available under item 10 of the Code

Speak to your witnesses. Ask them what they saw, not what they think. Make sure they know the date and time and are willing to attend. A witness who promises to come and then does not is worse than none.

Prepare your questions for the employer's witnesses. You do not need to be clever. Ask how they know what they say, whether they actually saw it, whether they could be mistaken, and why their account differs from the documents.

Step 6: Decide your plea and prepare mitigation

At the start you will be asked to plead to each charge. You may plead guilty to some and not guilty to others.

Plead not guilty if you did not do it, or if what you did does not amount to the offence charged. For example, a single protest followed by compliance is not gross insubordination, and an ordinary mistake is not gross negligence. Our guides on insubordination and gross negligence set out what each charge requires.

Pleading guilty to a lesser version can be sensible where the facts are clear, because acknowledging wrongdoing is one of the factors in item 9 that may make dismissal inappropriate. Think this through with your representative before the hearing, not in the room.

Prepare mitigation even if you deny the charge. Item 11 gives you the right to make representations on the appropriate sanction, not only on the allegations. If you are found guilty, the chairperson will ask what you want to say about sanction. Many employees say nothing because they are still arguing about guilt, and lose their best chance to keep the job.

Prepare a short list in advance, using the factors in item 9 of the Code:

• your length of service and clean or limited disciplinary record
• your personal circumstances and dependants
• any acknowledgement of the mistake and willingness to follow the rules
• any explanation, such as provocation, stress, lack of training or illness
• whether a warning would prevent a repeat
• how others were treated for the same conduct

Step 7: After the outcome

Ask for the outcome and reasons in writing, and for a copy of the minutes or recording. If there is an internal appeal, lodge it within the period in the code, in writing, with your grounds.

If you are dismissed, the referral to the CCMA or bargaining council must be made within 30 days. Section 191 of the Labour Relations Act counts from the date of dismissal or, if later, the date the employer made its final decision to dismiss or uphold the dismissal. Because the date of a "final decision" can be argued about, the safe course is to refer within 30 days of the dismissal itself, even while an appeal is pending. Our guide on referring an unfair dismissal to the CCMA explains the form, and the CCMA deadline checker works out your date. If the outcome is a final written warning you believe is unfair, the unfair labour practice route has a 90-day limit.

Worked example

This example is illustrative. Ayanda is a till supervisor at a Cape Town supermarket earning R13 200 a month, with seven years' service. On a Thursday afternoon she receives notice of a hearing on Monday for "gross dishonesty: till shortage R3 400".

That evening she emails HR asking which till and shift the shortage relates to, for the cash-up sheets and CCTV, the witness list, and a postponement to Thursday because her shop steward is on leave. HR provides the cash-up sheets and moves the hearing to Wednesday, but says the CCTV is "not available".

Ayanda writes out her version: three cashiers used the till that day, and she was called to the back office for an hour during which the till was open. She asks one cashier to confirm this as a witness. At the hearing her shop steward asks the store manager why no CCTV was produced and whether the other cashiers were investigated. Ayanda pleads not guilty.

She is found guilty of negligence, not dishonesty. At mitigation she raises her seven years, clean record, two children and the open-till practice. She receives a final written warning instead of dismissal.

Change the facts: Ayanda does nothing until Monday and attends alone. She has no documents, no witness and no mitigation ready, and she is dismissed. Her CCMA case now rests on facts she never put on record.

What to do

1. On the day the notice arrives, write down every charge and date.
2. Ask in writing for particulars, documents and witnesses, and for more time if needed.
3. Arrange your representative and meet them before the hearing.
4. Gather your evidence and confirm your witnesses.
5. Prepare your plea and your mitigation.
6. Attend, take notes and ask for the outcome in writing.
7. If dismissed, refer to the CCMA within 30 days of the dismissal.