Fair, consistent, humane
Equality, absence, capability and discipline.
A focused around four hours on sensitive people matters: family rights, equality and harassment, health and capability, performance versus conduct, and grievances.
- Level
- Focus
- Learning time
- 4 hours
- Where
- People Management and Employment Law
- Price
- £69
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion, or Certificate of Completion and Assessment with a short assessment
Overview and Outcomes.
Who It's For
Managers handling absence, adjustments, conduct and grievances
Overview
Many of the hardest moments in managing people sit where law and ordinary decency meet. This programme covers family rights and flexible working, equality at work under the Equality Act 2010 including the preventative duty on sexual harassment, and health, absence and capability, drawing on Griffiths and Daubney. It distinguishes performance from conduct, works through the Acas Code and its 2026 draft, the Burchell test and proportionality in Higgs v Farmor's School, and closes with grievances, bullying and mediation, with lessons from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service and NHS Wales.
Aims
The aim is to develop managers who handle sensitive people matters in ways that are fair, consistent and humane: putting support before sanction, making reasonable adjustments, following a fair process when things become formal, and resolving concerns at the lowest safe level.
In summary, you will be able to:
- Apply the Equality Act 2010 to everyday decisions, including reasonable adjustments, flexible working requests and the duty to prevent sexual harassment.
- Distinguish capability from conduct and manage absence, performance and discipline through a fair process under the Acas Code.
- Plan responses to grievances, bullying and workplace conflict that resolve concerns early and use mediation where it fits.
What you'll develop
Through this Focus course, you will build the ability to:
- Identify the main statutory family and caring leave rights and explain the protections that apply during pregnancy and maternity.
- Distinguish direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, discrimination arising from disability, harassment and victimisation, and explain when each can or cannot be justified.
- Explain how Statutory Sick Pay and fit notes work since April 2026 and use a fit note to open a planning conversation.
- Distinguish capability from conduct and explain why naming the reason first determines the right procedure.
- Plan a fair disciplinary process in line with the Acas Code, from investigation and the right to be accompanied through to decision and appeal.
- Plan the handling of a grievance in line with the Acas Code, from early listening to a reasoned decision and appeal.
Built from 3 parts.
4 hours of learning.
- 01Fair treatment, flexible livesFlexible working, family leave, discriminationBitesize2 modules
- 02When health and performance dipSickness absence, capability and performanceBitesize2 modules
- 03Handling it fairlyAcas Code: discipline, grievances and bullyingBitesize2 modules
Keep going.
Part of the People Management and Employment Law topic, also sold whole as Fair, firm and lawful.
Go deeper, and pay only the difference
- You are hereFocus, 4 hours, £69
- The whole topicImmerse, Fair, firm and lawful, 11 hours, £249. Already own the Focus? You pay £180.
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Prices per person. Read the full terms