Why double jeopardy is dangerous for employers
Punishing an employee twice for the same incident or poor performance is likely to be ruled unfair
Double jeopardy occurs if an employee is punished twice for the same incident of misconduct or poor performance. Normally such discipline would be found to be unfair. However, one view is that a second disciplinary process might be justified if the employer is able to present evidence that is new and has therefore not been presented at the first disciplinary hearing, is relevant to the charges and is significant enough to merit a new hearing.
Even this controversial view is not properly interpreted by employers who continue to give employees warnings and dismissals simultaneously and reopen cases that should be left alone. It is folly to set up new disciplinary hearings without good reason after the employee has already been disciplined for the offence or to open new hearings with newly formulated charges that are merely a different way of wording the same charge regarding which the employee has already managed to avoid dismissal during a previous process...
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