I was suspended from work on 3 September pending an investigation.  When I was finally handed the charges on 19 September, there were 4 charges, three pertaining to a customer complaint about bad service and a 4th charge of misconduct for "badmouthing" the company. Apart from the fact that the paperwork was not completed correctly, the following irregularities have taken place during the course of the hearing:

I had to represent myself as I was unable to find anyone who was willing to represent me.

The HR practitioner appointed herself as minute-take and witness for the 4th charge.  She asked for a copy of my notes so that she would not need to make notes of her own.  I refused.  The charges were read out and I pleaded not guilty to all of them. During the questioning, the HR practitioner kept interrupting with questions of her own, including questions that were not relevant to the case.  At no stage did the Chairperson stop her.  No witnesses were called.

The 4th charge (Gross misconduct for "badmouthing" the company was presented to me in the form of an unsigned statement written by an employment agent on behalf of an interviewee.  I refused to accept this statement on the basis of it being hearsay evidence.  Interestingly this statement was only provided after the candidate was not successful.  Hereinafter, the HR practitioner took control and called for an adjournment of the proceedings to 7 October 2013, after 17h00 as this was a time as declared suitable for this alleged witness  to appear.  The HR practitioner was scheduled to be at another branch on this date and I witnessed her instructing the Chairperson what questions to ask this witness.

When the witness arrived on 7 October 2013 (today), he was handed a copy of the statement before I had a chance to object.  He made substantive changes to the statement, which he initialled, but could not adequately identify me as the person he spoke to on 26 August.  He confirmed that the statement was written by his employment consultant and not by himself.  The Chairperson took the minutes himself.  I was not handed a copy of the changed statement and have subsequently requested a copy to be sent to me by e-mail.  It is still hearsay, as the statement is still being accepted as evidence, even with the modifications.

I asked whether I would get a chance to call my witnesses at the conclusion scheduled for 9 October 2013 and the Chairperson seemed surprised; he then confirmed that I would be given a chance to call my "character" witnesses.  He stated that, once the final portion of the hearing had been dealt with on 9 October 2013, he would be doing his deliberation with the HR practitioner.

Please can you let me know how to deal with all these irregularities as I am definitely not being given a fair and unbiased hearing.  I do not have a record of any disciplinary transgressions in my 12 years with this company and have been severely traumatised by the whole situations.