Facing disciplinary meeting for physical altercation at work

Hi there The situation I was sitting at my desk at work when my team leader was asking me to stop talking to my female colleague next to me which i was disputing as i was not. My other male colleague interuppted and told me off as well and repeated what my team leader had said. This co worker has a habbit of being authoritive when it is not his place to do so and for many weeks and months been doing this a lot to me. I always kept quiet and ignored it but this once i told him to mind his own business and that im fed up with him doing this. He immediatly responded aggresivly stating he would knock me out. We both stood up from our chairs and i felt like he was going to come at me. I walked torwards him as he walked towards me and he tried to throw punches to which i stopped. I held his arms and reatrained him as he was going mad and trying to hit out. Being a lot bigger then my co worker i easily backed him up to a wall where i was holding him off. I never threw any punches or shouted or swore. Another female colleague who was seated where we were had become caught in the middle and my angry co worker was starting to become pushed up againat her as i couldnt control the direction. She was becoming hurt and all the members of the office came to break it up and get off the poor squashed lady. I was told to go into the managers office to wait. As i calmly did so my angry co worker was still swearing and dishing out threats that he will knock me out. This is not the first time this co worker has said it. A female colleague has told me he was said behind my back he wants to knock me out and he has also implied this in person to me before by stating he is good at knocking people out. I am facing a discliplnary meeting now and im converned over the outcome. Many members of the office could see i acted in self defense hpwever the boss of the company doesnt overly like me that much and favours my co worker. I cant see this as going down as a sackable offense or gross misconduct or can it?

You need your HR dept involved if one exists. They are paid to sort issues like yours. Whether your boss likes you or not, he or she owes it to all of their employees to be fair and that means getting HR involved. Going by your post, your only mistake was to react to a bullying coward who threatens to knock you out, rather than just do it. It's the guy who knocks you out without telling you who's the serious one. You also should have reported his harassment of "many weeks and months" to your team leader when it first started. That way the responsibility rests with them to sort it. If you did report the issue, then that's the a plus for your side. Your other immediate concern is your female colleague who was hurt, and who could construe that you and aggressive work colleague's actions caused her injury and distress, be it serious or minimal. If you have doubts about the outcome of the disciplinary meeting, get yourself a workplace solicitor who will sit with you in the meeting. They're worth every dollar in situations like this. In conclusion, your might win the battle but not the war, and you(and your angry male colleague)could find yourselves pursuing your respective careers elsewhere regardless of the outcome. Personally, you need to work for a company that values ALL of their employees and a company that provides a safe and equitable work environment. You'll find that everything in the workplace starts at the top with the boss and they always employ and support people who meet their standards.