EMPLOYMENT LAW ADVICE - APPEALS

A guide on appeals at work from the employment law experts

Marjon Law, specialist employment lawyers is owner-led by Marc Jones, who is ranked and recommended in legal publications as a leading employment law solicitor, with over 20 years of experience practising solely in employment law.

If you would like urgent employment law advice, please contact us as soon as possible.

What is an appeal?

An appeal is simply challenging a decision that has been made by an employer. This can be against:

grievance decisions
disciplinary decisions
capability (performance) decisions
redundancy decisions.

Grievance decisions

If an employee disagrees with a grievance decision and has reasonable grounds to challenge it then there are 3 options:

appeal the decision if they wish to remain with their employer, which in most cases may be the sensible option
if there is a breakdown in trust and confidence with their employer due to the way the grievance has been handled (eg the facts do not support the decision) an employee could resign and bring a claim for constructive dismissal or negotiate an exit package as an alternative to an employment tribunal claim.

Disciplinary decisions

Again if an employee disagrees with a disciplinary decision and has reasonable grounds to challenge it then there are 3 options, which are the same as above (see grievance decisions).

If an employee has been dismissed then normally an employee should appeal the decision to have the decision overturned and return to work. However, if an employee does not want to continue working for an employer and they have been employed for 2 years then an appeal could backfire as if it is successful the dismissal will 'vanish' and an employee will no longer be able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal.

Capability decisions

Again if an employee disagrees with a capability decision and has reasonable grounds to challenge it then there are 3 options, which are the same as above (see grievance decisions).

Redundancy decisions

The Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievances does not apply to redundancies. However, the ACAS code of practice does say employers should be encouraged to offer an appeal in a redundancy situation. Furthermore, an employment tribunal could still find a dismissal to be unfair when having regard to all the relevant circumstances denying an appeal fell outside the band of reasonable responses for a reasonable employer to take.

What is the appeal process?

An employer should inform an employer of their right to appeal a decision in writing. If they do not and the employee has been employed continuously for 2 years, this could result in a successful claim of unfair dismissal.

In cases, where the Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievances, if an employee fails to appeal a decision or an employer fails to provide a right of appeal, this could lead to an employment tribunal increasing an award for unfair dismissal by up to 25%.

A typical timeframe for appealing a decision is within 7 to 14 working days of receiving the written decision.

An appeal should set out the grounds on which the appeal is made.

On receipt of the grounds of appeal, an employer should invite an employee to attend an appeal meeting and allow them to be accompanied at the meeting by a work colleague or trade union official. The appeal meeting does not have to be in person and can be a virtual meeting.

Depending upon the nature and stated grounds of the appeal, the appeal meeting could be either:

a full rehearing with the evidence being presented and considered afresh
a review of the original decision based on the evidence presented.

The outcome of the appeal will typically take one of 3 forms:

the original decision will be upheld in its entirety
the original decision will be overruled in its entirety
the original decision will be wholly or partly confirmed but a less severe sanction will be substituted for that originally imposed.

The outcome of the appeal should be notified to an employee in writing following the appeal meeting. There is not normally a further right of appeal.

The material contained in this web page is provided for general purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice. Appropriate legal advice should be sought for specific circumstances and before action is taken.