EMPLOYMENT LAW ADVICE - GRIEVANCES

What is a grievance?

A grievance at work is a concern, problem, issue, or complaint that an employee may wish to raise with an employer.

The grievance could relate to most things in the workplace, such as:

• a change in terms and conditions of employment
• erosion of a role
• lack of support
• unfair or unreasonable behaviour of a work colleague (eg bullying or harassment)
• unfair or unwarranted treatment by an employer (eg setting-up an employee to fail)
• unfair processes (eg commencing a disciplinary process without a fair reason).

A grievance can be raised at any time, including in response to disciplinary, redundancy or performance processes.

A grievance can be informal or formal. An informal grievance will normally be decided without following a process.

Why would an employee raise a formal grievance?

Raising a formal grievance will mean that an employer must follow a process, which would normally be:

• holding a grievance meeting with the employee
• investigating the employee's grievance
• confirming the outcome of the grievance in writing
• providing an appeal against the grievance outcome.

The timing of raising a formal grievance can be crucial. Whether an employee is in the middle of a redundancy process, facing a performance improvement plan, or a disciplinary process, the grievance process allows the employee from formally setting out their complaints before the employer takes further action. This can often stop the employer's process and allow the grievance to be investigated, and may frustrate the employer’s ability to proceed in the way they had originally intended. It can also act as a platform for negotiating an exit package   and agreeing to a settlement agreement.

An employee may also want to raise a formal grievance as a stepping stone to commencing Acas early conciliation and then bringing an employment tribunal claim.

What if an employee does not raise a grievance?

The only downside in not raising a formal grievance will be that an employment tribunal can reduce any compensation by up to 25% if the tribunal believes that the dispute could have been avoided. However, if an employee can show that raising a grievance before presenting an employment tribunal claim would have made no difference then there may be a lesser percentage reduction or none at all.

How does an employee raise a grievance?

If the complaint cannot be resolved informally, an employee should raise a formal grievance in writing without unreasonable following an employer’s grievance policy or procedure. If there is no formal grievance policy or procedure in place, an employee should submit the grievance to their manager (or more senior manager if the grievance relates to their manager) or human resources adviser (if there is one).

The grievance should set out in as much detail as possible why the employee is complaining.

How should an employer deal with an employee's grievance?

An employer should follow the Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures:

• acknowledge the grievance
• carry out any necessary investigations in relation to the employee's complaint to corroborate the evidence
• invite the employee to attend a grievance meeting without unreasonable delay
• allow the employee to be accompanied to a grievance meeting by a work colleague or trade union official
• hold a grievance meeting with the employee in person or by video (if the employee consents)
• confirm the grievance decision in writing
• allow the employee to appeal the grievance decision.

What happens if an employer doesn’t deal promptly with the grievance (or at all)?

There is an implied term in a contract of employment between employer and employee that an employer will reasonably and promptly provide an employee with the opportunity to seek redress for any grievance. A failure to deal with a grievance properly (or at all) might amount to a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence entitling an employee to resign and claim constructive dismissal.  There are strict time limits when claiming constructive dismissal and legal advice should be taken as soon as possible (preferably from Marjon Law).

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.