Greater Manchester Pay and Employment Rights Advice Service Factsheets

Grievances

Employees are expected to follow the guidance contained in the ACAS code of practice (COP) if they have a grievance about work. Please note that it applies only to “employees”, not to “workers” in the wider sense of the word (although it may help workers to use it anyway to resolve problems at work). Neither does this apply to collective grievances, raised by a union or other appropriate workplace representative, on behalf of two or more employees. Such grievances should be conducted according to the workplace`s procedure.

Informal grievance

The COP expects employees to try to resolve their grievances informally first of all.

Formal grievance letter

If it is not possible to resolve a grievance informally, then employees should raise a formal grievance, in writing, without unreasonable delay, with a manager. If their own manager is the subject of the grievance, then they should write to another manager. The letter should set out the nature of the grievance. There is a sample letter at the bottom of this factsheet.

Grievance meeting

Once an employer has received a grievance letter from an employee, they should arrange a formal meeting without undue delay. The employer, the employee and the employee`s companion (see below) should make every effort to attend the meeting. The employee should be allowed to explain their grievance and say how they think it should be resolved. The employer should consider whether it is necessary to adjourn the meeting in order to investigate the grievance.

Right to be accompanied

Employees have a statutory right to be accompanied, by either a union rep or a work colleague, at a grievance meeting about an employer`s legal duty. This would apply where the grievance is about a breach of employment law or about a breach of the contract of employment.

The employee should first of all make a reasonable request to be accompanied to the employer. What is reasonable will depend on the circumstances of each case; however it would not be reasonable to insist on being accompanied by someone whose presence would prejudice the hearing, or by someone from a remote geographical location if there was someone suitable and willing available on site.

The companion should be allowed to speak on the employee`s behalf if the employee wants that. They should be allowed to explain their grievance, to confer with them, to respond on their behalf, and to summarise their grievance. The companion does not have the right to answer questions on the employee`s behalf, or to prevent the employer from explaining their case.

The decision

Following the meeting the employer should consider what action, if any, should be taken. The decision should be communicated to the employee in writing without undue delay. It should set out what action, if any, the employer intends to take to resolve the grievance. The employee should also be informed that they can appeal if they are not satisfied with the outcome of the grievance.

Appeal

Where an employee is not satisfied with the outcome of their grievance they should appeal, in writing, and without undue delay. They should let the employer know the grounds of their appeal.

Appeal hearing

Appeals should be heard without undue delay. The employer should notify the employee, in advance, of the time and place of the hearing. The appeal should be dealt with impartially and, if possible, by a manager not previously involved in the grievance.

Again, the employee has the statutory right to be accompanied if the grievance concerns the employer`s legal duties, and the employer should communicate their decision to the employee, in writing, without undue delay.

Overlapping grievance and disciplinary cases

• Where an employee raises a grievance during a disciplinary process, the disciplinary process may be temporarily halted to allow the grievance to be dealt with.
• If the grievance and disciplinary issues are related however, it may be appropriate to deal with both issues concurrently, ie seperately but at the same time.

Taking your complaint to the Employment Tribunal

If your grievance is about something that the Employment Tribunal has jurisdiction over, you may make a complaint to the Tribunal. You do not have to follow the guidance laid down in the COP but, as you will see below, if you don`t then any award the Tribunal may decide you are entitled to may be reduced unless you could argue that it was not reasonable to expect you to follow the COP first.

Strict timescales apply for making complains to the Tribunal. You must do this within three months of the day the matter you were complaining about happened, unless you are complaining about non-payment of a redundancy payment, or a claim for equal pay in which case you have a six month deadline. Three months is not a long time, and you must act quickly to make sure you don`t miss your deadline.

Failure to follow the COP

Employment Tribunals expect employees and employers to follow these rules, and can adjust awards to employees by up to 25%. If an employer has unreasonably failed to follow the COP, any award made to the employee can be increased by up to 25%, and if an employee has unreasonably failed to follow the COP then the Tribunal can reduce any award made to the employee by up to 25%.

Sample grievance letter to complete, copy and send to your employer

Dear ..............

I am writing to tell you that I wish to raise a grievance about …… (give a summary of your grievance).

 

I am entitled to a hearing to discuss this matter. I believe I am also entitled to request that I may be accompanied at the hearing. Please reply as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Greater Manchester Pay and Employment Rights Advice Service

0161 839 3888 phone; fax 0161 839 3883

4^th Floor, Swan Buildings, 20 Swan Street, Manchester, M4 5JW

We provide telephone advice only and cannot see people face to face

Or visit our website: www.gmemploymentrights.org.uk

Trade Unions

Trade unions help workers to get better pay and working conditions.

For further information contact us or:

North West TUC, Tel: 0151 236 5432

Aug 2010