What happens if a grievance cannot be resolved

Take advice if you think your employee's request might be unreasonable - for example, the companion's presence would prejudice the hearing, or they are from a remote geographical location even though someone on site is suitable and willing to act. Your rules may give employees the right to bring other companions, such as a family member. Consider special provisions for disabled workers, allowing them to bring a companion such as a support worker with knowledge of their disability and its impact, so you meet the requirement to make "reasonable adjustments" for disabled workers.

The Acas Code of Practice recommends a companion be allowed to participate as fully as possible in the hearing - to confer with the employee, address the hearing to put and sum up the worker's case, to respond on behalf of the worker to any views expressed at the meeting and to ask questions of witnesses. The companion does not, however, have the right to answer questions on the worker's behalf, address the hearing if the worker does not wish it, or prevent the employer from explaining their case.

If another of your employees acts as companion, you must give them a reasonable amount of paid time off to allow them to brief themselves on the case, attend the hearing and confer with the employee before and after it. Make sure you hold the hearing so the companion can attend. If they cannot, the employee is allowed to suggest a reasonable alternative within five days of your proposed date and you must comply - or face a penalty of two weeks' pay in an Employment Tribunal.

There is nothing to stop the person who will be conducting the meeting from contacting a companion they do not know, in advance. A formal meeting must be held as soon as possible after you receive a grievance - the Acas Code on disciplinary and grievance procedures recommends that it be held within five working days.

The manager who will conduct the meeting or you and your employee and any companion should make every effort to attend the meeting. Before the meeting, research whether similar grievances have been raised in the past, and how they were dealt with, to ensure consistency.

Consider administrative arrangements - does the employee need an interpreter, or special arrangements because they or their companion are disabled, for example. You may want to carry out an investigation into the facts behind the grievance, or adjourn the meeting to carry it out, particularly if the grievance concerns another employee.

In that case the investigation will usually start with a discussion with that other employee about the issues raised. If that does not resolve them, you may wish to involve an independent mediator.

Take care that any discussion with the employee being complained about does not inadvertently turn into a disciplinary meeting, at which they have the right to be accompanied. Also remember that grievances should be kept as confidential as possible. At the meeting, your employee should have an opportunity to explain their grievance and suggest how they would like it resolved. The meeting is not a disciplinary hearing, and the aim is to reach a solution through discussion and dialogue.

The employee should also feel they have had a proper opportunity to get their grievance heard. Close the meeting by summing up the points made and telling the employee when they can reasonably expect a decision given any time limits in your procedure. The suggested procedure for small organisations in the guide to the Acas Code suggests that this should be within 24 hours. Resist the urge to give your decision immediately, at the meetings, as this can give the impression you had made up your mind beforehand, or are making a snap judgement.

Once you have decided on the action you need to take if any , tell the employee in writing, as soon as possible. Your letter should tell the employee that they can appeal if they are not happy with the action you are proposing, and how and when the action will be taken, monitored and reviewed.

If you are not proposing to take any action, explain the reasons why. Ask an employee who is not connected to the case to keep a record of the meeting and act as witness to what is said. An employee can appeal against the action you propose to take by giving you the grounds of their appeal, in writing, as soon as possible.

You should then hear the appeal without unreasonable delay, telling the employee where and when it will take place, and reminding them that they have a statutory right to be accompanied at the hearing. The appeal should, if possible, be heard by a manager who is more senior than the manager who made the decision being appealed or, if that is not possible, by a different manager , and who has not previously been involved.

In any event, the appeal must be conducted impartially. As soon as possible, notify your decision on the appeal to the employee in writing. If this is the end of the grievance procedure and, in the case of a small firm, it usually will be , say so in your letter. However, in larger firms there may be a further right of appeal - to a director, for example. If so, notify them of their further rights. To find out more, see our FAQs. Discipline and grievance issues.

Managing a complaint at work: a step-by-step guide. Discipline and grievance toolkit policy, code and templates. If the grievance remains unresolved through the highest levels of management within the company, many procedures include a provision by which an outside arbitrator may be called in to resolve the issue. Senior leaders from both sides are typically involved in the arbitration process. An effective grievance procedure provides employees with a mechanism to resolve issues of concern.

The grievance procedure may also help employers correct issues before they become serious issues or result in litigation. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. Please enable scripts and reload this page. Reuse Permissions. Page Content. Three possible outcomes may occur at this stage of the process: The supervisor and the union representative may determine that no valid grievance exists.

The grievance may be resolved. You have successfully saved this page as a bookmark. OK My Bookmarks. Please confirm that you want to proceed with deleting bookmark. Delete Cancel. You have successfully removed bookmark. Delete canceled. Please log in as a SHRM member before saving bookmarks.

You should then be notified of the grievance meeting without unreasonable delay. You should also be given the opportunity to bring a work colleague or trade union official to the meeting. Such a person is entitled to fully participate at the meeting, providing support to you and putting questions to your employer.

There is an implied term that an employer will reasonably and promptly in giving employees an opportunity to seek redress for any grievance.

A failure to handle a grievance properly might amount to breach of the implied term as to trust and confidence if serious enough to amount to a claim for constructive dismissal. This would ultimately be a question for an employment tribunal to assess in each individual case.

If you have nothing further to add to your written grievance or you are nervous, then you can always simply refer to the written statement that you would have already submitted.

Your companion is allowed to take notes, explain what your grievance is about and talk with you during the meeting. Your companion cannot, however answer questions put to you directly or prevent anyone else at the meeting from explaining their side of events. Your employer should also take care in deciding on any actions. Usually your employer will not need to make an immediate decision and may consider ending the meeting and resuming it at a later date to allow for further investigation.

Yes, they can as there is no legal requirement to disclose the identity of witnesses, However, there does need to be a powerful reason not to do so, otherwise it would undermine your right to properly challenge the evidence.

Employers, after all, have an obligation to undertake a fair grievance procedure, which will include attempting to obtain reliable, corroborated evidence. If anonymous evidence is to be used, your employer should also seek to corroborate the evidence by establishing at least one identifiable witness. A failure by your employer to act reasonably in this regard could see them being penalised at any later tribunal proceedings.

Whilst it is usual that an employer sets a meeting to discuss your grievance, if there were good reasons why you could not attend such as illness, or anxiety , your employer would be expected to act reasonably. This means they should deal with the grievance in writing if there was sufficient information available to enable them to do so. If there is no good reason why you do not want to attend the grievance meeting, your employer will be on stronger grounds.

However if they could deal with the matter in writing, most would still choose to do so, in order than they cannot be later criticised for lack of process. You should be provided with a copy of the minutes or notes of the meeting. If you do not agree that they are an accurate representation of what was said, you are entitled provide a corrected version in the hope that these can be agreed.

If your employer does not agree that your version is accurate, it should keep both versions on record. Should the meeting result in a dispute, for example a tribunal claim, both versions of the notes can be referred to, with acknowledgment that what was said at the meeting is not agreed. A dismissal will not necessarily be unfair if your employer does not put disciplinary proceedings against you on hold to address your grievance.

Each case will depend on its particular facts and your employer would have to show that not suspending the disciplinary process to investigate your grievance was a fair and reasonable position to take.

Where the issues relating to the grievance and disciplinary are the same, it may be appropriate for both processes to be heard concurrently.