Handling Employee Grievances

If an employee has a grievance, employers are obliged to deal with them appropriately.

The information on this page is intended as a general guidance for UK employers, and may not be appropriate for all situations. You should always consider seeking professional advice before acting.

Please also see the footnote at the bottom of this page.

All UK employers should have a written grievance policy and procedures. (Small businesses are not exempt from this requirement, therefore even those organisations with just one employee are required to comply.)

Employees have a statutory rights in raising grievances and having them dealt with.

Understanding grievance

A grievance is when an employee raises an issue with their employer regarding their working environment. For example, management practices, inter-personal relationships, terms & conditions etc.

It is important that employers deal with grievances reasonably and promptly.

Good grievance management can improve employee relationships, improve communication and avoid problems escalating. Without effective grievance procedures, difficult situations may escalate - potentially resulting in employment tribunals that could have been avoided.

Raising a grievance

An employee is not required to put their grievance in writing. (Even grievances only raised verbally may be considered by an employment tribunal). However, encouraging an employee who has a grievance to put their concerns in writing has advantages for both the employee and the employer.

Written grievances help the employee to consider all the relevant information, and helps the employer to understand the nature and background of the problem. Written grievance notifications can also be helpful in demonstrating how the problem was dealt with (particularly in the event of a subsequent dispute or employment tribunal).

There are a number of areas an employee should consider when raising a grievance. These include what has happened, who was involved, and any previously related matters.

A well structured grievance notification form can be extremely useful to help the employee consider all appropriate issues.

Useful links

• Notice of Grievance Form

Grievance investigations

Once an employer has been made aware of an employee grievance, it is important that it is investigated.

The purpose of the investigation stage is to gather information for a subsequent grievance hearing.

An investigation might include talking to any witnesses, talking to other people involved in the grievance, reviewing records and reviewing working practices.

Once the investigation process is complete, the employee should be invited (in writing) to attend a grievance hearing. They should also be given copies of the investigation notes before the meeting.

Useful links

• Invitation to a formal grievance hearing

Grievance hearings

The purpose of a grievance hearing is to explore the grievance with the employee. This might include asking further questions, and discussing the investigation with them.

It is important to explore the possible ways in which the employee might wish to see the matter resolved. Asking why the employee feels aggrieved and what outcome they hope for can be extremely helpful questions.

The employee should be given the opportunity to be accompanied to the meeting (though you may wish your grievance policy to specify any restrictions on who such a person may be).

No decision should be made during the grievance hearing. Instead, the meeting should be closed, and the decision considered separately. The decision should however be communicated in writing to the employee within a reasonable period of time after the meeting.

Options open to the employer include upholding the grievance (and identifying ways in which the matter will be resolved), upholding the grievance (though explaining that there are no practical solutions currently open to the employer) or rejecting the employee's grievance.

Whatever outcome is reached, it is important that the employee is given the opportunity to appeal against the decision.

Useful links

• Grievance hearing outcome letter
• Invitation to formal grievance appeal hearing
• Grievance appeal hearing outcome letter

Post employment grievances

A person is also entitled to raise a grievance after they have left employment. Such grievances still need to be dealt with appropriately, though the procedure is slightly different. As it is inherently more complex, please contact us for advice and assistance.

Get Started

• Grievance Policy
• Grievance Letters and Forms

Footnote

If you require further explanation, guidance or advice specific to your grievance issues, please contact us. We have a range of grievance letters and forms that may be helpful and a grievance policy and procedures documents. We can also provide consultancy if you need more personal assistance.

The information on this website is primarily aimed at UK based organisations, though may be more generally applicable. The information is believed to be correct at time of writing but may be subject to change as legislation is updated and precedents set. THIS INFORMATION MAY NOT NECESSARILY BE APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR ORGANISATION. If in doubt, please contact us or your legal advisers.

All information is copyright, and provided subject to our website terms and conditions.