Grievance Procedure

This is important as it addresses any issues or grievances relating the persons employment and allows compliance with the ACAS code of practice.

It is important to build a clear and constructive working relationship between employees and their managers and it is therefore important that all employees are treated as individuals and that all problems are dealt with fairly and promptly.

Should an employee have a problem which is considered serious enough to be termed a grievance then this should be resolved as quickly as possible following a similar procedure as outlined below.

A grievance must normally be raised within 3 months of the incident happening and the following steps should take place:

• The employee should raise the grievance with their immediate line manager, where this is not appropriate the employee should approach their senior manager
• It is a good idea to have a form that the employee completes, this demonstrates the formality of the proceedings and documents it all from the outset.
• The manager should send a written receipt of the grievance to the employee and arrange a meeting as soon as business needs allow (Ideally within 5 days)
• Both parties can be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative
• Minutes should be made of the meeting and signed by both parties, should the employee be unaccompanied then should be documented on the minutes.
• The manager should write to inform the employee of the outcome of the meeting, should this not be possible then they should be informed of the reason for delay and when a response can be expected.
• All information regarding the procedure should be kept on the employee’s personnel file.

Appeal

Should the employee not be satisfied with the result from the initial stages they can appeal against the decision in writing to the most senior manager within 10 days and should receive written acknowledgement of their letter and a meeting arranged.

The employee can be accompanied by a colleague or by their trade union representative, the senior manager/director involved should also be accompanied by another manager.

Minutes should be made, agreed and signed by both parties and kept on file.

The outcome of this appeal should be communicated to the employee within 5 days in writing, should this not be possible then reasons for delay and an expected conclusion date should be forwarded to the employee in writing.

The decision of the meeting is final. All documentation of this procedure should be kept on file irrespective of the outcome.

Should a grievance be raised immediately prior to an employee leaving the workplace or within a short period of time (3 months is standard) then it is not always reasonably practicable to follow the complete procedure.

The initial grievance should be in writing and the response should also be in writing accompanied with the minutes of the meeting but no appeal should be offered as the employee has already left employment and the case should be seen as complete once a written response has been issued.