EMPLOYEE GRIEVANCES
Investigate properly. Decide clearly.
An employee grievance can involve anything from a straightforward workplace complaint to serious allegations against a manager. We help employers understand what has been raised, decide what needs investigating and manage the process through to a clear outcome.
From grievance investigations and meetings to outcome letters, appeals and complaints raised alongside disciplinary or performance issues, you get practical advice and the documentation needed to move matters forward.
Same-day response standard · Advice for employers across England, Scotland and Wales
UNDERSTAND THE ISSUE FIRST
Employees use the word “grievance” to describe very different workplace concerns. It might involve treatment by a manager, a colleague relationship, workload, pay, bullying, harassment, discrimination or disagreement with a management decision.
The first step is not to assume what the grievance means. It is to establish exactly what has been alleged, what the employee wants resolved and which parts of the complaint genuinely require investigation.
Before deciding how to respond, we help employers separate the different issues involved.
That may mean establishing:
what the employee is actually alleging;
which facts are disputed;
what evidence may be relevant;
whether other employees need to be spoken to;
what outcome the employee is seeking; and
whether the grievance affects another process already under way.
A grievance may raise serious issues. It may also contain misunderstandings, workplace tensions or complaints that do not require an extensive investigation.
The existence of a grievance does not determine the outcome. It creates an issue that needs to be examined properly.
What has actually happened?
What is disputed?
What needs investigating?
What does the employee want the employer to do?
PRACTICAL GRIEVANCE SUPPORT
You do not need to work out the process alone. We help employers establish what needs to happen, manage the important stages properly and prepare the documentation needed to keep the grievance moving.
We review what the employee has raised, identify the individual allegations and establish which issues require investigation or a formal response.
We help decide who should investigate, what evidence is relevant, which employees may need to be interviewed and how extensive the investigation reasonably needs to be.
We help managers prepare for meetings, including the issues that need exploring, appropriate questions and any points requiring particular care.
We provide support where grievances involve bullying, harassment, discrimination, complaints against managers or other potentially higher-risk issues.
Where a grievance is raised alongside disciplinary action, performance management, absence management or another employment process, we advise on how the issues should interact.
We help assess the evidence, reach a reasoned decision and prepare the grievance outcome letter so the employee understands what has and has not been upheld.
If the employee appeals, we help establish the appropriate appeal process, review the grounds raised and prepare the documentation required.
Where the process identifies a wider management, conduct or workplace issue, we help determine what should happen next rather than treating the outcome letter as the end of the matter.
Clear advice at each stage. Documentation prepared where it is needed.
GRIEVANCE INVESTIGATIONS
A grievance investigation should establish enough evidence to reach a fair and reasoned decision. It does not need to become an open-ended investigation into every disagreement or workplace issue surrounding the complaint.
The scope should be driven by what has actually been alleged.
Break the grievance into clear issues. Broad complaints often contain several separate allegations that need to be considered individually.
Identify the documents, emails, messages, records or other information that could genuinely help establish what happened.
Not every person mentioned in a grievance needs to become a witness. Interviews should focus on those who can provide relevant evidence.
Where employees remember events differently, the decision may depend on the consistency, credibility and wider evidence supporting each account.
Some complaints may create an immediate workplace issue while the grievance is investigated, such as difficult reporting relationships or concerns about ongoing contact between employees.
A grievance may overlap with disciplinary, performance or absence management. The employer needs to decide whether the processes can continue alongside one another or whether something genuinely needs resolving first.
A defensible outcome does not require investigating everything. It requires investigating the right things properly.
OVERLAPPING EMPLOYMENT PROCESSES
Employees sometimes raise grievances while another employment process is already under way.
That might happen during disciplinary proceedings, performance management, absence management, redundancy consultation or when a dismissal is being considered.
The fact that a grievance has been raised does not, by itself, determine whether the other process should stop.
The important question is:
If the grievance concerns the same facts, the person making the decision, the fairness of the process or an allegation that could materially affect the outcome, it may need to be addressed before the other process moves forward.
In other situations, the issues may be sufficiently separate for both processes to continue alongside each other.
In other situations, the issues may be sufficiently separate for both processes to continue alongside each other.
We help employers consider:
whether the grievance and the existing process overlap;
whether the grievance raises new evidence;
whether the person handling the other process is implicated;
whether continuing could affect the fairness of the decision;
whether both matters can reasonably progress at the same time; and
whether one issue genuinely needs resolving first.
A grievance should not automatically derail legitimate management action. Equally, it should not be ignored where it materially affects the fairness of what happens next.
The right approach depends on what has been raised, not simply on the fact that the employee has used the word “grievance”.
HIGHER-RISK GRIEVANCES
Grievances involving bullying, harassment, discrimination or the conduct of a manager can carry wider consequences for the people involved and the business.
They need to be taken seriously. But an allegation is still an allegation until the relevant facts have been examined.
The employer's role is to create a process capable of reaching a fair conclusion without prejudging either side.
Take serious allegations seriously — without deciding the answer before the investigation has taken place.
If the grievance concerns the employee's manager, a senior leader or the person who would normally hear the complaint, somebody else may need to take responsibility for the investigation or decision.
Consider who genuinely needs to know about the complaint, how evidence will be handled and whether any temporary working arrangements are necessary while the matter is investigated.
Allegations involving discrimination, sexual harassment or whistleblowing can raise legal issues beyond the ordinary grievance procedure. Identifying those issues early can materially affect how the employer should respond.
Supporting the employee who has raised a concern does not require assuming that every allegation is true. Equally, supporting an accused manager does not mean dismissing the complaint before it has been properly examined.
OUTCOME-FIRST GRIEVANCE SUPPORT
A grievance should not leave the employer wondering what to do at each stage. We help establish the issue, recommend the appropriate route and prepare the documentation needed to put that advice into action.
01 — Clarify
We identify the individual allegations, the outcome the employee is seeking and any immediate issues that need managing.
02 — Assess
We consider the evidence, relevant Employment Law issues, workplace risk and whether the grievance affects any other process already under way.
03 — Recommend
You receive a clear recommendation on the appropriate process — including who should handle it, what needs to be investigated and how the matter should progress.
04 — Draft
Where documentation is required, we prepare it. That can include: grievance acknowledgements; investigation and meeting invitations; questions and manager scripts; witness correspondence; grievance outcome letters; appeal correspondence; and related management communications.
05 - CLOSE
We help identify any action arising from the findings, what should be communicated, whether another management process can now move forward and whether anything should change to reduce the risk of the issue recurring.
You should finish the grievance knowing what the position is, what we recommend and what happens next.
COMPLEX GRIEVANCES
A straightforward workplace complaint can often be dealt with through a relatively simple process. Others involve several employees, competing allegations or wider Employment Law issues that make the next step less obvious.
Early advice can be particularly useful where:
the grievance is against the person who would normally investigate or hear it;
a director or senior manager is involved;
several employees have raised related complaints;
employees have raised grievances against each other;
discrimination, harassment or whistleblowing is alleged;
the employee is absent from work while the grievance is ongoing;
disciplinary, performance or dismissal action is already under way;
there is a significant dispute about the evidence;
confidentiality is becoming difficult to manage; or
the working relationship has broken down significantly.
A complaint can reveal a wider conduct issue, management problem, damaged working relationship or potential legal risk.
The objective is not simply to complete the grievance procedure. It is to understand what the findings mean for the business and decide what needs to happen afterwards.
Complex grievances often involve several employment issues at once. We help keep the complaint, the legal position and the wider management decision connected.
GRIEVANCE SUPPORT FAQS
Grievances can raise practical questions about investigations, meetings, overlapping procedures and what happens after a decision. These are some of the issues employers commonly need to resolve.
Related employer support:
Broader advice on difficult employment decisions.
Ongoing advice, drafting and day-to-day employer support.
Support if an employment dispute becomes a Tribunal claim.
See the options for ongoing HR & Employment Law support.
Start by establishing exactly what the employee is complaining about and checking your grievance procedure.
The employer should deal with the matter fairly and without unreasonable delay, gather the information needed to understand the complaint and give the employee an opportunity to explain their concerns. Depending on the issues raised, further investigation may be required before an outcome can be reached.
Avoid deciding whether the grievance is justified before the relevant facts have been considered.
A formal grievance should be examined sufficiently for the employer to reach a fair and reasoned decision, but that does not mean every complaint requires a lengthy investigation.
The appropriate scope depends on what is disputed. Some grievances can be resolved from relatively straightforward evidence; others require witness interviews, documents and a more detailed investigation.
The objective is to obtain as much relevant information as is reasonable — not to investigate every peripheral workplace issue.
There is no single statutory number of days that applies to every grievance. The Acas Code requires grievances to be handled without unreasonable delay.
Acas guidance suggests holding a formal grievance meeting ideally within five working days, while allowing the employee reasonable time to prepare.
More complicated investigations may take considerably longer. Where there is a delay, the employer should explain why and keep the employee informed.
Where an employee raises a formal grievance, the Acas procedure expects the employer to arrange a meeting so the employee can explain their grievance and how they believe it could be resolved.
The meeting may identify issues requiring further investigation before a final decision is made.
For particularly straightforward matters the precise process may vary, but employers should be cautious about rejecting a formal grievance without first giving the employee a reasonable opportunity to explain their position.
Yes. Workers have a statutory right to make a reasonable request to be accompanied at a formal grievance meeting.
The companion can generally be a fellow worker, a trade union representative or an official employed by a trade union.
The right also applies to a formal grievance appeal hearing.
Where possible, the investigation should be carried out by somebody who is not involved in the allegations and who can approach the evidence impartially.
That could be another manager, HR or, where internal independence is difficult, an external investigator.
Complaints involving senior managers or directors may require particular thought about who has sufficient independence and authority to investigate the matter properly.
Potentially, yes. Raising a grievance does not automatically require a disciplinary process to stop.
The Acas Code says a disciplinary process may be temporarily suspended while a grievance is dealt with. Where the disciplinary and grievance issues are related, it may instead be appropriate to deal with them at the same time.
The correct approach depends on what the grievance concerns and whether it materially affects the fairness of the disciplinary process.
Yes, in appropriate circumstances.
If the matters are closely related, dealing with them concurrently may be more practical than running two entirely separate processes. In other cases, the grievance may raise an issue that genuinely needs resolving before the disciplinary decision can safely be made.
The employer should look at the substance of the grievance rather than applying an automatic rule either way.
Take the complaint seriously, keep an open mind and establish what has actually happened.
The process should be fair to the employee raising the complaint and to anyone accused. Depending on the seriousness of the allegations, a formal investigation may be necessary and temporary workplace arrangements may need to be considered while it takes place.
Complaints involving discrimination, harassment or victimisation can also raise legal issues beyond the ordinary grievance procedure, so early advice can be particularly valuable.
There is no standard duration. It should be completed as quickly as reasonably possible while still being thorough and fair.
A straightforward investigation may be completed quickly. A grievance involving numerous witnesses, disputed evidence or several allegations could take several weeks.
Employers should set a reasonable timescale, keep it under review and explain any material delay to the people involved.
The Acas Code says employees should be allowed to appeal a formal grievance decision if they believe the issue has not been satisfactorily resolved.
The employee should normally identify the grounds of appeal. The appeal should be handled impartially and, wherever possible, by a manager who was not previously involved in deciding the grievance.
The final appeal outcome should then be confirmed in writing.
The employer should explain the decision clearly and confirm the outcome in writing, including which allegations were not upheld and, where appropriate, the reasons for that conclusion.
A grievance not being upheld does not automatically mean it was dishonest or malicious. The employee may genuinely have perceived events differently or there may simply be insufficient evidence to substantiate the complaint.
The employer should also explain the appeal process and consider whether anything still needs addressing in the working relationship.
Do not treat an unsuccessful grievance as evidence of bad faith.
If there is genuine evidence that an employee knowingly fabricated allegations, deliberately provided false information or otherwise acted dishonestly, that may potentially become a separate conduct matter.
That decision should only be considered after the grievance has been properly examined. Employers should be particularly careful where the original complaint involves discrimination, harassment or whistleblowing because retaliatory action can create additional legal risk.
Yes. Harrington Raine can support employers through individual stages or help manage the grievance process more broadly.
Depending on the circumstances, that can include reviewing the allegations, planning or carrying out investigations, preparing grievance meetings, advising on the evidence and outcome, drafting correspondence and supporting any subsequent appeal.
The objective is to leave you with a clear process, a defensible decision and the documentation needed to put that decision into effect.
Tell us what has been raised and where the process currently stands. We will help identify what needs investigating, recommend the appropriate route and prepare the documentation needed to move the grievance forward.
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