Handling discipline and grievance issues

The grievance procedure

Any worker may have concerns or complaints about their work, employment terms, working conditions or relationships with colleagues that they want to discuss or bring to your attention. They will want you to address and, if possible, resolve these grievances.

Since October 2004, all employers must provide their employees with a written grievance procedure complying with the statutory standard grievance procedure below. Failure will result in an extra award of four weeks' pay to an employee who succeeds in an employment tribunal claim against you.

Standard grievance procedure

The standard grievance procedure has three stages which should be followed:

• Employee gives written statement of grievance - the employee must explain the grievance in a written statement. Where the grievance is against the line manager the matter should be raised with a more senior manager if there is one.
• Meeting is held and employer informs employee of the outcome - hold the meeting with the employee and if relevant, their colleague. Inform the employee of any decision made and notify them of their right to appeal. The employee must appeal to complete the statutory procedure.
• Appeal if necessary - if the employee wishes to appeal against the disciplinary action that has been decided, you must invite the employee to a further meeting. If reasonably practicable, a more senior manager who has not been involved in the grievance procedure so far will deal with the appeal. After the meeting you should inform the employee of the decision taken. For information on appeals, see the page in this guide on  appeals against disciplinary/grievance decisions .

The modified grievance procedure

The modified grievance procedure will apply in relation to the grievance only if:

• the employee no longer works for the employer
• it has been agreed in writing that it will apply
• the employee raised the grievance before they left, but the standard procedure wasn't completed, or the employee didn't raise it until after they left

There are two steps within the modified grievance procedure:

1. Written statement of grievance - the employee must put their grievance in a written statement and send a copy to the employer.
2. Employer gives written response - you must write back to the employee giving your response to the points they have raised.

As well as the statutory rules, the Acas Code is helpful when dealing with grievances as in any later tribunal claim the tribunal will take into account whether you have followed the Code.

Download the Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures from the Acas website (PDF) .

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Discipline and grievance procedures and the employment contract
• Setting out disciplinary rules
• The disciplinary and dismissals procedure
• Investigating disciplinary matters
• Preparing for a disciplinary hearing
• Holding a disciplinary hearing
• Types of disciplinary action
• The grievance procedure
• Handling a grievance
• Appeals against disciplinary/grievance decisions

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