ACAS grievance code of practice
The ACAS code is designed to help employers, employees and their representatives deal with disciplinary and grievance situations in the workplace. Situations such as misconduct or poor performance would be disciplinary matters whilst problems or complaints that employees raise with their employers would be grievance matters all of which are covered by the code. Redundancy and non renewal of fixed term contracts is not covered by the code.
Fairness and transparency are promoted by developing and using rules and procedures for handling disciplinary and grievance situations. These should be set down in writing, be specific and clear. Employees and managers must be made aware of what the rules and procedures are, where they can be found and how they are to be used.
Some key information about grievances and procedures
- Grievances are concerns, problems or complaints that employees raise with their employers
- Where possible employees should aim to settle grievances informally with their immediate superior
- Grievance procedures are used by employers to deal formally with employees' grievances
- Grievance procedures allow employers to deal with grievances fairly, consistently and speedily
- Employers must have procedures available to employees so that their grievances can be properly considered
- The compensation given by employment tribunals can be adjusted by usually between 10-50 per cent if the employer or employee fails to follow the statutory grievance procedure.
To ensure that issues are dealt with fairly the following should be ensured
- Issues should raised and dealt with issues promptly
- Meetings, decisions or confirmation of those decisions should not be unreasonably delayed
- All parties should act consistently
- Investigations should be made to establish the facts of the case
- Employers should allow an employee to appeal against any formal decision made.
Grievances
Anyone may, at some time, have problems or concerns about their work, working conditions or relationships with colleagues that they wish to talk about with their employer. They want the grievance to be addressed, and if possible, resolved as soon as possible.
Issues that may cause grievances include
- terms and conditions of employment
- health and safety
- work relations
- bullying and harassment
- new working practices
- working environment
- organisational change
- equal opportunities
Grievances may occur at all levels, and the Code applies equally to management and employees regardless of seniority. The easiest and speediest way is to try and sort out the problem informally with their immediate superior. In some cases it may be helpful to use a neutral mediator to help sort out a grievance and maintain working relationships and is often most effective if used early on.
Employers should be aware that their employees might raise issues about matters not entirely within the control of the organisation, such as client or customer relationships or equal opportunity issues (for instance where an employee is working on another employer's site). These should be treated in the same way as within the organisation, with the employer/manager investigating as far as possible and taking action if required. The organisation should make it very clear to any third party that grievances are taken seriously and action will be taken to protect their employees.
Statutory grievance procedure
- Step 1 - Statement of grievance
The employee must set out the grievance in writing and send the statement or a copy of it to the employer
- Step 2 - Meeting
The employer must invite the employee to attend a meeting to discuss the grievance
The meeting must not take place unless:
i) the employee has informed the employer what the basis for the grievance was when they made the statement under Step 1; and
ii) the employer has had a reasonable opportunity to consider their response to that information;
The employee must take all reasonable steps to attend the meeting
After the meeting, the employer must inform the employee of their decision as to their response to the grievance and notify them of the right of appeal against the decision if they are not satisfied with it
Employees have the right to be accompanied at the meeting
- Step 3 - Appeal
If the employee does wish to appeal, they must inform the employer
If the employee informs the employer of their wish to appeal, the employer must invite them to attend a further meeting
The employee must take all reasonable steps to attend the meeting
After the appeal meeting, the employer must inform the employee of their final decision
Where reasonably practicable, the appeal should be dealt with by a more senior manager than attended the first meeting (unless the most senior manager attended that meeting)
Employees have the right to be accompanied at the appeal meeting
Employees must complete step 1 of the statutory procedure if they wish subsequently to use the grievance as the basis of an application to an employment tribunal. Employment tribunals may adjust any award of compensation by usually between 10 and 50 per cent for failure by either party to follow relevant steps of the statutory procedure where it applies.
The procedure in operation
If the employee has failed to resolve the problem with their immediate superior they can make an official grievance complaint by writing to the employer and setting out the nature of the grievance. Once received the employer must arrange a formal meeting to be held without unreasonable delay and advise the employee of their right to be accompanied.
Key points of the meeting
- Hold the meeting in private
- If the grievance concerns the line manager, consider who else could hear the complaint
- Ensure an open discussion of the issue
- Consider adjourning the meeting if further advice needs to be sought
- Don't make a snap decision - even if the solution at first seems obvious, there may be repercussions to consider
- Give the employee the chance to appeal if they are not happy with the decision.
Once arranged the employer, employee and companion should make every effort to attend the meeting. In preparation for the hearing a period of time should be arranged where there will not be any interruptions. It's a good idea to have someone take notes and act as a witness to the proceedings. To ensure consistency it should be found out prior to the meeting if similar grievances have been raised in the past and how they were resolved and any follow-up action that was necessary.
Remember that a grievance hearing is not the same as a disciplinary hearing, and is an occasion when discussion and dialogue may fruitfully produce the answer. On opening the meeting make introductions as necessary. Ask the employee to re-state their grievance and perhaps how they would like to see it resolved. Have in mind that the employee may have been holding the grievance for a long time and allowances should be made for any reasonable 'letting off steam' if the employee is under stress.
Make sure that the grievance is fully understood and that any 'evidence' produced is relevant and also understood. Discuss the grievance for as long as the employee has something constructive to add; going round in circles is a pointless exercise and only leads to confuse things. Once all the talking is done sum everything up and, as most grievances are not normally issues calling for snap decisions, adjourn the meeting to allow time for the care and thought that should go into the resolution and to maybe explore possibilities with other managers about the resolution, or to take advice on how to proceed further. If adjourned let the employee know when they might reasonably expect a response. If no resolution is made then the employer must allow the employee to take the grievance further.
Once a decision has been reached respond without unreasonable delay to the employee's grievance in writing which, when appropriate, should set out what action the employer intends to take to resolve the grievance. The employee should be informed that they can appeal if they are not content with the action taken. If the grievance is about a superior then any appeal should be heard by a more senior person than the one involved in the grievance. In small firms, if this is not possible, another manager or the owner should hear the appeal.
Appeals
Where an employee feels that their grievance has not been satisfactorily resolved they can appeal and should let their employer know the grounds for their appeal in writing within a reasonable time.
Appeals should be heard without unreasonable delay and at a time and place which should be notified to the employee in advance. Workers have a statutory right to be accompanied at any such appeal hearing. The appeal should be dealt with impartially and wherever possible by a manager who has not previously been involved in the case. An appeal hearings object is not to re-hear the case but to re-consider the decision made taking into account the grounds of the appeal, this may lead to parts of the original meeting being viewed in a different light or the relevancy of it being reviewed but should not be a point by point re-examination of the original meeting.
The outcome of the appeal should be communicated to the employee in writing as soon as possible.
Records of the hearing and any subsequent appeal must be made and retained, these should include the nature of the grievance, the original evidence, the employees comments and the action taken along with any follow up action.
Employee's companion
Workers have a statutory right to be accompanied by a companion at a grievance meeting which deals with a complaint about a duty owed by the employer to the worker. So this would apply where the complaint is, for example, that the employer is not honouring the worker's contract, or is in breach of legislation.
The chosen companion may be a fellow worker, a trade union representative or an official employed by a trade union. A trade union representative who is not an employed official must have been certified by their union as being competent to accompany a worker. To exercise the right to be accompanied a worker must first make a reasonable request. What is reasonable will depend on the circumstances of each individual case. However it would not normally be reasonable for workers to insist on being accompanied by a companion whose presence would prejudice the hearing nor would it be reasonable for a worker to ask to be accompanied by a companion from a remote geographical location if someone suitable and willing was available on site.
The companion should be allowed to address the hearing to put and sum up the worker's case, respond on behalf of the worker to any views expressed at the meeting and confer with the worker during the hearing. The companion does not however, have the right to answer questions on the workers behalf, address the hearing if the worker does not wish it or prevent the employer from explaining their case.
Overlapping grievance and disciplinary cases
Where an employee raises a grievance during a disciplinary process the disciplinary process may be temporarily suspended in order to deal with the grievance. Where the grievance and disciplinary cases are related it may be appropriate to deal with both issues concurrently.
