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Thursday, 8 January 2009

Employment

Employment

Grievance procedures: an introduction

A grievance procedure lets you make complaints to or raise problems with your employer. Find out what steps you need to take if you have a complaint and what to think about when following a grievance procedure.

When to use a grievance procedure

Problems you might want to raise with your employer could involve:

  • your terms of employment
  • pay and working conditions
  • disagreements with co-workers
  • discrimination 
  • not getting your statutory employment rights

A grievance procedure is one of the ways to resolve a problem at work. However, you might try talking with your employer informally before using the formal grievance procedure, to see if that helps.

How to raise a grievance

Your employer may have their own procedure - you should follow this if you can. Check your contract of employment or company handbook for more details.

At present there is a set of minimum steps that have to be included in any grievance procedure, known as the 'statutory minimum procedures'. There are two of these procedures:

  • the 'standard procedure' - which applies to most situations and is the one you should follow if you can
  • the 'modified procedure' - which applies to some situations where employment has ended

From 6 April 2009, these statutory steps will be repealed, meaning that they will no longer be law and you and your employer do not have to follow them. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) will produce guidance on what your employer and you should do.

If you live in Northern Ireland the dispute resolution changes won’t apply. To find out more about the dispute resolution procedures in Northern Ireland visit the Department for Employment and Learning website.

Why you should follow a procedure

Until 6 April 2009, normally, you won't be allowed to make an Employment Tribunal claim until you have followed the statutory minimum procedure, unless you think you'll face harassment or violence as a result. If successful you might get a reduced award if you are at fault for not following the procedure.

Statutory grievance procedures only apply to people considered as employees, although employers can extend them to other people, eg agency and casual workers if they want to.

What if your employer mistreats you for raising a grievance?

You shouldn't be dismissed for raising a genuine grievance about one of your statutory employment rights (eg about discrimination or about querying whether you have got the right wages). Neither should you suffer disadvantage (eg not be promoted or lose overtime) for raising a genuine grievance over your employment rights.

The law also protects you from losing your job and/or being victimised if you are making a disclosure in the public interest or 'blowing the whistle'.

Where to get help

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) offers free, confidential and impartial advice on all employment rights issues.

The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) offers free, confidential and impartial advice on all employment rights issues for residents of Northern Ireland.

Your local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) can provide free and impartial advice. You can find your local CAB office in the phone book or online.

If you are a member of a trade union you can get help, advice and support from them.

More useful links

Grievance procedures: find out more

Additional links

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