In Employment Law what is a grievance?
What is a grievance?
A grievance is any concern, problem or complaint that an employee may wish to raise against his/her employer. This could relate to any aspect of employment e.g.) working conditions, pay, failure of process, or any complaint an employee has regarding how (s)he is being treated at work.
A grievance can be made at any time: even in response to disciplinary, redundancy or performance process where an employee considers the employer’s actions to be unfair, or unwarranted.
Advantages of lodging a grievance
The lodging of a grievance enables an employee to protect its position by clearly setting out a complaint and providing the employer the opportunity to rectify any unfair treatment. Failure to do so can then strengthen any future claim an employee may advance in the courts/tribunal. The timing of lodging a grievance is also crucial. Whether the employee is already subject to other formal processes (such as disciplinary or redundancy) it is often critical that the employee sets out any complaints before the employer takes further action.
Is raising a grievance always a precursor to termination
Many believe that if an employee raises a grievance then the future employment relationship is doomed to fail. This is not the legal case. An employer is prohibited from treating an employee less favourably for raising a grievance. It should also be remembered that an employee does not have to raise a formal grievance in the first instance and an informal dialogue is often a preferred route. Sometimes an employer is unaware of any issues and is unable to rectify such complaints if they are not brought to their attention.
Both employees and employers should consider the Acas code when addressing employee complaints: http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/f/m/Acas-Code-of-Practice-1-on-disciplinary-and-grievance-procedures.pdf
Posted on 11/08/2017 by Ortolan
