Grievance Procedure: Steps for Employers

 Grievance Procedure: Steps for Employers

Term	Definition
Grievance Procedure	A formal process that allows employees to raise concerns or complaints about issues in the workplace, such as unfair treatment or harassment.
Grievance Letter	A written document submitted by an employee to formally raise a complaint or concern with their employer.
Grievance Hearing	A formal meeting where the employee presents their grievance and the employer listens, asks questions, and considers the evidence provided.
Appeal	The process by which an employee can request a review of the decision made in response to their grievance if they are not satisfied with the outcome.
Investigation	The process of gathering information and evidence related to a grievance to establish the facts before making a decision.
ACAS	The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, a UK organisation that provides guidance on employment law and helps resolve workplace disputes.
Right to be Accompanied	The legal right of an employee to bring a colleague or trade union representative with them to a grievance or disciplinary hearing.
Resolution	The outcome of a grievance procedure, which aims to address and resolve the issues raised by the employee.
Employment Rights Act 1996	A key piece of UK legislation that outlines the rights of employees, including provisions related to grievance procedures.
Mediation	A process where an impartial third party helps both the employee and employer discuss and resolve a grievance before it escalates further.
Disciplinary Action	Steps taken by an employer to address an employee’s behaviour or performance that breaches company policies or standards.
Retaliation	Negative actions taken against an employee because they raised a grievance, which is illegal under UK employment law.
Confidentiality	The principle that all discussions, documents, and proceedings related to a grievance are kept private and not shared outside of the necessary parties.
Code of Practice	Guidelines provided by organisations like ACAS to help employers handle grievances fairly and in line with legal requirements.
Appeal Hearing	A follow-up meeting held if an employee appeals the outcome of a grievance hearing, during which the original decision is reviewed.

The 5-Step Workplace Grievance Process

·        Step 1: Informal meeting

·        Step 2: Supervisor meeting and documentation

·        Step 3: Escalation to management

·        Step 4: Escalation to top company representatives

·        Step 5: Referral to arbitration

The process for resolving a workplace grievance between an employer and a union representing its employees usually follows a standard sequence of steps. Typically, a grievance claim over a labor and employment dispute moves up the chain of command of both the union and the employer.

This process doesn’t waive either side’s rights to labor arbitration. Rather, the theory is that the lower the level at which a disagreement can be resolved, the lesser the degree of disruption to the workplace.

Step 1: Informal meeting

Most grievance procedures begin with an informal step at which the employee and a steward meet with the employee’s immediate supervisor to discuss the matter in an attempt to find an expeditious resolution. If this informal discussion provides no resolution, the formal steps are initiated, usually with the filing of a written grievance.

Initiating grievances

If the employee and supervisor are unable to resolve the dispute in an informal discussion, the employee initiates a grievance by informing the steward of the complaint.

The steward is responsible for interviewing the employee and determining:

· The employee’s version of what occurred, including the time and place

· Names of witnesses, if any, who observed the action in question

· Management representatives who took part in the action

· The section (or sections) of the contract that was violated

· The appropriate remedy

· Any other relevant information

The three-part grievance review procedure

Most arbitration agreements provide for multiple grievance processing steps corresponding to the chain of command or levels of review. Three-step procedures are common, but more complex procedures are used by some parties with multiple plants and bargaining units in the interest of consistency in the application of national agreements spanning unit boundaries.

Most contracts require the employer to prepare written responses after each of the processing steps within a specified number of days.

Step 2: Supervisor meeting and documentation

This step involves a meeting between the steward – usually accompanied by the employee – and the employee’s supervisor to discuss the grievance. If the grievance can’t be resolved at this step, most agreements require that the grievance be filed in writing and signed by the grievant within a specified number of days of the incident. In general, the steward is responsible for reducing the grievance to writing. The original document is given to a designated management representative and the steward retains a copy. Additional copies are distributed to various union and management officials, as well as to the employee.

Step 3: Escalation to management

The next step of the grievance process is a meeting to discuss the grievance at a higher level of management authority – typically between the union’s business agent or grievance committee members and designated management representatives.

Step 4: Escalation to top company representatives

The last step before referral to arbitration typically involves discussions between full-time union officers and/or representatives of the international union and top company management.

Exceptions

Contracts usually require the parties to observe all processing steps before resorting to arbitration. However, if both parties agree or if it is allowed by the contract, one or more processing steps can be bypassed in certain situations, including those where:

· The grievance is general in nature and can be resolved only at high union-management levels – so-called policy grievances

· The dispute arises directly from the failure of one party to follow the grievance procedure

· The parties waive the pre-arbitration steps because the dispute is of a critical or urgent nature

· Grievance procedures would be futile

Grievance mediation

Following completion of the grievance processing steps, some contracts provide for an intermediate stage before arbitration: grievance mediation. Grievance mediation refers to a dispute resolution process in which the parties discuss the grievance with a mediator who acts as an impartial third party. The mediator can suggest ways of resolving the dispute but doesn’t make findings of fact and can’t impose a settlement on the parties.

The parties can agree to use mediation on an informal basis for selected grievances, or mediation can be designated in the contract as an alternative to or additional stage prior to arbitration.

Step 5: Referral to arbitration

In general, referral to an arbitrator for a decision is the final step in grievance procedures. The decision as to whether to refer the grievance to arbitration is made by the union and not the aggrieved employee.

In grievance arbitration, the arbitrator, a neutral third party selected jointly by the two parties, acts as a judge, interpreting the meaning and intent of the contract. The parties present their cases before the arbitrator, and he or she bases the decision on this presentation. In general, the arbitrator’s decision is final and binding.

Your labor and employment law connection

Labor and employment practitioners play a pivotal role in implementing a workplace grievance process that responds effectively to grievance claims and complies with labor arbitration law. Download our Matrix for Analyzing and Evaluating a Grievance Claim for a simple organizing tool to help you systematically examine all essential components of a case.

Discover all the resources, innovations, and unmatched expertise that only Bloomberg Law provides, including up-to-the-moment intelligence, Practical Guidance, and expert analysis. Request a demo to learn how Bloomberg Law research solutions can help your labor arbitration law team.

How to conduct a disciplinary procedure in 6 steps?

 

1.     Ask yourself whether formal proceedings are necessary.

Before rushing into disciplinary action, you should first ask yourself whether you can resolve the issue through informal channels, or whether disciplinary proceedings are justified in the circumstances.

For example, you may be confronted with an employee who has committed one minor act of misconduct, such as turning up late to work, but who otherwise has a good disciplinary record. In this situation, common sense would dictate that formal action is likely to be a disproportionate response and will most likely do more harm than good; a quick word on an informal basis is likely to be enough to resolve the issue and prevent the problem from escalating further.

 

2. Investigate alleged misconduct.

Once you decide formal proceedings are necessary, you are duty bound to investigate. Conducting an investigation is crucial in terms of determining the fairness of any subsequent dismissal, as it is a central part of the legal test a Tribunal has to consider.

Depending on the nature of the allegation, the investigation may be very short or very complicated, lasting a couple of days to a few weeks. For instance, if you have caught someone taking money out of the till, the investigation into the act itself is likely to be relatively short. However, if you discover that stock is missing but have no idea who the culprit is, a longer investigation may be necessary to identify who is responsible and prove wrongdoing.

The aim of this stage is to fact-find: to determine what happened, when it happened, where it happened, why it happened, whether anyone else is involved, and whether anyone else saw what happened. The investigation process typically involves:

• Interviewing witnesses. This may be colleagues or customers. Sometimes it will be necessary to interview the accused as part of the process, but not always, especially if the issue is straightforward and the evidence speaks for itself.
• Gathering evidence. This can take a variety of forms, including CCTV footage, attendance sheets, email correspondence, telephone or computer records, and witness statements. Investigators must consider evidence which both supports and challenges the allegations made rather than seeking to prove their assumptions. This means looking for evidence that an employee may not be guilty of misconduct, as well as proof of their guilt. This is central to a reasonable investigation which, in turn, is vital to a fair dismissal.

While the investigation is being completed, you may need to consider whether the employee should be suspended on full pay. This is only permitted in certain circumstances, for example, if you think the employee poses a risk to your business or other members of staff or that they could tamper with evidence. However, the time they are suspended for must be as short as possible and kept under review. It must also be made clear to the employee that the suspension itself is not a form of disciplinary action.

One decision by the Court of Appeal suggested that an employer can suspend an employee without breaching trust and confidence, an implied contractual term of all Contracts of Employment, if it has “reasonable and proper cause” for doing so.

 

 

3.     Set up a disciplinary meeting.

Once the investigation is complete, if there is no case to answer, then no further action needs to be taken. However, if there appears to be sufficient evidence to indicate misconduct, the investigating officer must step out of the picture and pass the evidence onto a disciplinary officer.

It’s important, where possible, that the person who conducts the disciplinary meeting is not the same person who carried out the investigation. If this isn’t possible, or you would prefer to trust the process to an independent professional, WorkNest’s expert HR Consultancy team can conduct investigations and meetings for you.

The disciplinary officer is responsible for inviting the employee by letter to a disciplinary meeting. The invite letter must:

• Ensure that the employee is given reasonable notice of the hearing;
• Inform them of their right to be accompanied by a fellow colleague or a recognized Trade Union representative;
• Enclose all of the evidence you are seeking to reply upon; and
• Be clear about the allegations and the potential outcomes of the meeting (for example, a first written warning, dismissal, etc.)

 

4.     Conduct the meeting.

At the disciplinary meeting, you should explain the allegations, go through the evidence, and give the employee the opportunity to comment upon it. They may raise things in their defence that require further investigation afterwards; if so, you must gather additional evidence, and consider it, before coming to a decision (if appropriate).

 

5.     Make a decision.

Once all the evidence has been considered, you should adjourn the meeting to decide whether disciplinary action should be taken, and what this should look like.

When determining the most suitable action to take, it’s important to ask the following questions:

• Is the sanction fair and reasonable in the circumstances?
• Are there any mitigating circumstances?
• How have similar cases been dealt with?

You may decide to take no action, issue a written warning or final warning, dismiss the employee, or take other types of action short of dismissal, such as demotion.

Actions such as demotion can only be taken if it is expressly included in the employee’s contract of employment or the employee agrees to it.

 

6.     Inform the employee and let them appeal.

Once the meeting has been held and any additional investigations complete, you must confirm your decision to the employee in writing, setting out why the allegations are proven and the appropriate sanction. The employee must be given the chance to appeal if they feel that the decision you have reached is unfair or unreasonable.

If an employee appeals:

 

• An appeal meeting must be arranged. The person responsible for the appeal should be someone who has not been involved in the investigation or disciplinary meeting.
• You should remind the employee of their right to be accompanied.
• At the appeal meeting, you should run through the employee’s grounds of appeal and consider each in turn. You may be required to investigate some additional points following the appeal if you are unable to confirm or answer something based on the evidence already gathered.
• Once that process is complete, the decision of the appeal must be confirmed in writing to the employee. This decision will be final.