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This information applies to England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
Introduction
If you are an employee, you have the right to expect your employer – whether large or small – to have legal minimum procedures for dealing with grievances, dismissal and disciplinary action. In return, the law places a duty on employees to follow the procedures if they have a grievance to raise formally with their employer.
Both employees and employers need to understand these rights and responsibilities. They will help make the workplace fairer but they could count against you if you do not follow them.
If you are a union member, go to your union for advice and support. If you aren't a union member, you should speak to an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB. For other organisations which might help, see under heading Further help and information.
There are laws which lay down the minimum procedures that both employers and employees must follow.
If you do not follow these procedures, this could seriously affect your rights if you later want to make a claim. For example, you may not be able to begin an employment tribunal claim if you don't follow the procedures. Or if you take a case to an employment tribunal and they decide it was your fault that procedures were not followed properly, any compensation awarded to you will be reduced by at least 10 per cent and possibly up to half.
If your employer doesn't follow the procedures, your compensation can be increased in the same way. And if your employer sacks you without following the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedure in full, an employment tribunal can decide that your dismissal was automatically unfair if you have been employed for more than a year.
Importantly, an employment tribunal will not normally accept a claim based on a grievance if you have not written to your employer about the grievance and waited for at least 28 days before filing your claim.
These procedures apply only to employees, but not to ‘workers’. If you are a subcontractor, freelancer or a casual worker, you are probably not an employee. Sometimes it is not obvious whether someone is an employee – you may be an employee, even if the person you work for calls you something else. If you have any doubt about your status, you should seek advice.
This document explains the main points of the procedures. If you need more help, or if you are unsure whether you are an employee or not, you should seek advice from your union rep if you are in a union. You can also get advice from ACAS or the TUC (see under heading Further help and information). You could also consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on  nearest CAB.
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How to raise a grievance
Grievance procedures enable you to raise with management any concerns you have about your job, your terms and conditions or the way your employer or the people you work with treat you.
Your employer must by law have a grievance procedure and must tell you what it is. Within two months of starting work, a new employer must give you written details about the job, like pay and hours, and this statement must include a note of the employer’s disciplinary and grievance procedures. It must also tell you who you should go to if you have a grievance.
If you have a grievance with your employer, you should normally attempt to sort it out informally at first. Raise the matter with the person specified in the grievance procedures, usually your line manager. If that is not possible, or if your problem is with that person, you should go to the next most senior person.
You should always make a note of any communications you have with management about a work problem. Keep all correspondence and make a note of any meeting, including the date, who you met and the main points discussed. This may be useful later.
Formal grievance procedures
If you do have to take matters further, you must follow the statutory minimum grievance procedure, which has three steps. Your employer may have a procedure that has more steps in which case you should follow that procedure, but make sure that this procedure includes the three minimum steps set out below.
The minimum three steps that must be followed are:
- step one: the written statement
- step two: the meeting
- step three: the appeal meeting.
Step one: the written statement
You must send your employer a written statement or letter with details of your grievance, including dates and times if required. Try and make your grievance as clear and concise as possible and make sure you keep a copy of it. The letter should include the date when you sent it. As a general rule, you will not be able to make a claim in an employment tribunal based on a grievance unless you have put your grievance to the employer in writing and waited for at least 28 days.
Sometimes, your employer may question whether you ever put your grievance in writing. For example, you might say that you raised your grievance in a resignation letter, but your employer disagrees. If you are in this situation, you should get expert advice.
If you have several grievances, put each one under a separate heading and set them out so your complaint on each one is clear. Remember, the person who decides your grievance may not know all about your complaint and it needs to be clear to them.
You may find it helpful to state in the written grievance how you would like the matter to be resolved. Be positive – suggest options if you think there are different ways of solving the problem that you would be happy with.
There is a sample letter for you to use on the website of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR). Go to www.berr.gov.uk.
If you have problems with writing, you can ask for help from your union rep if you are in a union. You could also consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
Step two: the meeting
Your employer must then arrange an initial meeting to discuss your grievance. They can allow themselves time to look into your complaint but should not delay for an unreasonable length of time.
You have a right to be accompanied to the grievance meeting. You can choose someone you work with or a trade union official to accompany you.
You have a duty to attend the meeting, which must be held at a time and place which is reasonable for you and anyone accompanying you. If either of you are disabled, the employer must take all reasonable steps to make sure that you have no problems getting to or participating fully in the meeting.
If you do not attend, a tribunal may later find you at fault for not completing the procedures and reduce your compensation. If, for an unforeseeable reason, you or the person accompanying you cannot attend, the employer must arrange another meeting and you must attend. If this meeting also has to be cancelled for an unforeseeable reason, no further meetings need to be held and the procedures are treated as being complied with.
Prepare carefully for the meeting and discuss the matter fully with anyone accompanying you. If there is anyone there you don’t know, ask your employer to introduce them. Set your case out calmly and clearly and explain what you have done to try to resolve the problem informally.
You could make some further suggestions as to how the problem might be resolved. Try to keep the discussion to the point of your grievance.
After the meeting, the employer must tell you what they have decided. You have the right of appeal against any decision. You must use your right to appeal before you take a claim to an employment tribunal. If you do not, any compensation award will be reduced.
Step three: the appeal meeting
You should tell your employer in writing that you are going to appeal. There is a sample letter for you to adapt on the website of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR). Go to www.berr.gov.uk.
Keep a copy of the letter.
Your employer must arrange a further meeting to discuss your appeal. Again, it must be at a reasonable time and place and you have a right to be accompanied.
You have a duty to attend the meeting. If you do not attend, a tribunal may later find you at fault for not completing the procedures and reduce your compensation.
Where possible, a more senior manager should deal with the appeal.
After this appeal meeting, the employer must tell you the final decision. If you are still not satisfied and you believe your employment rights have been infringed, you may be able to make a complaint to an employment tribunal.
You can seek advice about making a complaint from your union rep if you are in a union. You could also consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
Raising a grievance after you have resigned
Generally, you will still need to use a grievance procedure if you have an outstanding grievance after you have resigned. However, if you've been dismissed, you should appeal under the dismissal and disciplinary procedure – see under heading Dismissal and disciplinary procedures. It is important to remember that if you don’t use the right procedure, you can lose out at an employment tribunal.
In some cases, you can use a shorter, two–step procedure after you have resigned. This can only happen if the normal three-step grievance procedure has not been completed before you left and you and your ex-employer agree in writing to use the two-step procedure.
In these circumstances:
- you must send a written statement of grievance to your former employer
- they must write back answering the points you have raised.
In this case, you will still need to wait 28 days from the date of your letter before you issue an employment tribunal claim even if your employer replies earlier.
You will need to follow either the three-step statutory minimum grievance procedure or this shorter two-step procedure, if you are making a claim of constructive dismissal (where you resign because of your employer’s serious breach of your contract).
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When you do not need to follow the formal grievance procedure
Here is a list of situations where you do not need to follow the formal grievance procedure:
- if you've been dismissed, unless you are claiming constructive dismissal (where you have resigned because of your employer's serious breach of contract
- if more than one employee is affected by the same grievance and it is raised with the employer by an official of a recognised trade union. In workplaces where a union is not recognised, a collective grievance can be handled by a union rep or employee representative who has been elected or appointed by employees to deal with such grievances. The employer must have agreed to use this collective procedure
- if there are reasonable grounds for believing that there would be a serious threat of violence or damage to property by one of the parties
- if you have suffered harassment and reasonably believe you would suffer further harassment if you follow the procedures. Harassment means that there has been conduct which is offensive, humiliating, intimidating or violates your dignity
- if it is not practicable to begin or complete the procedure within a reasonable period, for example, if one of the parties becomes seriously ill
- if you have left your job and it is not reasonably practical for you to send a written grievance to your ex-employer, for example, because they are living abroad, not traceable or dead.
Wherever possible, you are advised to use the grievance procedures. Where you don’t, it will be up to you to prove to an employment tribunal that one of the above circumstances applies, if you want to rely on them. Keep evidence, for example, doctors’ letters that can help to explain your position.
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Dismissal and disciplinary procedures
A disciplinary and dismissal procedure is a set of rules that:
- allows employers to issue warnings or impose sanctions (including demotion or dismissal), on staff that they judge have broken rules about conduct or lack the capability to do their job properly
- helps to ensure staff are treated fairly and consistently.
Your employer must by law have a disciplinary and dismissal procedure and must tell you what it is. Within two months of starting work, a new employer must give you written details about the job, such as the hours you will work and your pay and this statement must set out the employer’s disciplinary and dismissal procedure or refer you to a document which sets out the procedure.
By law, if your employer is considering taking disciplinary action or dismissing you, they must comply with the statutory minimum three-step disciplinary procedure detailed below. Your employer’s disciplinary and dismissal procedure may have more steps than the statutory minimum procedure. If so, your employer should follow this fuller procedure, but make sure that it includes the three minimum steps – see below.
If your employer sacks you without following the statutory dismissal and disciplinary procedure in full and you have been employed for more than a year, an employment tribunal can decide that your dismissal was automatically unfair.
Warnings
Employers often use a system of verbal and written warnings in disciplinary action, which will increase in seriousness leading to final written warnings and/or dismissal. The law does not require employers to follow the three-step procedure if they simply want to issue a warning to you – even a final written warning. However, if your employer is thinking of taking any other action, such as deducting wages or demotion, they do have to follow the procedures.
Suspensions
An employer can suspend an employee on full pay without having to go through the procedures. However, if pay is reduced, the procedures will have to be followed. Although the disciplinary procedures do not apply in these circumstances, you can raise a grievance about the warning or suspension under the normal grievance procedure.
If you are unsure about how to proceed, seek advice from ACAS or your union rep if are in a union. You could also consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
Statutory minimum disciplinary and dismissal procedure
Here is the standard three-step dismissal and disciplinary procedure:
- step one: the written statement
- step two: the meeting
- step three: the appeal meeting.
Step one: the written statement
If your employer is considering disciplinary action or dismissal, their first step should be to send you a written statement, setting out exactly the complaint made against you. The statement doesn't necessarily have to say that they are thinking of dismissing you. If you think information is missing, for example, the date of the misconduct, ask your employer to provide it in good time for the hearing.
It would usually be reasonable for your employer to provide you with evidence from any investigation that has been held so you have an opportunity to consider the information.
Read the statement and any other documents carefully.
If you have trouble understanding the statement, discuss it with your union rep if you are in a union or a workmate. You could also consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
Step two: the meeting
Once they have sent you the statement, your employer must arrange a meeting with you to discuss the issue. They should allow you enough time to think about what they have said but should not delay the meeting for an unreasonable time. The employer must not take any disciplinary action before the meeting.
You have a right to be accompanied at the meeting by someone who works with you or by a trade union official. You have a duty to attend the meeting, which must be held at a time and place which is reasonable for you and anyone accompanying you. If either of you is disabled, your employer must take all reasonable steps to make sure that you have no problems getting to or participating fully in the meeting.
If you do not attend, a tribunal may later find you at fault for not completing the procedures and reduce your compensation.
If, for an unforeseeable reason, you or the person accompanying you cannot attend, the employer must arrange another meeting and you must attend. If this meeting also has to be cancelled for an unforeseeable reason, no further meetings need to be held and the procedures are treated as being complied with.
Prepare carefully for the meeting and discuss the matter fully with anyone accompanying you. If there is anyone there you don’t know, ask your employer to introduce them. Your employer should explain how the meeting will be held, who will speak and when. They should then set out the allegations made against you and the evidence which supports them. Listen to what your employer has to say and give your side of the case, calmly and clearly when asked to do so. The employer must give you the opportunity to set out your case at the meeting.
Preparing a written note before the hearing may help – your companion or a CAB can help you with this.
Take notes of what is being said and done – your employer will not always keep them and they may be needed later.
After the meeting, your employer will tell you the decision and what action they are going to take.
Your employer should tell about your right to appeal against the decision. You must use your right of appeal before you take a claim to an employment tribunal. If you do not, any compensation award will be reduced.
Step three: the appeal meeting
If you decide to appeal, you must tell your employer. It is advisable to do this in writing. Keep a copy of the letter, as you may need it if your case goes to an employment tribunal. Your employer must arrange a further meeting to discuss your appeal. Again, it must be at a reasonable time and place and you have a right to be accompanied.
If you do not attend, the employment tribunal may later find you at fault for not completing the procedures and reduce your compensation.
You have a duty to attend the meeting. If, for an unforeseeable reason, you or the person you have chosen to come with you cannot attend, the employer must arrange another meeting and you must attend it. If this meeting also has to be cancelled for an unforeseeable reason, no further meetings need be held and the procedures are treated as being complied with. Prepare carefully for the meeting and discuss the matter fully with the person accompanying you. Take notes at the meeting.
After the meeting, the employer must decide what they are going to do and tell you what it is. This is their final decision and, if you are not happy with it and you think your rights have been infringed, you may be able to take your case to an employment tribunal - see under heading Applying to an employment tribunal.
For more information about taking a case to an employment tribunal, talk to your union rep if you are in a union. You could also consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
Grievances arising during disciplinary proceedings
There are special rules if you want to raise a grievance whilst you are subject to disciplinary proceedings. Normally, any dispute you have over the disciplinary process will be dealt with by that process and no grievance needs to be raised.
However, you may feel that the disciplinary action is being taken for other reasons or that it is discriminatory. In such a case, you should write a grievance letter to your employer. If you do this at any stage before the disciplinary appeal hearing, the matter can be dealt with at the disciplinary hearings. If you raise the grievance after the appeal, the full grievance procedure must be followed.
If a grievance arises whilst you're going through a disciplinary or dismissal procedure, you should get expert advice.
Instant dismissals
An instant dismissal, where the employer has not made any investigation of the circumstances, is nearly always unfair. In the exceptional cases where an employer would be entitled to dismiss an employee without an investigation, the employer must write to you explaining the reasons for a dismissal and informing you of your right to appeal. If you choose to appeal, the employer must arrange a meeting at which you will have the right to be accompanied. You have to attend the appeal meeting.
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When the employer does not need to follow the minimum dismissal and disciplinary procedure
There are circumstances where an employer is allowed to dismiss someone, or take disciplinary action, without going through the procedures because it would not be practical to do so. These are:
- a collective redundancy, where the employer is proposing to make more than 20 employees redundant and is consulting with officials of a recognised trade union or an elected employee representative
- when an employer lays off a group of staff and immediately re-hires them under different terms and conditions
- when employees are dismissed for taking industrial action. In the case of lawful, officially-organised action, special arrangements apply
- where it would be illegal to continue the employment
- sudden and unforeseen stoppage of the employers business, for example, when a factory burns down.
In addition, there are some circumstances where neither the employer nor the employee has to follow the procedures:
- if there are reasonable grounds for believing that there would be a serious threat of violence or damage to property by one of the parties
- you have suffered harassment and reasonably believe you would suffer further harassment if you follow the procedures. Harassment means conduct which is offensive, humiliating, intimidating or violates your dignity
- if it becomes not possible to begin or complete the procedure within a reasonable period, for example, if one of the parties becomes seriously ill. Keep evidence, for example, doctors’ letters to help explain your position.
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Applying to an employment tribunal
Employment tribunals resolve disputes between employers and employees over employment rights. They hear applications, sometimes called claims or complaints, about matters such as unfair dismissal.
If you want to apply to an employment tribunal, you will need to complete a form called an ET1. You can get an ET1:
- by calling the Employment Tribunal Service (ETS) on 0845 795 9775
- from the ETS website at: www.employmenttribunals.gov.uk
- by contacting your local Citizens Advice Bureau.
T o search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
In Northern Ireland, call the Office of Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunals public enquiry line on 028 9032766.
Time limits
In most cases, you must make an application to an employment tribunal within three months of the date when the matter you are complaining about happened. If your application is received after the time limit, the tribunal will not usually accept it. The regulations allow some extensions to the normal time limits. In certain types of cases, the time limits are different. For example, if your application is concerned with equal pay, the time limit is six months.
Missing your time limit will usually mean you cannot proceed with your case. You should seek advice on the time limit that applies as soon as you think you have a claim.
If you are applying for a redundancy payment, special time limits apply. These are complicated and you should seek advice from the Redundancy Payment Helpline on 0845 145 0004.
If your complaint is related to the National Minimum Wage, you should seek advice from the National Minimum Wage Helpline on 0845 600 0678 (in Northern Ireland, 0845 6500207).
Employment tribunal claims based on dismissal and disciplinary procedures
In general, after the full dismissal or disciplinary procedure has finished (including the appeal) and if you still believe your employment rights have been infringed, you can make an application to an employment tribunal without taking any other steps.
However, there are some situations where you will still need to raise a grievance before making an application to an employment tribunal:
- when you are complaining about a constructive dismissal (where you have resigned because of your employer's serious breach of contract) or
- where you have been disciplined but not dismissed and you think the disciplinary action amounts to discrimination or you think your employer took the disciplinary action for reasons different to those stated by them.
Employment tribunal claims based on grievances
If your application is based on a grievance (about something other than dismissal) with your employer or former employer, it will not be accepted unless you either:
- put your grievance in writing, and then waited at least 28 days before applying to an employment tribunal. If there's any disagreement about whether you put your grievance in writing, for example If you say you raised your grievance in a resignation letter but your employer disagrees, you should get expert advice; or
- give a valid reason on the claim form why you think this legal requirement does not apply in your case.
A list of valid reasons is set out below. Some of them involve complex legal matters. If you are uncertain whether the reasons apply in your case, you should get advice from an employee representative or a CAB.
Valid reasons for not lodging a written grievance with your employer include:
- you are not an employee
- your application is brought under a law not covered by these procedures, for example, your right to request flexible working has not been accepted
- it was not practical for you to put the grievance in writing to your employer or take further steps in a reasonable time, for example, if they have gone abroad
- you are no longer employed and it is not reasonably practicable to write the grievance letter, for example, because your ex-employer is living abroad, not traceable or dead
- you have reasonable grounds for believing that putting your grievance in writing to your employer would result in significant threat to you or your property or some other person or their property
- you have been subject to harassment and have reasonable grounds to believe that putting the grievance in writing to your employer would result in further harassment
- the grievance was put to your employer in writing by an appropriate representative, such as an official of a recognised trade union, on behalf of you and at least one other employee
- you have raised the grievance under an industry-level grievance procedure that has been agreed between at least two employers or an employers’ association and one or more independent trade unions
- you have raised the matter that is the subject of your grievance as a “protected disclosure” under the public interest disclosure (‘whistle blowing’) provisions in the Employment Rights Act 1996.
Extending the time limit for making an application to an employment tribunal
In certain circumstances, the time limit for making an application to an employment tribunal can be extended by three months to allow you and your employer the chance to sort out the dispute without involving the tribunal.
These circumstances are:
- you have put your grievance in writing to your employer and have done so within the normal time limit; or
- you applied to the tribunal within the time limit but were turned down because you needed to put your grievance in writing to your employer and either did not do so or did not wait for 28 days before putting in your application. In this situation you must have put your grievance in writing to your employer no later than one month after the expiry of the normal time limit. If you do not, your claim will not be accepted in any circumstances; or
- your application is about a dismissal or disciplinary action that your employer says was on the grounds of your conduct or capability and, at the time that the normal time limit expired, you had reason to believe that a dismissal or disciplinary procedure was still in progress.
There is no extension to the time limit where the disciplinary procedures are all completed within the normal time limit. You should keep careful track of the time that has run from the date of the action you are complaining about. If in doubt seek immediate advice, for example, from a local CAB. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.
Costs in employment tribunal claims
If you're making an employment tribunal claim, your employers may try to put you off by saying they'll ask the court to order you to pay their legal costs. An employment tribunal is allowed to award costs only if:
- a claim has no likelihood of success (not simply that it is lost); or
- your behaviour during the case was unreasonable.
In practice, employment tribunals rarely make orders for an employee to pay costs. Even if they do make an order for costs, they must take account of your ability to pay.
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Further help and information
The following organisations might be able to give you further help and information:
- Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR): www.berr.gov.uk
- Trades Union Congress: The Know your rights helpline is 0870 600 4 882. Lines are open every day from 8am-10pm. Their website is www.worksmart.org.uk
- Employment Tribunal Service Helpline: 0845 795 9775
- Equality and Human Rights Commission: www.equalityhumanrights.com
- Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS): 08457 47 47 47. Their website is www.acas.org.uk
- The Labour Relations Agency (Northern Ireland only): 028 90321442
Website: www.lra.org.uk
- National Minimum Wage Helpline: 0845 600 0678.
- Redundancy Payment Helpline: 0845 145 0004.
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