Sarah King Employment Solicitor Northampton

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You are here: Home / Archives for grievances

Workshop – How to handle disciplinaries and grievances – 20th September 2018

25/07/2018 by Sarah King Leave a Comment

How to handle Displinaries and Grievances

A practical day to provide you with the knowledge and practical skills to hold a fair disciplinary or grievance hearing.  Warning: delegate participation required!

Aimed at line managers, those with HR responsibilities or employees in the business who will be required to conduct these type of hearings.

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Join us on a first come first served basis.  We will cover the following:

  • An overview of the law of unfair dismissal
  • How to carry out an investigation and whether to suspend or not
  • Procedure and how to have a fair hearing
  • Gross misconduct and misconduct – which is which?
  • Sanctions and possible outcomes
  • Questioning techniques and expecting the unexpected
  • What is a grievance and how does this process differ

We will look at these areas using case studies of conduct cases and the facilitators experience in practice and in Tribunal with real stories.  This is a workshop with limited powerpoint and delegates will work through processes using real life examples in groups.  Businesses are welcome to send a team of their own or just a single delegate who will join a group.  We will be using different scenarios from different sectors to cover the industries in which delegates work.

Delivered by:

Sarah King

Join us on: 20th September 2018 9.30 – 4.30pm at Harrowden Hall, Wellingborough, NN9 5AD

Cost (includes lunch and materials)

  • £149 plus VAT per delegate
  • Early bird discount £99 plus VAT per delegate available until 31.08.18
  • Multiple delegate discounts for teams (5 for the price of 4)

Secure your place

Book here

The venue details

   Harrowden Hall
   Wellingborough
   Northamptonshire
   NN9 5AD

Tag(s): disciplinaries, grievances

Dealing with employee grievances

02/05/2014 by Sarah King Leave a Comment

settlement agreement advice This month’s business briefing, outlines how to handle grievances. Dealing with a grievance effectively can avoid employment tribunal claims by allowing the issue to be resolved internally.

The Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures was introduced to help businesses and employees resolve grievances in the workplace.

Why is it important to follow the Acas Code?
Aside from general issues about ensuring a fair process and avoiding claims it can affect the level of compensation:

• If an employee’s claim is successful, but either the business or the employee has failed to follow the Acas Code, the level of compensation awarded can be affected:

o if the business unreasonably failed to follow the Code, the employment tribunal may increase the employee’s compensation by up to 25%; or
o if the employee unreasonably failed to follow the Code, the employment tribunal may reduce their compensation by up to 25%.

This regime applies to the majority of claims brought in an employment tribunal, including those related to unfair dismissal and discrimination.

How should grievances be handled? – The grievance should be raised in writing
A grievance can be any concern, problem or complaint an employee raises with the business.

• If a grievance cannot be resolved informally, the employee should raise it in writing with a manager. If the grievance concerns their line manager, the grievance should be raised with another manager.

• A failure to raise the grievance in writing does not prevent an employee bringing an employment tribunal claim. However, in these cases, less compensation may be awarded.

The business should hold a meeting and investigate the complaint
• A meeting should be held with the employee to enable them to explain their grievance and how they think it should be resolved.

• If the matter needs further investigation, the meeting should be adjourned and resumed after the investigation has taken place.

• When the meeting is concluded, the business should communicate its decision promptly in writing, including details of any action it intends to take to resolve the grievance.

The employee can bring a companion
• An employee has a legal right to bring a companion (a fellow worker or a trade union representative) to a grievance meeting.

The employee has a right of appeal
• The business should inform the employee they have a right of appeal when the decision is communicated. If the employee is not satisfied with the outcome, any appeal must be made in writing and must specify the grounds of the appeal. If a tribunal claim is brought without first going through the appeal process, any compensation awarded may be reduced.

• The appeal should, if possible, be dealt with by a manager who has not been previously involved. The employee should be informed in advance of the time and place of the appeal hearing and may bring a companion. The business should communicate its decision promptly in writing.

Handling grievances during a disciplinary procedure
Employees often submit grievances during disciplinary procedures, either regarding the procedure itself or the circumstances leading up to the initiation of that procedure. The business must decide whether to suspend the disciplinary procedure to fully investigate the grievance or, if the issues are related, deal with them both concurrently, advice may be required as to how best to proceed.

Practical steps businesses can take to improve their grievance procedures
• Involve employees or their representatives in developing workplace procedures and make sure those procedures are transparent and accessible to employees.

• Train managers on how to handle grievances effectively, how to spot potential claims and when they need help and advice.

• Encourage managers to resolve issues quickly and informally before they get to a formal grievance stage.

• Allow employees to put their side of the story at a meeting before undertaking any necessary investigation and again before making a decision.

• Ask aggrieved employees what they are looking for as an outcome.

• Keep written records, including minutes of meetings.
• Communicate decisions effectively and promptly, setting out reasons.

Tag(s): business breifing, employment law solicitor Oundle, grievances, grievances for employers, HR advice Northamptonshire

Grievances and Constructive dismissal

17/09/2013 by Sarah King Leave a Comment

constructive dismissalA recent EAT case is useful reminder of the interplay between grievances and a case for constructive dismissal.  Long gone are the days where one has to raise a grievance before one can bring an employment tribunal claim but employees are still well advised to do so. This is for a number of reasons.

Firstly of course, the action they are complaining about may be resolved by the employer and there is no need for the employee to resign.  This normally occurs where the action had unexpected consequences or there was some misunderstanding initially.  in my experience, many employers merely confirm their actions as part of the grievance process unless this was the case. Secondly, the employer can understand the level of your frustration/anger and they may not have genuinely realised the way you felt about it. Lastly, an employee’s award can be adjusted by the Employment Tribunal if they fail to follow the grievance process.

The case of Blackburn v Aldi Stores Ltd UKEAT/0185/12 reminds employers also that failure to adhere to a grievance procedure is capable of contributing to (or even amounting to) a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence.  Thus entitling the employee to rely on the breach as grounds for resignation and claim constructive dismissal. As to whether it does in any particular case is for the Tribunal to decide on the facts depending on the breaches.

It is of course well established that failure to deal with a grievance full stop can be a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence. In this case, it was the appeal that was flawed as the appeal was heard by the same manager (not withstanding the size of the employer Aldi) that heard the original grievance and the meeting only lasted 20 minutes.  The EAT remitted the case back to the ET to decide whether in this case the failure amounted to a breach of the implied term by making findings of fact based on the appeal hearing. The case also concerned a failure by the ET to permit the claim to be amended but this is more fact sensitive.

Tag(s): ACAS Code of practice, constructive dismissal, constructive dismissal solicitor kettering, constructive dismissal solicitor nn14, employment solicitor kettering, employment solicitor NN14 3DL, grievance appeals, grievances

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