Are grievance procedures confidential?

Grievance procedures involve matters that, whilst relatively routine to the employer, are very personal for the employee concerned. Confidentiality, therefore, becomes even more important when carrying out the grievance process and that can be challenging if the person involved is unused to this.

Where can I find my employer’s grievance procedure?

You should be able to find details of your employer’s grievance procedure in your Company Handbook, HR or Personnel manual, on your HR intranet site or in your contract of employment. If your employer doesn’t have a formal procedure, you can follow the Acas Code of Practice.

Can a grievance be raised on your last day?

Seamus: Well, it may well as a grievance. It may not be something that’s related at all to their personal working issues. It may be that they have a grievance just about the company’s policy and procedure on the matter. So those should be viewed carefully.

When to set up a formal grievance meeting?

When an employee raises a formal grievance, the employer should arrange to hold a meeting within 5 working days ideally. The employer should allow employees enough time to prepare for the meeting. The employer can arrange for someone not involved in the grievance to:

Can an employer arrange for someone not involved in a grievance?

The employer can arrange for someone not involved in the grievance to: To keep the procedure fair, the employer should: see if a similar grievance has happened before and aim to follow the same fair procedure

When to deal with a grievance raised by one employee?

The grievance should be dealt with first When one employee raises a complaint about another, the employer should follow its grievance procedure and it should investigate the complaint to try to establish the facts.

What is the procedure for filing a grievance?

Often, grievance procedures are spelled out in contracts, and so they must be followed. Ideally, companies should investigate all complaints, but often employees don’t care enough to enter into a formal procedure, or Human Resources (or supervisor or a grievance committee) ignores informal complaints.

What are the pros and cons of a grievance procedure?

As with everything, having a grievance procedure in place comes with its own set of pros – and cons both for the employees and the organization they work for. Let’s start with the benefits. The procedure is set and formal. When an employee files a complaint, they know what steps the company will take.

What’s the difference between a grievance and a complaint?

A workplace grievance is a complaint raised towards an employer by an employee due to a violation of legalities (e.g. policies, employment contract, national standards). Workplace grievances may take many forms. They will not always be made formal in writing and titled ‘workplace grievance’.