Workplace Disputes for Employees

If you have a grievance or complaint to raise, you should raise this to your line manager or the HR Department in writing. Your employer may have a grievance policy which will provide details of who the grievance should be addressed to and how to raise concerns internally.  In some circumstances it may be appropriate to raise a complaint informally in the first instance.

Once your grievance has been raised, your employer should follow their grievance procedure. This will likely include appointing an impartial manager to chair the process, conduct an investigation into the grievance and reach a decision on the same.  If your employer does not have a process, they should as a bare minimum follow the ACAS Code of Practice.

Once a grievance has been investigated and any evidence considered, an employer will have to give an outcome on the findings.  It could be that it is decided that no further action is required or alternatively that a decision is made to uphold all or part of the grievance. If you are not content with the outcome, you will usually have the right to appeal the grievance outcome.

Yes, you are legally entitled to take a work colleague or a Trade Union Representative.

If you wish to take a family member instead, you can ask your employer if this would be permitted; however, it is not something that they are legally required to permit.

If you are disabled for the purposes of the Equality Act, it is possible that your employer will be required to allow you to take someone else as a reasonable adjustment.

Following a disciplinary process, your employer may find that you are guilty of misconduct. This could result in a first or final written warning being provided. However, if you have previously received a warning or have committed an act of gross misconduct, your employment may be terminated.

If you have been employed for more than two years, you will be entitled to appeal the decision. If you wish to do so, you should put your appeal in writing and send it to the HR department or the person named in the employer’s disciplinary policy.

On receipt of the appeal, the employer will need to investigate the findings and consider any further evidence. The result of this could be that your dismissal is overturned.

If you are dismissed following a disciplinary process and feel that the dismissal was substantively or procedurally unfair you may have potential claims in the employment tribunal. Our team of specialist employment lawyers will be able to advise and support you with bringing a claim in the Employment Tribunal.

A performance improvement plan “PIP” is commonly used to manage underperformance of an employee. A PIP should always be set out in writing and will ideally identify where you are underperforming, the level of improvement expected, the time frame for improvement and any assistance that will be provided.

It is possible to be dismissed for poor performance. However, prior to dismissal, your employer should have followed a detailed process and provided you with an opportunity to improve.

If the process is not genuine, for example, the employer fails to provide realistic targets, the allegations were unfounded or you were not provided with sufficient time in order to improve, it is likely that any such dismissal would be deemed to be an unfair dismissal.

There is not any legal requirement for you to attend an appointment with occupational health; however, there may be a clause in your contract of employment which requires you to cooperate with occupational health assessments. If you fail to consent/or attend, your employer may consider implementing disciplinary procedures on the grounds that you have failed to follow a reasonable management instruction.

Yes, it is possible for an employer to dismiss you whilst you are on sick leave. However, for it to be a fair dismissal, the Company will have had to follow a fair procedure to understand your illness, the effects that it has on your ability to work, whether any changes would assist and whether there is the possibility for you to return to work in the near future. If the procedure is not followed correctly, and you are considered to be disabled for the purposes of the Equality Act, you may be able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.