Grievance Procedure Policy

Our Grievance Procedure Policy template is for use by any employer. It provides rules as to how staff and their management should deal with complaints raised by staff.

A Grievance Procedure is a Legal Requirement

By law all employers must have a written grievance procedure that meets the minimum standards under sections 3(1)(b)(ii) and (c), of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The absolute minimum is a written statement of:

1. the person to whom the worker should submit the grievance;

2. the manner of submitting the complaint; and

3. further steps that will then be taken.

These can either be (a) included in the employment contract (or statutory statement of employment terms) or (b) provided in a separate policy or staff handbook, so long as it is mentioned in the contract or statement.

Our policy and procedure template meets this requirement and also complies with the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures (you can find the full Code here).

Your Grievance Procedure in Practice

All employers must reasonably and promptly afford an opportunity to their employees to obtain redress of any worker’s complaint. Essentially this is about treating employees fairly (as per the Acas Code of Practice). Failing to do this could lead to the employee bringing a constructive dismissal claim, as it would constitute as a serious breach by the employer.

If failure to address a worker’s complaint (or a failure to act fairly, as per the Acas Code of Practice) results in a successful tribunal claim, then the employment tribunal can penalise the party responsible by increasing or reducing the employee’s compensation by up to 25%.

For example, the employee might be responsible for failing to:

• address the grievance by his or her being uncooperative, or
• meet with the employer when offered.

Once you have bought the grievance procedure, whenever we update this document you will receive every future update free of charge.

The draft comes with a full written guide to filling it in. Also you can preview the guide here.

Other HR Handbook documentation from Legalo

Legalo has a full range of policies for your HR Handbook. So if you need other policies:

• as well as the grievance procedure, you can buy just what you need, or
• you can buy the complete set at a significant discount on the price of buying them individually.

Have a look at our HR documents section for full details. If you only need a grievance policy and a disciplinary policy, we offer 20% off when you buy both at the same time using our discount package. Click here for more details.