Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures for Employers

As an employer you have the responsibility to make sure that correct and fair procedures are in place when it comes to enabling your employees to raise grievances, and for you to take disciplinary action against employees when required.

Percy Hughes and Roberts Solicitors can help you to ensure that you are up to date with the latest employment law legislation; so that you can draft accurate disciplinary and grievance procedures to ensure you are fully covered in these situations.

Contact us today by calling freephone 0800 781 3894 or filling in our online form.

Your Grievance Procedures Responsibilities

An employee can bring grievance procedures against you at any time, and you must have a written policy in place to ensure this is possible.

You must have these procedures in writing somewhere your employees can find it – in the employee handbook, company intranet etc. This must also tell the employees who they need to contact in order to raise their grievance.

The procedure for grievances is as follows:

• Your employee will write a formal letter to you which will outline their issues and why they are undertaking this procedure.
• Following this, a date must be decided for a meeting at which you will discuss the issues, and following this you will to come to a decision on how to handle the grievance
• Your employee will then have a set amount of time in which to appeal your decision.

Our employment Solicitors will ensure that you initially have the correct policies and procedures in place, and then they will advise you throughout any grievances that are pursued against you.

How You Must Handle Disciplinary Procedures

If an employee has done something that you feel is worthy of disciplinary procedures, there is a certain procedure that you must follow. Also the offence must be backed up by evidence otherwise, depending on the outcome; this could lead to unfair dismissal claims.

The procedure is:

• You must start by sending the employee a formal letter outlining the disciplinary action you are planning to take, telling them what the offence is and setting a date for a formal meeting during which you will talk to them about the issue
• The meeting will then be held, during which the employee will be entitled to a colleague or union rep being present, after which you will make a decision based on the evidence and the meeting
• The employee will then be entitled to appeal the decision that you have made, within a certain timeframe.

Our solicitors will be able to honestly and impartially advise you every step of the way to ensure that you do not leave yourself open to claims of victimisation, or unfair or constructive dismissal if the proceedings lead to the termination of the contract of the employee.

Contact PHR Solicitors today

If you would like advice on a specific disciplinary and grievance case, or simply would like some assistance with updating or creating your company policies and procedures, give Percy Hughes and Roberts a call today. We are based in Birkenhead near Liverpool, and service the whole of the North West, particularly Merseyside and Wirral areas.

Call us on freephone 0800 781 3894 or fill in the online enquiry form to request a call back.