Employment Law For Businesses
Disciplinary and Grievances
Specialist Disciplinary and Grievance Solicitors in Manchester and London
We all hope that when new staff are taken on that you will maintain a good relationship with them throughout your professional relationship. However, sometimes you may be forced to raise a grievance or commence disciplinary action against your employee. Alternatively, your employee may feel the need to raise a grievance against you. Our solicitors are experts in dealing with disciplinary and grievances and can help assist you through the legality of the procedures.
Your policies and procedures should set out what you expect from your staff in terms of behaviour and performance, and what will happen if they do not meet these standards or if they fall in breach of misconduct.
You need to ensure you include the grievance and disciplinary procedure in the policies and procedures and be sure to follow it exactly. Failure to do so may expose you to liability, such as employees making a claim for unfair dismissal and seeking compensation.
Failure to address employee misconduct through disciplinary action or deal with employee grievances appropriately can ultimately affect team morale and lead to negative impacts on your business’ performance.
Our solicitors can help you through the process of both raising a grievance or disciplinary action, or defending a grievance. We can help you with everything from advising on disciplinary and grievance procedures to defending your business at the employment tribunal.
Disciplinary Procedures
Disciplinary procedures are in place to regulate how employers can deal with employee misconduct, unprofessional behaviour, or poor performance.
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (‘ACAS’) give an outline of how to approach the disciplinary procedure. They advise the following 5 step approach:
- Get the Facts – You need to carry out reasonable investigations to establish the facts. This can be through interviews with employees or any other necessary enquiries.
- Inform the Employee – Once you have all the facts you should inform your employee in writing of your intention to enter disciplinary proceedings and invite them to a meeting.
- Meeting – This will be between yourself and the employee. Your employee has the right to bring a colleague or Trade Union Representative to the meeting.
- Outcome – Decide what action you will be taking and explain why to your employee.
- Appeal – Your employee has the right to appeal the decision. The appeal should be handled by someone not party to the original proceedings.
It is important to note that the ACAS Code of Practice only acts as a guideline for businesses to follow when dealing with disciplinary and grievances. Employers are not legally obliged to adhere to the Code of Practice. However, employers need to ensure that there is a fair and robust disciplinary and grievance procedure in place accordingly in line with the ACAS Code of Practice. Otherwise, the employment tribunal can award extra compensation of up to 25% to employees in the event of a successful employment claim by the employee.
Grievances
Grievances should be used when you have a problem to raise with a member of staff. The grievance procedure is when the employee has an issue, concern, or complaint they need to raise with you. The grievance procedure should really only be used if informal conversation cannot resolve the issue.
The grievance procedure is similar to the disciplinary procedure. Once the grievance has been raised there will be a meeting with the employee and he/she will be entitled to have a colleague or Trade Union representative present. You will then deliver the outcome of the meeting and the employee can appeal if needed.
Employment Tribunal
If an employee feels that the disciplinary or grievance procedures were not handled appropriately, they have the right to make a claim to the employment tribunal.
The employer may be liable to pay compensation to the employee if they are found to be at fault.
Having a clear, transparent and robust disciplinary and grievances procedure can prevent employees making claims to the employment tribunal.
We can help employers defend any claim an employer brings against them to the employment tribunal.
How can Monarch Solicitors help?
At Monarch Solicitors, we can protect your business by assessing any disciplinary and grievance issues, and advising on practical solutions to achieve a positive outcome in the best interest for you and your business in a quick and efficient manner.
Our specialist employment solicitors have decades of experience when dealing with employment issues. They are well equipped to deal with a whole manner of different cases no matter how big or small.
Our team have had great success negotiating settlement offers, taking claims to the Employment Tribunal, and many more. Every person we represent receives the same high quality of treatment and personal service.
Legal Costs for Disciplinary and Grievances & Service Transparency
If you are considering taking Court action due to a breach of employment law the legal costs should be weighed against the amount likely to be received in damages.
We know it’s important to your business that the legal costs of the dispute are kept under control so as to not affect your cash flow.
We’ll not only ensure that you’re aware of costs implications from the outset, we’ll provide you with step-by-step cost estimates or fixed fees for each stage of the work. We’ll also consider funding options to suit your business needs so you can be sure that our legal services are cost effective.
For more information regarding legal funding options, please click here for more information.
About our Employment Team
At Monarch Solicitors, our employment lawyers have vast experience, expertise, and knowledge in resolving all kinds of domestic and international employment disputes, whether it be complex or technical or simply a disagreement over pay and working conditions.
We have particular expertise in relation to the following areas:
- Defending employment tribunal claims
- Discrimination claims
- Employment contracts
- Flexible working
- HR services
- Managing sickness absences
- Modern slavery
- Performance management
- Recruitment support
- Redundancy procedures
- Termination and settlement agreements
- TUPE transfers
Contact our Employment Solicitors
Our expert employment lawyers are available to discuss all aspects of disciplinary and grievance claims.
Please contact our employment advisors for immediate assistance by sending an email to us at [email protected] and one of our employment solicitors shall call you back.
Alternatively, please call our employment solicitors in Manchester on 0330 127 8888 for a no-obligation discussion.
Monarch Solicitors is a leading UK law firm with specialist employment solicitors ready to offer their expertise. Our award-winning Manchester solicitors, London solicitors and Birmingham solicitors offer their legal expertise nationally and internationally.
We are also able to leverage an international network spanning across Hong Kong, Turkey and Dubai to provide seamless assistance with cross-border matters relating to disciplinary and grievances.
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FAQ
You can raise a grievance to your employer at any time. Common grievances to raise to your employer include:
- Bullying
- Harassment
- Discrimination
- Dispute about pay and benefits
- Dispute about maternity and paternity leave
- Issues with working time, working conditions, or workload
You have the right to appeal the outcome of a disciplinary or grievance procedure. Firstly, you need to notify your employer/employee, preferably in writing, on why you think the outcome was wrong or unfair, and what you propose on happening next. If you are still in disagreement with your employer/employee then it may be worth considering instructing a solicitor to undertake legal action.
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