Workplace Grievance Investigation Employee Rights UK:

This page last updated 7.7.26.

This webpage outlines the steps you should take if you are invited to attend a grievance meeting with your employer:

If you are being subjected to an unfair investigation at work or being investigated at work and want to know your employee rights UK, and furthermore, want to know how to prepare for a disciplinary investigation meeting, then click here.

If however, you have already raised a grievance letter, and want to know the next steps in the grievance investigatory process UK, your employer will inevitably invite you to a grievance meeting to discuss the letter of grievance, which you have submitted in accordance with the ACAS Code. More often than not, you will be invited to attend a grievance meeting. Since Covid, many grievance meetings are being undertaken via video link.

The grievance procedures are like a game of snakes and ladders. What you need to do is go up the ladders and let your employer come down the snakes. There is definitely a psychological aspect germane to the grievance procedures. Therefore, it is important for you to be in control of your grievance letter and the next steps within the grievance process. Amy & I can help you and guide you through the grievance process to know your employee rights UK, and moreover, to avoid common mistakes, which your employer will use against you. Don’t be a lap dog – be a Rottweiler.

Grievance Investigation Process Employee Rights UK:

Below are the steps to take if you have been invited to attend a grievance meeting with your employer:

Step 1 = Take Control:

If you want to know your employee rights UK for the grievance investigation process, the first step is to take control of the grievance process and know your employee rights UK.

The first mistake that most employees make is to allow your employer to dictate the grievance meeting.

My wife Amy & I are employment consultants with 26 years combined experience helping clients like you. Amy & I took our own employers to the Employment Tribunal and know firsthand the stress you are going through, because we have already trodden the path, which you now tread.

Amy & I will assist you in gaining control of the grievance process.

Thus, if you are signed off from work as unfit to work by your GP, you may want to propose asking your employer (via email) to make a reasonable adjustment to undertake the grievance procedures via written form in the alternative to attending a face-to-face grievance meeting.

If you are not signed off with ‘work-related stress’ you may want to consider getting signed off sick from work.

You need to slow the grievance process down. The most common mistake which people make before reaching out to Amy & I for assistance is to rush through the grievance procedures. You want to take the pressure off yourself and ameliorate the stress and anxiety, which you are feeling in order to see the wood for the trees. We can help you do this.

You also need to be able to objectively put forth your case, and furthermore, answer any questions, without being caught like a rabbit in the headlights of a car at the grievance meeting.

Most employees who raise a grievance letter for bullying, harassment and discrimination are more often than not suffering from symptoms of anxiety and depression. Thus, the last thing you want to do is to put yourself on the spot and not be able to express yourself during the course of the grievance meeting. It is all too easy to become tongue tied and emotional when discussing grievances for bullying, harassment and/or discrimination. Amy & I recognise this, and will guide you to assist your employer in making accommodations and reasonable adjustments for you.

Therefore, we would always suggest that wherever possible you do not attend a grievance meeting.

It is far better to have everything done in written form so that there is a record of what was said, and furthermore, who said it.

Notwithstanding, nine times out of ten, the minutes of the grievance meeting will never be a true and accurate reflection of what has been stated during the grievance investigatory meeting. It is common practice for the HR Department to remove statements which the aggrieved employee has made, especially where the grievances are for bullying, harassment and/or discrimination.

The employer will want to mitigate its liability. In my wife’s case, Amy’s employer was responsible for putting together the bundle of documents for the employment tribunal. It was whilst reading through the bundle of documents that we discovered that huge tranches of Amy’s grievance letters had been deliberately removed. Luckily, as Amy had emailed her grievance letters (plural) to the HR Department, we were able to demonstrate that Amy’s employer had acted in bad faith by seeking to pervert the natural justice, and moreover, had acted in an egregious manner by changing what Amy had actually written. Thus, do not underestimate the skullduggery of the HR Department or your employer’s legal department.

Step 2 = Work Emails:

Make sure all your correspondence with your employer is via email. This way, in the event that matters escalate to the employment tribunal, you will have proof of the date and time of your emails, and furthermore, what was said (and who it was said to). A picture paints a thousand words.

Another mistake that a lot of employees make when raising grievances for bullying. harassment and discrimination is to communicate with their employer via the telephone. In our opinion, this is a massive mistake, not least as in the event you do end up going to the employment tribunal, you will have no evidence of what was said or what was said back to you. Very often, the grievance procedures can become heated because tensions are running high.

Thus, if you are communicating with your employer via a work email address, we would suggest that you consider taking a screen shot or photograph of any emails, which are sent and received. This is particularly important because sometimes when employees raise grievance letters for bullying and harassment or who have been signed off from work as unfit to work, the employer will very often remove your access to work emails. Think ahead!

Put shortly, the employer will do everything within its means to prevent you from obtaining evidence to support your position and/or give you an opportunity to provide any evidence to support your grievances for bullying, harassment, discrimination, in the event the matters escalate to the employment tribunal.

However, you must be ‘extremely careful’ when making copies of work emails. Previously, we have had clients who have raised grievances for bullying. harassment, discrimination and have printed off emails and/or have sent work emails to their private email address at home. These employees’ have then been suspended and subjected to a disciplinary investigation for breaching their employer’s IT policy and procedures. Amy & I can assist you from making such pitfalls. We have 30 years HR experience between us.

To this end, we would strongly recommend reading through your employer’s IT policy prior to raising a grievance for bullying and harassment so that you can be better informed of your employer’s procedures.

Another reason why an employer will very often suspend you and prohibit you from contacting workplace colleagues, is to stop you from gathering evidence and witness statements to support your grievance letter for bullying and harassment. Remember, the HR Department are there to protect the interests of your employer, NOT you!

Sep 3 = The Investigating Officer:

The grievance investigation and outcome will only be as good as the appointed grievance investigating officer. The last thing you need is some dim whited investigating officer being appointed, who has no expereince.

Therefore, in your letter of grievance outlining complaints for bullying, harassment and/or discrimination, we would stipulate to your employer that it is incumbent upon them to appoint a ‘competent person’ to undertake the grievance investigation into your grievances for bullying, harassment and discrimination.

The failure to appoint a competent person to undertake the grievance investigation could potentially amount to a fundamental breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence, which could allow you to claim constructive unfair dismissal. However, it is incumbent upon you to take legal advice before doing so.

Once your employer has appointed an investigating officer, we would be inclined to ask how many grievances for bullying, harassment and/or discrimination that particular investigating officer has previously investigated, and furthermore, how many of the grievance investigations for bullying and harassment and/or discrimination were upheld by that particular investigating officer.

You have every right to know the competency of the appointed investigating officer who is investigating your grievances for bullying and harassment. It is a legitimate question to ask to ascertain the competency of the appointed investigating officer. Don’t get fobbed off by the HR Department stating that the appointed investigating officer is a competent person without providing the evidence to support that statement.

The key here is not to appear to be disruptive, but to genuinely ensure that your employer has appointed a ‘competent person’ to undertake the investigation into your grievances for bullying and harassment. This way, if the grievance investigation and grievance outcome letter are a complete whitewash, which they will be, you can then argue that the appointed investigating officer was not a ‘competent person’ and that the HR Department stating that the appointed investigating officer was a competent person, is a very serious breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence.

If the HR Department have previously been involved (but have failed to act with diligence or competence), you may want to suggest inviting a neutral and independent third-party HR organisation to undertake the investigation into your grievances for bullying and harassment, especially if you believe that your employer’s HR Department could prejudice the grievance investigation with bias and/or ‘materially influenced’ the grievance outcome. See Ramphal v Department for Transport UKEAT/0352/14/DA.

Step 4 = Medical Evidence:

If you are signed off from work as unfit to work during the grievance investigation and have asked for your grievances to be dealt with by written form, which Amy & I would suggest, then your employer may want to ascertain your fitness to attend a grievance meeting.

Amy & I would point out to you that your own doctor’s ‘duty of care’ is to you. However, the employers’ occupational health advisors / doctors’ duty of care is not to you, but rather to your employer. See Kapfunde v Abbey National and Daniel [1998] IRLR 583 (CA).

Therefore, we would suggest that if you are unfit to attend a grievance meeting to discuss your grievance letter for bullying, harassment, discrimination, that you obtain a letter from your GP (even if you have to pay for it), which letter should outline the ‘substantial adverse effects’ which your work related stressors are having on your ‘day to day activities’, and furthermore, how attending a grievance meeting in person (whether by video link or by telephone) would put you at a disadvantage because of something arising inconsequence of your current state of mental health.

If you have an underlying medical condition such as asthma, anxiety, migraines, thyroid, or diabetes, you want to outline this fact in writing to your employer (via email), by reason that all the above conditions are exacerbated by stress. Therefore, your employer would not be observing a statutory ‘duty of care’ for your health, safety and welfare at work by putting you under excessive pressure and duress to attend a grievance meeting knowing it would have an adverse effect upon your health. Potentially, this could give rise to a claim for disability discrimination.

Be warned of attending occupational health assessments. More often than not an employer will utilise the services of an occupational health organisation which will favour the employers’ position, rather than your position. We are not saying that occupational health are suborned to their paymaster. However, what we are saying is that it is not uncommon for an employer to work with an occupational health organisation who is ‘favourable to them’.

If your employer insists on you seeing occupational health to assess your ability to attend a grievance meeting, then get in contact with us. For the avoidance of doubt, the employer should except what the employee states at face value, and should not without reasonable cause be seeking to obtain a medical report by reason that this could infringe on your right to privacy under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Step 5 = Statutory Timeframes:

So, the moral to the story is don’t rush through the grievance procedures. It is far better to take these matters one step at a time and do it right first-time round. That said, do not allow your employer to wilfully run you outside of your statutory time limits to bring any claims in the employment tribunal, as most claims for harassment and discrimination will be time barred after three months less one day. Therefore, it is incumbent upon you to ensure that your employer is not dragging out the grievance procedures to wilfully run you outside of the employment tribunal’s jurisdiction to bring any claims under s.123 of The Equality Act 2010. Forewarned is forearmed!

If you get the feeling that your employer is deliberately seeking to run you outside of the employment tribunals time limits, which employers often do, then you may want to consider commencing pre-claim conciliation with ACAS in accordance with s.7 of The ERRA 2013, to preserve your statutory timeframes.

Step 6 = The Grievance Investigation:

Prior to COVID-19 reaping havoc upon mankind, I attended employment seminars for HR representatives and solicitors run by leading barristers to assist HR representatives and solicitors in dealing with employees’ grievances. A common trait now, is that the employer will more often than not seek to send you a list of questions in relation to the grievances, which you have raised for bullying, harassment and discrimination. The key here, is in answering these questions, that you do not answer the questions in a way which could be later used against you, because no doubt, this will be used against you if you end up going to the employment tribunal.Again, get in contact with us. Amy & I are here to assist you and our charges are very reasonable.

You may be asked a question like – “do you agree that Johns behaviour was just merely banter?”

Another question might be “do you agree that you participated in the conversation which you are now complaining about as having been bullied and harassed?”

Don’t waffle when answering these sorts of questions. If you need assistance in putting your grievance letter together and/or going through the grievance procedures, then please feel free to reach out to us to assist you in not making the mistakes, which Amy & I commonly see being made. It is better to get us on board in advance of submitting your grievance letter so that we can run you through what is going to happen during the grievance process so you can watch out for the traps and snares, which your employer will undoubtedly lay for you to walk into. This is so that in the event you do end up bringing claims in the employment tribunal, that your employer will use your own words against you in what you have written or answered. For the avoidance of doubt, you can lose a tribunal case on one word. Thus, it is imperative that you get your grievance letter right from the get-go. We can assist you. See our testimonials page.

Step 7 = Grievance Outcome:

We can almost guarantee it that an employer will never concede any liability for harassment or discrimination. To do so would leave the employer wide open to claims in the employment tribunal. As such, your employer will go through some form of legal chicanery in order to mitigate any liability for harassment and discrimination. The most common outcome we see when reading grievance outcome letters from employers, is they say that there is “no evidence” of harassment having occurred. Of course, unless you are very fortunate to have actual hard evidence of harassment having occurred, then it will be difficult to ‘shift the burden of proof‘’.

99.99 % of the time, when investigating your grievances for either bullying or harassment, your employer will never ask you ‘your perception’ of the bullying and harassment, which you have been subjected to.

Therefore, if your employer did not undertake an ‘objective finding of your subjective feelings’ when investigating your grievances for bullying and harassment, then part and parcel of your grounds of appeal will be to outline case law to support your position that it is little wonder that your employer did not find any “evidence” of bullying and harassment having occurred, not least by reason that your employer never bothered to ask you ‘your perception’ of the bullying and harassment, which you had been subjected to!

Foe example, in the case authority of Chawla v Hewlett Packard Ltd UKEAT/0280/13/BA (paragraph 77), the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the first step when investigating a complaint for ‘harassment’ should be to take into consideration the ‘perception’ of the complainant, and furthermore, to undertake an objective finding of your subjective feelings –

“Whilst the perception of the Claimant, the first element in section 26(4), requires an ‘objective’ finding of the Claimant’s ‘subjective’ feelings about the act complained of, the elements in section 26(4)(b) and (c) require an objective assessment by the ET.”

In this regard, we draw your attention to paragraphs 75 to 77 of Chawla v Hewlett Packard Ltd UKEAT/0280/13/BA, whereas the Employment Appeal Tribunal made the following observations –

“Consideration of whether the perception of the Claimant is reasonable is now a mandatory element of the decision under EqA section 26(4) whether the unwanted conduct has the effect referred to in section 26(1)(b). Underhill J held at paragraph 15 that:

“Overall the criterion is objective because what the tribunal is required to consider is whether, if the Claimant has experienced those feelings or perceptions, it was reasonable for her to do so – whether it was reasonable for a claimant to have felt her dignity to have been violated is quintessentially a matter for the factual assessment of the tribunal. It will be important for it to have regard to all the relevant circumstances, including the context of the conduct in question.”

One of the elements referred to by Underhill J in the context of whether it was reasonable for the conduct complained of to have the proscribed effect was “whether the conduct was, or was not, intended to cause offence (or, more precisely, to produce the proscribed consequences): the same remark may have a very different weight if it was evidently innocently intended that if it was evidently intended to hurt …”. Underhill J considered that where they are not apparent, the grounds for an act have to be sought by considering the Respondent’s motivation (not motive).

Whilst the perception of the Claimant, the first element in section 26(4), requires an objective finding of the Claimant’s subjective feelings about the act complained of, the elements in section 26(4)(b) and (c) require an objective assessment by the ET. Having examined the evidence, the ET found that Ms Mauga was “trying to be helpful” to the Claimant. On a fair reading of paragraph 56 and in context, the word motive is used in the sense of intention. As Underhill J held in Richmond Pharmacology, the context of the conduct and whether the conduct, in this case the emails, was intended to produce the proscribed consequences are material to the decision of the ET whether it was reasonable for the conduct complained of to have the effect relied upon.”

Step 8 = Appeal Process:

Amy & I have created an appeal letter template webpage to assist you in knowing the steps to appeal the grievance outcome.

However, if you would like us to draft your appeal letter for you, and would like us to beef up your appeal letter to your employer to demonstrate that the investigating officer did not go nearly far enough in adducing an eliciting the evidence when investigating your grievances for bullying and harassment, then feel free to email us to arrange a telephone consultation to discuss the next steps.

Our testimonial page goes back over a decade, with hundreds of testimonials from clients over the years, whereas Amy & I have empowered those clients in writing a brilliant letter of grievance and/or appeal. This can be done to either attempt to reach a settlement agreement with your employer to compensate you for the injury caused to your feelings, or in the alternative, to ensure that your employer takes ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent any further acts of bullying, harassment and/or discrimination from being inflicted upon your person, viz: to ensure a working environment with both dignity and respect, which working environment is free from bullying harassment and discrimination.

Remember, you don’t have to be alone in going through your employment dispute with your employer. We took our own employers to the Employment Tribunal and know what you are going through. If you feel you need assistance writing your grievance letter Amy & I can write your grievance letter for you.

We only charge £35 for an initial telephone consultation up to one hour. During the initial consultation, we can talk through your employment situation, provide guidance, and support you from beginning to end.

Amy & I can assist you in avoiding the pitfalls that employees often make and help you understand the psychology behind the grievance process so that you get the upper hand. Remember, you only get one chance to get this right, so make sure you do just that!

Go on, don’t hesitate, pick up the phone and call us 07775943414 (9-5 UK) or email us at: myrightsuk@protonmail.com

Over the past 15 years Amy & I helped thousands of clients. Read our testimonials page.

Amy & I can write you a custom grievance letter for any of the following employment issues:

Reach out to us on 07775943414 (9-5 UK) or email us – myrightsuk@protonmail.com

We work 7 days a week because we know your employment problems don’t just end on a Friday afternoon!

Please remember that the very reason this website exists is because we have already gone through what you are now experiencing. This is what drives our sense of justice. Having gone through the grievance process ourselves, and having taken our claims to the Employment Tribunal, Amy & I know all too well the stress and anxiety, which you now feel, because we have already trodden the path, which you now tread…