What constitutes a statement of grievance?

In a number of recent decisions, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has shown a willingness to take a wide view on what constitutes a statement of grievance under the statutory grievance procedures.

  • What constitutes a Step 1 grievance note?   By Robin Jeffcott of Richards Butler, writing in Personnel Today.

    Also

    Topic of the week: Step-one statements of grievance   From HR & Compliance Centre's topic of the week series.

    Grievance procedures: the basics   HR & Compliance Centre's employment law reference manual has guidance on g rievance procedures.

    Standard procedure and modified procedure   XpertHR's quick reference section provides an overview of the statutory grievance procedures.

    Case law round-up
    HR & Compliance Centre provides a round-up of case law reports on EAT decisions in this area:

    Petherbridge v Mudchute Association   An employee who set out in writing a complaint about the way in which his original grievance had been handled by the employer had satisfied step one of the statutory grievance procedure.

    Holc-Gale v Makers UK Ltd   A questionnaire served on an employer under the Equal Pay Act 1970 did not constitute a statement of grievance for the purposes of step one of the statutory grievance procedure.

    Galaxy Showers Ltd v Wilson    The requirements of step one of the statutory grievance procedure were satisfied where a grievance was contained in and consisted of a letter of resignation.

    Shergold v Fieldway Medical Centre   A tribunal's decision that a resignation letter did not constitute a step-one letter for the purposes of the statutory grievance procedure was overturned.

    Commotion Ltd v Rutty   An employment tribunal was entitled to find that the submission of a request for flexible working under the statutory procedure after an informal request had been rejected amounted to the raising of a grievance.

    Mark Warner Ltd v Aspland   An employee whose solicitor's correspondence to her employer's solicitor included complaints about the employer's failure to take disciplinary action against another employee who a tribunal had found to have bullied her had satisfied step one of the statutory standard grievance procedure.

    Thorpe and Soleil Investments Ltd v Poat and Lake   Employees satisfied step one of the statutory dispute resolution procedure when they faxed a letter containing complaints about their employment to their employer, regardless of whether their intention was to raise the complaints as a grievance.