Grievance procedures guidance notes

The ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures (“the ACAS Code”) defines grievances as concerns, problems or complaints that employees raise with their employer.

These can be regarding the conduct of the employer, a colleague or a 3^rd party, a condition of employment or any other workplace issue.

An employee’s written statement of terms and conditions of employment must refer to the person to whom the employee can raise a grievance and the manner in which such an application should be made.  The contract of employment does not need to contain the full grievance procedure so long as the employee is referred to it and the document in a readily accessible place.  We suggest that it is best practice to refer the employee to a non-contractual grievance procedure contained in a staff handbook.

If it is not possible to resolve a workplace dispute informally, the ACAS Code recommends that formal grievances should be put in writing, without unreasonable delay, and set out the nature of the complaint. However, it does not have to be in any prescribed form. It need not be set out in detail or clearly described or labelled as a grievance. Accordingly, managers should pay attention to the content of any written communication, including emails, and follow these through if any workplace problem, concern or complaint is mentioned to clarify if the employee wishes to raise a grievance.  If the grievance concerns the employee’s line manager then the grievance should be raised with another manager.