Raising a grievance procedure at work

Grievances are concerns, problems or complaints that employees raise with their employer. There is no legally binding process that you or your employer must follow when raising or handling a grievance at work. However, there are some principles you and your employer should observe. Find out what they are.

The LRA Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance procedures

There is a Labour Relations Agency (LRA) Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance procedures (the Code). It sets out principles that you and your employer should follow to achieve a reasonable standard of behaviour in handling grievances.

Labour Relations Agency Code of Practice (LRA website)

Try to sort out your problem informally

Try talking with your employer informally before raising a formal grievance, to see if that helps.

Problems you might want to raise with your employer could involve:

your terms of employment
pay and working conditions
disagreements with co-workers
discrimination
not getting your statutory employment rights

How to resolve a problem at work

How to raise a grievance

If you tried to resolve your grievance informally and this approach did not work, you should raise the matter formally. You should do this using your employer's formal procedures for grievances (If your employer doesn't have a formal procedure the LRA Code of Practice provides the necessary guidance).

Your employer should put their grievance procedures in writing. You should be able to find these in one one of the following:

company handbook
human resources (HR) or personnel manual
HR intranet site
employment contract

At the very least your employer must give you in writing the name of the person that you can apply to, to seek redress (put the matter right).

To comply with the Code, your employer's grievance procedure is likely to include the following steps:

writing a letter to your employer setting out the details of your grievance
a meeting with your employer to discuss the issue
the ability to appeal your employer's decision

Labour Relations Agency Code of Practice (LRA website)

Writing to your employer

As soon as you believe you have a grievance, you should write to your employer giving them details of your grievance.

You may find it helpful to say in your letter how you would like your employer to resolve the problem. You should make sure your letter is dated and that you keep a copy.

Meeting with your employer

Your employer should arrange an initial meeting at a reasonable time and place to discuss your grievance. You should make every effort to attend the meeting.

Gather your thoughts before the meeting. Don't be afraid to write down what you want to say - there is nothing wrong with reading this out at the meeting.

It is up to your employer to decide how the meeting will run. They will normally go through the issues that have been raised and give you the opportunity to comment. The main purpose of the meeting should be to:

establish the facts
find a way to resolve the problem

If at the meeting it appears that further investigation is needed, your employer should consider pausing the meeting and arrange to finish it at a later date.

You have a statutory (legal) right to take a companion to the meeting with you. To exercise this right, you must make a request to your employer that someone comes with you. Your companion may be:

a colleague
a lay trade union official who is properly certified
a trade union official

If you don't have access to any of the above, ask if you can bring someone else. Your employer does not have to agree to this unless your employment contract says that they must. However, it can still be worth asking and explaining why you feel it would be helpful.

The companion can:

present and/or sum up your case
speak on your behalf
speak to you during the hearing

However, your companion cannot answer questions on your behalf. They are protected from unfair dismissal or other mistreatment for supporting you.

After the meeting your employer should, without unreasonable delay, write to you with their decision. They should set out, where appropriate, what action they intend to take to resolve the grievance.

Where to get help

The Labour Relations Agency (LRA) offers pre-claim conciliation and free, confidential and impartial advice on all employment rights issues for residents of Northern Ireland.