Grievance and disciplinary procedures for employers

A grievance procedure is a formal way for an employee to raise a problem or complaint to their employer.  

The employee can raise a grievance if:  

• They feel raising it informally has not worked  
• They do not want it dealt with informally  
• It’s a very serious issue, for example sexual harassment or ‘whistleblowing’  

As an employer you should have your own grievance procedure, if not, you must follow the steps in this guide and the Acas Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures.  

If you do have your own grievance procedure, it should:  

• Follow the Acas Code, as a minimum  
• Be in writing and easy to find  

You can download and use Acas’s example of a grievance procedure.  

Regardless of the size of your business or organisation, all employers should follow a full and fair grievance procedure.  

To keep things fair, you should always:

• Aim to follow the same fair procedure  
• Gather evidence from all sides  
• Consider all the information  

You’ll also need to keep written records of what takes place during the grievance procedure. This includes:  

• What the grievance is about  
• Any decisions and actions taken, and why  
• Whether the employee appeals the grievance outcome  

While this is happening, you should keep all personal information confidential.  

You should investigate the grievance so that you can make a fair decision about it. If more than one person in a workplace has the same grievance, it might be best to raise it collectively.  

When an employee raises a formal grievance, you should arrange to hold a meeting within five working days. You need to give employees the appropriate amount of time to prepare for the meeting.  

To keep the procedure fair, you should:  

• Consider information or evidence from all sides  
• See if a similar grievance has happened before and aim to follow the same fair procedure  

It’s also important for employers to:

• Arrange for an interpreter if the employee has difficulty speaking English  
• Consider whether reasonable adjustments are needed for a disabled employee or anyone they bring with them  

Throughout the procedure, you will need to keep a confidential record of:  

• The meeting  
• Evidence they’ve gathered  
• Any decisions or actions taken  

By law, any employee or worker can bring a relevant person (‘companion’) to a grievance meeting, if it’s about a legal or contractual issue. This is known as ‘the right to be accompanied’. 

During the meeting you should also:  

• Remain impartial  
• Do your best to understand the feelings of the person raising the grievance  
• Take notes or appoint someone else to take them  
• Go through the evidence  
• Take care in deciding on any actions (usually the employer will not need to make an immediate decision)  
• Consider ending the meeting and resuming it later, if you need to investigate statements and facts from the meeting  
• Sum up the main points at the end  

Following a fair grievance procedure, you will need to decide on the best outcome.  

You should tell the employee of the outcome as soon as possible and in writing. If the grievance involved other people in the workplace and it was upheld, you may need to start a disciplinary procedure.  

If the employer decides no action is needed it is a good idea to talk privately with the employee who raised the grievance to make sure there are no bad feelings.  

You can keep a note of how you carried out the procedure for future reference.  

You should offer your employee the right of appeal if they feel:  

• The outcome does not resolve the problem  
• Any stage of the grievance procedure was wrong or unfair  

The grievance outcome and details must remain confidential. However, where appropriate, it can be a good idea to talk privately with any staff involved in the grievance.  

If the employee feels they’ve tried everything and their problem is still not resolved, they could in some cases make a claim to an employment tribunal.  

Mediation can be used at any stage and involves an independent, impartial person working with both sides to find a solution. 

The mediator can be someone from inside or outside your business. If they’re from outside your business, you might need to pay.  

Both sides will need to agree to mediation.  

A disciplinary procedure is a formal way for an employer to deal with an employee's:  

• Unacceptable or improper behaviour ('misconduct')  
• Performance ('capability')  

Before starting a disciplinary procedure, you should see whether the problem can be resolved in an informal way. This can often be the quickest and easiest solution.  

Capability or performance is about an employee's ability to do the job. Some employers might have a separate procedure for dealing with capability or performance issues  

The employer should meet with their employee to find out more on whether the issue is due to either their conduct or their capability 

Conduct is about an employee's behaviour at work. Usually, it's a conduct issue if the employee has control over their actions. For example, calling in sick when they're not genuinely ill.  

Capability is about an employee's ability to do their job. Usually, it's a capability issue if the employee has no control over it. For example, if an employee becomes unable to do their job due to an illness and adjustments or support cannot help.  

Misconduct is when an employee's inappropriate behaviour or action breaks workplace rules.  

This can include:  

• Bullying  
• Harassment  
• Refusing to do work ('insubordination')  
• Being absent without permission (some people call it absent without leave or 'AWOL') 

An employee could face disciplinary action for misconduct outside work. It depends on how serious the employer sees the misconduct and whether it could have an effect on the business. 

Some acts count as 'gross misconduct' because they are very serious or have profound effects on the business or the people within it. 

Examples of gross misconduct in the workplace could include:  

• Fraud  
• Physical violence  
• Serious lack of care to their duties or other people ('gross negligence')  
• Serious insubordination, for example refusing to take lawful and reasonable orders from a supervisor  

If you have tried to resolve the issue informally but it feels like you now need to start a disciplinary procedure, you must tell the employee straight away.  

This should be done in writing and should include:  

• Sufficient information about the alleged misconduct or poor performance  
• Possible consequences, for example a written warning  

The employee should have this information in time to prepare for a disciplinary meeting.  

You must make sure you follow a full and fair procedure throughout. This is for the protection of the employee, the employer, and the business.  

You will need to carry out an investigation to get as much information as you reasonably can about your employee’s alleged misconduct or poor performance.  

Where the investigation shows the employee has a case to answer, you should ask them to a disciplinary meeting or ‘hearing’. The hearing should be held as soon as possible after the investigation, while giving reasonable time for the employee to prepare.  

In good time before the hearing, the employer should put in writing to the employee:

• The alleged misconduct or performance issue  
• Any evidence from the investigation  
• Any other information they plan to talk about  
• The date, time and location of the hearing  
• Information on the employee’s right to be accompanied to the hearing  
• The possible outcomes  

By law, an employee or worker can bring a relevant person (‘companion’) with them to a disciplinary hearing. This is called ‘the right to be accompanied’.  

The hearing is the chance for both employer and the employee to state their case. You, your employee, and employee’s companion should make every effort to attend.  

It’s a good idea to take some time after the hearing to consider the case carefully before deciding.  

The employer should:  

• Tell the employee what happens next and give a timeframe  
• Take a written confidential record of the hearing  

If the employee is absent or off sick for the disciplinary hearing, the employer should pause the disciplinary procedure until they return to work.  

After following a fair disciplinary procedure, the employer should decide on the best outcome based on:  

• The findings from the investigation and meetings  
• What is fair and reasonable  
• What their workplace has done in any similar cases before 

Each workplace might have its own versions of disciplinary outcomes. They should be written in your workplace's disciplinary policy or guidelines.    

If it's decided there was no misconduct or performance issue, the disciplinary procedure should end. To make sure there is no bad feeling you can talk privately with the employee and any other staff who knew the disciplinary procedure was happening.  

If the misconduct or performance issue was found to be small and not serious, it might be best just to have an informal talk with the employee. Your workplace might call it a 'verbal warning'.  

A written warning is a formal warning that the employer can give the employee at the end of the disciplinary procedure.  

First written warning   

A first written warning is normally the first step when misconduct or poor performance is confirmed. 

Final written warning 

You can give a final written warning if, within a set timeframe, the employee either:  

• Repeats or commits another misconduct  
• Does not improve performance  

In cases of serious misconduct or poor performance, the employer does not have to give a first written warning and can instead go straight to a final written warning.   

The employer might end the employee's contract ('dismissal') in either of these cases:  

• Gross misconduct  
• The disciplinary procedure has had to be repeated and the employee previously had a final written warning  

Dismissal should only be decided by a manager who has the authority to do so.   

You should offer your employee the right of appeal if they feel:  

• The outcome is too severe  
• Any stage of the disciplinary procedure was wrong or unfair  

No matter what the outcome, it’s a good idea to keep a written record of all disciplinary cases to help with any questions or similar cases in the future.