Dealing with disputes at work

Most of us want to get along well with the people we work with, but there are occasions when problems can arise. If you’re experiencing difficulties at work, or you have lost your job and feel that you were treated unfairly, it’s important that you know the right procedure to follow. 

Raising a grievance

If you have a concern or a complaint about the way your employer or a work colleague is treating you (for example, discriminating against you because of your age, or refusing to give you your statutory employment rights), you should firstly try to resolve it by speaking to your manager. It’s always better to resolve issues internally and informally if at all possible. If you aren’t happy with the outcome of this, you can raise a formal grievance. You should be able to find out how to raise a grievance by consulting your contract or staff handbook, or by talking to your HR department.

Employees raising grievances and employers taking disciplinary action must follow certain codes of practice, set out by Acas (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service), a government-funded service that helps to resolve workplace disputes. These codes are not compulsory but they are taken into account by employment tribunals which will expect you or your employer to have followed them.

The formal grievance procedure set out by Acas is as follows.

1. Put your grievance in writing, setting out the nature of your complaint, and give or send this to a manager. If your complaint is about your manager, you can give it to another manager if there is one.
2. The employer should then arrange a meeting with you to discuss your grievance, so that you can explain the problem and suggest what you think should be done about it. You are allowed to bring someone to accompany you to the meeting, perhaps a colleague or a trade union representative.
3. Your employer should respond to your grievance in writing, saying what action they are going to take.
4. You can appeal against this decision if you wish to. You can also contact Acas and ask if they can mediate to help you and your employer resolve the issue.

If you think you have been discriminated against, there is a questionnaire that you can fill in and ask your employer to respond to your complaint by filling in their side of the story. This information can be useful if you decide to go ahead with making a claim. Download the discrimination questionnaire from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) website. It should be used in addition to the Acas code of practice.

If you think your employer has discriminated against you, and you have been unable to resolve this informally or formally, you can submit a claim to the employment tribunal. Make sure you do this within three months of the event you are complaining about.

Disciplinary procedures

If an employer decides to take disciplinary action against you for misconduct or poor performance, they should give you a written warning in the first instance. If there is then a further act of misconduct or your performance does not improve within a set timescale, they should give you a final written warning. 

If the misconduct amounts to gross misconduct (this would have to be a serious case such as fighting, physical abuse or being drunk at work), your employer can dismiss you without notice and without any warnings. 

Unless you have been dismissed for gross misconduct, your employer needs to give you either a week’s notice for each year you’ve worked for them (up to a maximum of 12 weeks) or pay you for that period of time.

If you feel you have been dismissed unfairly, or if your employer has not followed the procedure above, you should seek advice as soon as possible from your trade union, Citizens Advice Bureau or another advice agency. You can also consult a solicitor, although you will usually have to pay for this.

Complaints of unfair dismissal need to be lodged with the Employment Tribunal within three months of your dismissal. You can only make a claim of unfair dismissal if you’ve been employed by the same employer for one year – this will increase to two years in April 2012. There is no upper age limit. Filing fees and hearing fees are due to be introduced from April 2013. For more information on making claims, see the factsheets Rights at work (PDF 262 KB) and Dealing with disputes at work (PDF 185 KB).

Redundancy

Redundancy is when you lose your job because your employer wants to reduce or restructure the workforce. If your employer wants to make you redundant, they must speak to you directly, tell you why you’ve been selected (using fair and transparent criteria), and look at alternatives to redundancy, such as offering you another suitable job if there is one.

If they don’t do this, the redundancy may be considered an unfair dismissal. For more information about redundancy and what to do if you feel you have been dismissed unfairly, see the guide Your rights at work (PDF 1,088KB).

For more information:

 Download the factsheet Rights at work (PDF 262 KB)

 Download the factsheet Dealing with disputes at work (PDF 185 KB)

 Download the factsheet Getting legal advice (PDF 167KB)