Handling Workplace Grievances: A UK Employer Guide

When an employee says they have a problem at work, many employers are not sure what counts as a grievance, how formal the issue really is, or what they need to do next. Common mistakes include treating a complaint as “just a personality clash”, discussing it casually without a proper record, or rushing into disciplinary action before hearing the employee out. Another frequent problem is using a grievance procedure copied from somewhere else that does not match how the business actually operates.

If you are asking what is a grievance at work, the short answer is that it is a concern, problem or complaint raised by a worker about something happening in their workplace. For UK businesses, that can cover anything from pay, hours and bullying through to health and safety, discrimination, line management decisions or breaches of policy. The real challenge is not just spotting a grievance, but handling it fairly, consistently and in line with the ACAS Code and your own documents.

This guide explains what workplace grievances mean for employers in the UK, the legal issues to check before you sign contracts or adopt policies, the mistakes that create risk, and the practical steps that help you deal with complaints before they turn into claims.

Overview

A workplace grievance is an employee or worker complaint about something affecting them at work, and employers should treat it as a process issue, not just an interpersonal problem. A fair response usually means following a written procedure, investigating properly, allowing the employee to be heard, and reaching a reasoned outcome without unnecessary delay.

• Identify whether the issue is an informal concern or a formal grievance.
• Check your grievance policy, employment contracts and staff handbook for the process you have promised to follow.
• Follow the ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures.
• Keep written records of the complaint, meetings, evidence reviewed and the outcome.
• Offer the employee the right to be accompanied where required.
• Separate the grievance process from any related disciplinary issue where possible.
• Watch for discrimination, whistleblowing, health and safety or constructive dismissal risks.
• Give an appeal route and deal with it impartially.

What What Is a Grievance at Work Means For UK Businesses

A grievance at work is a complaint raised by an employee or worker about their job, workplace, treatment, terms, or working relationships, and employers need to take it seriously even when it first arrives informally.

In practice, a grievance may be raised in writing, in a meeting, in an email to HR, in a message to a founder, or during a wider dispute. Smaller businesses often miss the point where a general complaint becomes a formal workplace issue. Once the concern is clear and affects the person’s employment, you should consider whether your grievance procedure has been triggered.

What counts as a workplace grievance?

The scope is wide. A grievance can relate to one-off incidents or ongoing concerns. It can also be individual or collective, although collective issues are sometimes handled through a different process.

Common examples include:

• Bullying, harassment or poor management behaviour.
• Discrimination linked to a protected characteristic such as sex, race, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, or marriage and civil partnership where relevant.
• Pay, holiday, bonus or overtime disputes.
• Workload, working hours or changes to duties.
• Health and safety concerns.
• Problems with flexible working, sickness absence handling or reasonable adjustments.
• Conflict with a colleague or manager.
• Concerns that company policy has not been followed fairly.

Who can raise a grievance?

Employees commonly raise grievances, but workers may also raise complaints that need a fair internal response. Your contracts and handbook should make clear who your procedure covers. Before you classify someone as a contractor and assume they have no internal process rights, check their status carefully. Worker status disputes often create extra risk where the person says they were denied fair treatment.

Does a grievance have to be in writing?

No, not always at the start. An employee may first raise concerns verbally. Even so, formal grievances are usually confirmed in writing so the issue is clear and can be investigated properly. If a worker tells a founder or manager about a serious complaint and the business ignores it because “nothing was submitted formally”, that can cause problems later.

A sensible approach is to clarify the complaint in writing, either by asking the employee to set it out or by sending a note confirming what you understand the grievance to be.

Why this matters for startups and SMEs

For smaller businesses, grievances often land directly on the desk of a founder or line manager who is already involved in the dispute. This is where founders often get caught. They respond personally, defend their decision, and skip the process. That makes the complaint harder to resolve and can undermine trust across the team.

A badly handled grievance can also feed into larger legal claims. An employee may later argue that the business acted unreasonably, breached trust and confidence, discriminated against them, failed to make adjustments, or ignored protected disclosures. The grievance itself is not the claim, but your handling of it can become part of the evidence.

What does fair handling usually look like?

Fair handling means you listen, investigate, decide and communicate the outcome in a way that is consistent with your own procedure and the ACAS Code. Not every complaint requires a long formal investigation, but serious allegations usually do.

That normally includes:

• acknowledging the complaint promptly;
• deciding whether informal resolution is realistic and appropriate;
• appointing someone impartial to investigate where needed;
• inviting the employee to a meeting and allowing accompaniment where applicable;
• reviewing documents, messages, policies and witness evidence;
• making findings based on the information available;
• setting out the outcome in writing; and
• offering an appeal.

Speed matters, but so does balance. A fast outcome based on assumptions can create more risk than a slightly slower but fair process.

Legal Issues To Check Before You Sign

Before you sign employment contracts, issue handbook documents, or accept the provider's standard terms for outsourced HR support, make sure your grievance process matches the law and the reality of your business.

Many grievance problems start long before the complaint appears. They begin with unclear contracts, outdated policies, weak manager training, or a reporting line that leaves no independent decision-maker. Here’s what to sort out first.

1. Employment contracts and handbook wording

Your contracts should state where employees can find the grievance procedure, usually in the staff handbook, and whether that procedure is non-contractual. Many employers prefer the detailed procedure to be non-contractual so they have some flexibility, but your drafting still needs to be clear and consistent.

Before you sign, check:

• whether contracts refer to a grievance policy or procedure;
• whether the policy says it is non-contractual;
• whether managers know who receives grievances;
• whether there is an appeal stage; and
• whether the process works for remote staff, small teams and senior complaints.

If your founder is named as the first point of contact and the grievance is about that founder, you need an alternative route. This often gets missed in owner-managed businesses.

2. The ACAS Code of Practice

The ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures is not optional in practical terms. Employment tribunals take it into account when considering relevant cases, and compensation can be adjusted if a party unreasonably fails to follow it.

The Code supports basic fairness. That includes giving notice of meetings, carrying out reasonable investigations, allowing accompaniment in formal meetings, and offering an appeal. You do not need a perfect process, but you do need a fair one.

3. Discrimination and reasonable adjustments

If the grievance touches on disability, mental health, pregnancy, harassment or any other protected characteristic, the legal risk goes up quickly. A standard process may need adapting.

For example, you may need to:

• adjust meeting format or timing for a disabled employee;
• accept written submissions instead of a face-to-face meeting in some cases;
• avoid asking the employee to confront the subject of a harassment complaint directly;
• handle sensitive evidence carefully; and
• consider whether an external investigator is more appropriate.

Reasonable adjustments are fact-specific, but ignoring the issue is where employers get into trouble.

4. Whistleblowing overlap

Some grievances are not just personal complaints. They may also amount to protected disclosures about wrongdoing, health and safety, legal breaches or wider malpractice. If someone raises concerns about unlawful conduct and you treat it only as a personality dispute, you may miss whistleblowing protections.

The labels used by the employee are less important than the substance of what they are alleging. Before you respond, look at what the complaint actually says.

5. Confidentiality, data protection and records

Grievance handling involves personal data, often sensitive personal data. You should only share information with people who genuinely need it, keep records secure, and avoid oversharing witness statements or complaint details around the business.

That does not mean promising absolute confidentiality. In many cases you will need to speak to witnesses or the person complained about. The better approach is to explain that information will be handled sensitively and only disclosed where necessary for a fair process.

Your records should usually include:

• the complaint raised;
• meeting notes;
• evidence reviewed;
• investigation findings;
• the outcome letter; and
• any appeal decision.

6. Suspension, role changes and related disciplinary action

A grievance is not the same as a disciplinary issue, even when the facts overlap. If one employee complains about another, you may need two separate processes: a grievance for the complainant and a disciplinary investigation for the alleged misconduct.

Before you suspend someone, change reporting lines, or move duties around, think about whether the step is necessary, proportionate and documented. Knee-jerk actions can look retaliatory, especially where the employee has complained about discrimination or safety concerns.

7. Settlement discussions and without prejudice assumptions

Some employers try to end a grievance by making an off-the-record offer too early. That can backfire. Not every conversation is protected from later disclosure, and the legal rules around protected conversations and without prejudice discussions are narrower than many founders assume.

Before you rely on a verbal promise or make an exit proposal in the middle of a grievance, take advice on the context and wording.

Common Mistakes With What Is a Grievance at Work

The main risk is not recognising a grievance early enough and then creating extra legal exposure through the way the business responds.

Most employers do not get into difficulty because a complaint was raised. They get into difficulty because the process was inconsistent, defensive or poorly documented. These are the mistakes that come up most often.

Treating everything as informal for too long

Informal resolution can be useful for minor issues, especially where the employee wants a quick practical fix. But once the complaint is serious, repeated, or clearly unresolved, keeping it “informal” can look like avoidance.

If an employee has raised bullying, discrimination, retaliation, pay issues or safety concerns, move promptly to a structured process.

Letting the accused manager run the process

This happens a lot in small teams. The employee complains about their line manager, and that same manager writes the outcome or controls the evidence gathering. Even if the manager believes they are being fair, the process will look compromised.

Use a different decision-maker where possible. If your business is too small for that, consider whether outside support is needed for the investigation or appeal stage.

Failing to define the issues clearly

A grievance that starts as “I feel unsupported” can cover several different concerns. If you do not pin down the issues, the investigation drifts and the outcome letter becomes vague.

A better approach is to identify the specific complaints in writing. For example:

• alleged exclusion from meetings;
• comments said to be discriminatory;
• unpaid overtime claimed over a set period; and
• concerns about the handling of a flexible working request.

That helps everyone understand what is being investigated and what findings are being made.

Ignoring the right to be accompanied

Employees are generally entitled to be accompanied at a formal grievance meeting by a fellow worker or trade union representative. Refusing this without good reason can create avoidable conflict and procedural criticism.

If the chosen companion is unavailable at the proposed time, consider whether a short rearrangement is required.

Using outcome letters that are too brief

“Grievance not upheld” is not enough. The employee should be able to see that the business listened, reviewed evidence and reached findings on the actual points raised.

A useful outcome letter usually explains:

• what issues were investigated;
• what evidence was considered;
• what findings were made;
• what action will follow, where appropriate; and
• how to appeal.

You do not need to disclose every confidential employment consequence for another employee, but you do need to give a reasoned response.

Retaliation after the grievance

The period after the grievance outcome is often where claims grow. The employee may suddenly be excluded from meetings, marked down in performance reviews, denied work, or treated as disloyal. Even subtle changes can be used as evidence of victimisation or detriment.

Make sure managers understand that the complaint must not influence future treatment of the employee.

Forgetting the underlying employment relationship

A grievance process does not sit in isolation. The complaint may expose problems in the employment contract, staff handbook, management structure, pay arrangements, remote working rules or reporting lines. If you only close the grievance file and do nothing else, the same issue may return.

Once the case is over, review whether you need to update:

• employment contracts;
• anti-bullying and harassment policies;
• equality and diversity training;
• absence and flexible working procedures;
• manager escalation steps; and
• record-keeping practices.

FAQs

Does every employee complaint count as a formal grievance?

No. Some concerns can be handled informally at first. But if the issue is serious, repeated, unresolved or clearly framed as a complaint, you should consider using the formal grievance procedure.

How quickly should an employer respond to a grievance?

There is no single fixed deadline in every case, but you should act without unreasonable delay. A prompt acknowledgement, early meeting arrangements and a realistic investigation timetable are usually expected.

Can an employee raise a grievance while they are off sick or working remotely?

Yes. Sickness absence or remote working does not stop a grievance from being raised. You may need to adapt the process, for example by allowing online meetings, written submissions or adjusted timescales where reasonable.

What if the grievance is about the business owner or founder?

You still need a fair and impartial process. If the usual decision-maker is the subject of the complaint, use an alternative manager, director or external investigator where appropriate.

Can poor grievance handling lead to a tribunal claim?

Yes, indirectly and sometimes directly. A badly handled grievance can support wider claims such as discrimination, constructive dismissal, whistleblowing detriment or unfair process arguments, depending on the facts.

Key Takeaways

• A grievance at work is a complaint by an employee or worker about workplace treatment, terms, decisions or conditions, and it should not be dismissed as a minor internal disagreement without checking the facts.
• UK employers should align their process with the ACAS Code, their employment contracts and staff handbook, and any formal grievance should usually be investigated and answered in writing.
• Serious complaints can overlap with discrimination, whistleblowing, health and safety, pay or constructive dismissal issues, so the legal context matters from the start.
• Small businesses need special care where the complaint involves a founder, owner-manager or close-knit team structure, because independence and documentation are often the weak points.
• Good grievance handling means clear issues, fair meetings, proper records, a reasoned outcome and an appeal route.
• After the outcome, review whether your contracts, policies, manager training and reporting lines need updating to stop the same problem happening again.

If you want help with grievance procedures, employment contracts, staff handbook policies, or workplace investigations, you can reach us on 08081347754 or team@sprintlaw.co.uk for a free, no-obligations chat.