Compliance with the modified procedure

An employee who has already left ants to claim constructive dismissal. They've sent a grievance letter under the modified procedure, but it doesn't say what the basis of their complaint is. Can a recent case help you?

Follow the procedure

Any employee who wants to claim constructive dismissal or discrimination has to lodge a formal grievance procedure (GP) before they can proceed to tribunal. As part of this process the employee has to set out their grievance as well as the "basis" for it. The employer will then consider the grievance and its decision is sent to the employee.

Tip: If the standard GP applies instead, the employee doesn’t need to set out the basis for the grievance; they just have to inform the employer they have one.

What's the basis?

You will be aware over the past few years there have been cases on what amounts to a grievance where the courts have said the word "grievance" doesn't actually have to be used! Now there’s a ruling on what constitutes the basis of a grievance.

In Clyde Valley Housing Association Ltd v MacAulay 2008, MacAulay (M) resigned and then claimed constructive dismissal and disability discrimination. As her employment had ended, both parties agreed to use the modified GP. Her solicitor then sent a letter to the employer alleging all sorts of ill-treatment such as: "[she was] treated in the most oppressive, unfair and degrading manner...harassed and intimidated...subjected to the most humiliating treatment [and] a wholly unjustified disciplinary investigation and process"

Vague details

As these allegations were vague, the employer asked for further details about the acts she was complaining about and the basis of those allegations. When the modified GP is used there's no grievance meeting, so its essential that all the facts are set out in the grievance letter; otherwise the employer will find it almost impossible to work out what the problem is. M's solicitors didn't reply to this request. Having heard nothing, the employer wrote again saying that they could not conduct a full investigation into M's grievance because of her refusal to set out the basis for it. M went to tribunal and won her case, but the decision was overturned by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT).

Must spell it out

M had argued that her grievance letter had set out the basis of her grievance and that further facts were available to the employer in other documents. The EAT said that this was not good enough. As far as he law is concerned the basis of a grievance has to be set out in a grievance letter - it was irrelevant that additional information could be found elsewhere of her employer had cared to look for it. The case is good news for employers, as it means the employee can't simply make broad allegations and expect them to be dealt with.

Tip: If either party fails to comply with the GP, the tribunal can increase or reduce the compensation by 10 % to 50% Don't be afraid to ask for further details if you feel he allegations are unclear, or you need further information to investigate them.