From time to time problems arise at any workplace.
They might start because your employer is dissatisfied with you in some way, perhaps because they think you have broken some rules or your performance is not up to scratch.
On the other hand, it may be your employer that is at fault, perhaps because they are not meeting their responsibilities towards you or there is a problem with something your employer has done or omitted to do.
Frequently such problems can be resolved as the result of informal discussions between you and your supervisor or managers. If possible this is always the best way of resolving differences, though it never does any harm to know your legal rights in an informal discussion!
However, sometimes solutions cannot be found informally or are inappropriate to the circumstances. For example, you might be accused of having committed a very serious breach of rules and regulation. If either of the above is the case your employer might institute a formal disciplinary process.
Where you have a complaint against your employer and have failed to resolve the problem through informal means, or it is a problem inappropriate to be solved by informal means, you might wish to invoke your organisation's formal grievance procedure.
Whilst there is no legal obligation upon your employer to have a formal written disciplinary and grievance procedure, and indeed some employers employing small numbers of people may not have such procedures, most employers of any size will have both formal disciplinary and formal grievance procedures.
Employees are entitled to receive a written statement of particulars of the main terms and conditions of employment within eight weeks of starting work. In companies employing 20 or more people such a statement must include a reference to any disciplinary rules applicable to you, the person to whom you can apply, and the way in which to apply if you are dissatisfied with any disciplinary decisions or wish to pursue a grievance.
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) has issued a statutory Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance Procedures. This code not only outlines good employment practice with respect to disciplinary and grievance procedures it also now contains guidance on a workers statutory right to be accompanied at disciplinary and grievance hearings. Whilst failure on the part of any person to observe any provisions of the code does not itself make anybody liable to any legal proceedings the code can be taken into evidence at an employment tribunal and so it is sensible for all parties to abide by its provisions.
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