16 August 2018
The question of whether an employer grievance should disrupt disciplinary proceedings is one up for debate, as the answer is not definitive. As all cases are unique, therefore it is not all grievances cause disruption to disciplinary proceedings , as there may be some proceedings that are affected by a grievance, whereas others are not.
In some cases, the Employment Tribunal may decide to suspend proceedings to allow the employer to attend to any grievance issues raised by the employee.
On other occasions, the disciplinary procedure can run simultaneously with the grievance procedure, as usually the grievance is raised as a response to the disciplinary proceedings brought against the employee. Therefore, the grievance can be dealt with in the disciplinary hearing.
There have been several instances where the Employment Tribunal will not suspend proceedings at all, regardless of a grievance being raised, usually resulting in a decision of fair dismissal.
Usually a grievance is related to the disciplinary proceedings, and therefore can disrupt the case, however if the grievance is not related it is not necessary to suspend proceedings, as it can be dealt with later.
The decision to consider a grievance is unique for every case, as long as it aligns with the ACAS Code on Disciplinary and Grievance procedures which states:
“Where an employee raises a grievance during a disciplinary process, the disciplinary process may be temporarily suspended in order to deal with the grievance. Where the grievance and disciplinary cases are related, it may be appropriate to deal with both issues concurrently”.
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