Only where reasonable attempts to resolve the grievance informally (see the Informal Stage for more details) have been exhausted can the grievance be dealt with under this formal stage.  If the employee feels their grievance is unresolved then there are 3 critical steps in the formal process.

1 = Statement of Grievance

• The employee must inform their Head of Service, in writing, within 5 working days of receiving the manager’s response at the informal stage.
• The employee must provide detail of the grounds for their grievance and what remedy they seek.

2 = Response

• The employee must be invited to a meeting to discuss their grievance; this should take place within 10 working days of receipt of their Statement of Grievance.
• The Head of Service, or another senior officer nominated by the Head of Service, will chair the grievance hearing. The chair of the hearing must have had no prior involvement in the case. 
• The employee must take all reasonable steps to attend the grievance hearing.
• The employee has the right to be accompanied by a work colleague or trade union representative.
• The decision, and the reasons it was arrived at, will be fed back to the employee verbally, and confirmed in writing within 5 working days of the hearing.
• The employee has the right to appeal the decision; how to do this will be detailed in the hearing outcome letter.

Visit the Arranging and conducting a grievance hearing page for more detailed information.

3 = Appeal

• Employees who are unhappy with the decision reached after the grievance hearing must be given the opportunity to appeal.

For detailed information on the Appeals Process, please visit the Managing Grievances Appeals page.

For further information on the employee’s right to be accompanied, please click here.

Click here to return to the main Managing Grievances page.

Add a like and/or a rating below to indicate how useful you found this page.