Discipline and Grievance

Disciplinary and grievance proceduresFollowing correct disciplinary procedures is vital to ensure disciplinary issues are properly dealt with. If you get this wrong, you may need to face an Employment Tribunal with a case flawed by poor disciplinary procedures or bad advice.

Proper arrangements to air employee grievances can significantly improve your employee relations. All organisations should have a grievance procedure in place to address employee's discontent.

The disciplinary and grievance procedures and advice on this page will give your organisation the resources necessary to ensure you deal effectively with all employee discipline and grievance issues.

 

Disciplinary Procedure and Policy - for download

This is a simple Disciplinary Procedure which meets all the necessary legal requirements, which you can download and adapt for your organisation
This is a more in-depth Disciplinary Policy and Procedure which also includes template letters.

Grievance Procedure and Policy - for download

This is a standard Grievance Procedure which you can adapt for your organisation. It has been updated in line with the ACAS Code of Practice to include a section on mediation.

Useful Links

Handling Disciplinaries
Information from the Government Business Link. Use their on-line tool to ensure you follow the correct disciplinary procedures here.

Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures
As of 6 April 2009, Acas has revised its Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures and produced a new Code available here.

Discipline and Grievances at work
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development information on dealing with disciplinary issues in the workplace.

Affiliate Link

RedTapeDoc - Integrated HR employment documents - £14. Including advice for virtually every employment situation; includes employment contract, policy, records, letters, and forms all you need to manage your own employees professionally.

 

Grievance & Discipline - Related Documents

Labour Relations Commission - Ireland
Code of Practice on Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures

Mediation - An Employers Guide
Chartered Institute Of Personnel and Development and ACAS guide providing detailed information on implementing mediation in the workplace

Disputes Procedure
A dispute is a collective grievance raised by more than 1 member of staff. Some organisations will deal with this as a collective grievance under the grievance procedure. This is an alternative which is a separate Disputes procedure.

Grievance & Discipline - Recommended Book:

The Employer's Guide to Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures: Identifying, Addressing and Investigating Employee Misconduct.

"The Employer's Guide to Grievance and Discipline Procedures" presents the knowledge, skills and systems necessary to deal effectively with employee misconduct. It includes guidance on conducting discipline investigations, evidence gathering, interviewing and report writing. The author examines these in relation to common problems of discipline including; lateness, bullying, discrimination and theft. The aim is to deal with problems efficiently in order to avoid litigation. The book is supported by case studies to demonstrate discipline in practice. Also included are a number of sample letters, including correspondence on warning, suspension and dismissal.

The book is based on UK legislation, and sells for £17.00 from the Amazon link above (there may also be a secondhand purchase option which is cheaper).