The Importance of Appeal & Grievance Procedures

I decided a long time ago that blogging for the sake of it was not for Peter Abraham. The fact that I am writing this when on holiday, with the HR4UK.com staff being left to hold the fort, says there must be something important to add to the record.

When the law changed on 06 April 2009 many employers sighed with relief. The sighs are now even louder as the three - month transition period has expired - "maybe now we can see some sense in employment law", they say. I fear not. Why?

Employers are now expected to act reasonably. What is reasonable to one person is not to another. I therefore see less Tribunal claims on breaches of the law or procedure and more on whether the employer has acted reasonably. This is an even bigger charter for employees to submit a claim and therefore threatening the employer with heavy costs in both time and money. I believe the temptation for an employer to settle a claim has been increased by the change, unless the employer is completely sure of their grounds. Therefore the benefits of really excellent appeal and grievance procedures have been enhanced still further.

How long will it be before employers catch on to this fact? A grievance settled by the shake of a hand used to be relied upon, now all important transactions are committed to paper or an electronic record. Many agreements have clauses stating how a dispute or breakdown of the agreement will be handled to avoid arguments in court.

Employers should, in my opinion, look to an appeal and grievance procedure of similar standing in an employment contract and these - if well written - are worth their weight in gold.