If you consider you have a grievance relating to your employment, our Grievance Procedure provides a process to have it examined quickly and effectively and, where a grievance is found to exist, to have it resolved, if possible, at the earliest practical opportunity.
This Grievance Procedure does not form part of your Contract of Employment and therefore may be amended at any time. We may depart from it, if necessary, depending on the circumstances of a given case.
This procedure applies to all employees regardless of length of service. It does not apply to freelancers, consultants or self-employed contractors. However, if you fall into any of these categories and you have an issue relating to your experience of working at or for T&H, particularly if it relates to one of our employees, we would like to know about it. Please discuss it on a confidential basis with our Head of HR.
Most grievances can be resolved quickly and informally with your Line Manager, and you should try to deal with any grievance you may have in this way, if at all possible.
If your grievance cannot be settled informally with your Line Manager, set out here is the formal grievance procedure you should follow.
You will not be victimized or suffer detriment for raising a grievance in good faith or for participating in any investigation and no manager may threaten either explicitly or implicitly that your grievance will be used as the basis for decisions affecting you. Such conduct will be treated as a serious disciplinary matter. Managers are also required to act on any grievance and failure to do so may be regarded as a disciplinary matter.
Stage 1
In the event of you having a formal grievance relating to your employment you should, in the first instance, put your grievance in writing to our Head of HR, making it clear that you wish to raise a formal grievance under the terms of this procedure. If your grievance concerns the Head of HR you may submit it to your Line Manager or Head of Department. The written grievance should set out the nature of your grievance, including any relevant facts, dates and names of individuals involved so that we can properly investigate it.
We will arrange a Grievance Hearing, if possible, within one week of receiving your written grievance. You should make every effort to attend. If the date and time of the hearing is not convenient you should let us know immediately and we will endeavour to reschedule the hearing for the next mutually convenient date. However, it is in everyone’s interests that the hearing takes place as soon as possible. You must make every effort to attend the meeting, and failure to attend without good reason may be treated as misconduct. If you fail to attend without good reason, or are persistently unable to do so (for example, for health reasons), we may have to take a decision based on the available evidence, including any written representations you have made.
The hearing will be attended by your Line Manager and our Head of HR (unless your grievance concerns him or her, in which case we will notify you in advance who will be attending on behalf of the company).
You may be accompanied at the hearing by a companion, who may be a co-worker or trade union representative, provided you notify us of this in advance. Your companion must respect the confidentiality of the hearing and failure to do so may constitute misconduct on their part if they are an employee of T&H. A companion may make representations, ask questions, and sum up your position, but will not be permitted to answer questions on your behalf. You may confer privately with your companion at any time during the hearing.
At the hearing you will be given an opportunity to explain your grievance in detail and to explore how you think it may be resolved. We expect employees to conduct themselves in a civil and professional manner during the hearing. If at any time you become verbally or physically abusive, we reserve the right to suspend the hearing and, if we consider it necessary, to make a decision in your absence.
We may adjourn the hearing if we need to carry out further investigations, after which the meeting will be reconvened.
We will write to you, usually within one week of the conclusion of the meeting to let you know our decision and notify you of any further action that we intend to take to resolve the grievance. We will also advise you of your right of appeal against that decision if you are not satisfied with it.
Stage 2
If you are not satisfied with our written decision, you may appeal in writing within five working days setting out the grounds for your appeal.
We will arrange a meeting to hear the appeal, if possible, within one week of receiving your written appeal. You should make every effort to attend. If the date and time of the appeal is not convenient you should let us know immediately and we will endeavour to reschedule. However, it is in everyone’s interests that the appeal takes place as soon as possible. You must make every effort to attend the meeting, and failure to attend without good reason may be treated as misconduct. If you fail to attend without good reason, or are persistently unable to do so (for example, for health reasons), we may have to take a decision based on the available evidence including any written representations you have made.
The appeal will be heard by a director of the company who has not been involved in your grievance or the initial hearing. You may be accompanied at the appeal by a companion who may be a co-worker or trade union representative, provided you notify us of this in advance. Your companion must respect the confidentiality of the hearing and failure to do so may constitute misconduct on their part if they are an employee of T&H. A companion may make representations, ask questions, and sum up your position, but will not be permitted to answer questions on your behalf. You may confer privately with your companion at any time during the appeal.
At the appeal you will be given an opportunity to state your case. We may adjourn the appeal if we need to carry out further investigations, after which the appeal will be reconvened.
Following the appeal, a final decision will be provided to you in writing, usually within five working days.
This is the final stage of the grievance procedure, and the company’s decision will be final in this respect.
Records
Information on a grievance by or about an employee will be placed on the employee’s HR file, along with a record of the outcome and of any notes or other documents compiled during the process.
If you have a question on any aspect of our Grievance Procedure please ask our Head of HR.
Last updated: 07/03/19
