Employment Law

Yesterday I heard however one more non-grievance. Over the last few months an employee, who became unwell has caused mayhem in a little company by raising fully absurd grievances. His condition is extremely minor and does not constitute a disability.  Stephanie, the employer, has already taken a number of actions to guarantee that Jon can work comfortably and safely. Jon has completed absolutely nothing to aid himself and has on a number of occasions worked in an unsafe manner. He was informally guided on this, for his own protection. From his response you would have thought he’d been produced to stand in icy water for an hour.

Two weeks ago a 4 page letter was handed to Stephanie. It contained a torrent of Jon’s supposed wrongs (and was the document equivalent of a Violet Elizabeth Bott “thcream”). Stephanie grit her teeth and asked me to chair a grievance meeting.

When she wrote to Jon to set up the meeting, he recoiled and said he hadn’t meant to raise a grievance. Stephanie stated – somewhat grimly, but really properly – that he clearly had some problems or he wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble of writing such a lengthy letter. As the reasonable employer, we have a duty to explore his concerns.  There was a further exchange about who could act as the companion.  Jon wanted his mum and we confined him to the statutory pool.  Jon went sick in response.  We wrote him a charming and useful letter, demonstrating our commitment and support, but stuck to our guns. The meeting was rescheduled and ultimately took location yesterday.

There was no far more substance in Jon’s allegations than there a lion in dandelion fluff.

Sadly this kind of nuisance grievance is quite typical. This sort of grievance is often levied by poor high quality employees as a smoke screen.  It wastes management time and creates a reverse culture if intimidation.  You are under a duty to appropriately explore grievances, but as this type of behaviour is so widespread now, it has turn into required to insert some caveats.

Have a couple of tactics ready to deal with this sort of nonsense.  Draft your grievance procedures so as to allow you to make an initial assessment prior to you allocate any considerable resources to deal with it. For example, the procedure could state that you reserve the appropriate not to pursue grievances that are frivolous or vexatious, or that merely repeat complaints that have already been created.  You could also require the employee to submit his evidence in advance of a meeting.

If you require support dealing with frivolous grievances and ‘screamers’, give us a call.  We’ve had plenty of expertise of tackling these problems.

To get regular employment law updates subscribe to Law on the Move.

Russell HR Consulting gives expert expertise in the practical application of employment law as well as providing employment law training and HR support services. For far more data, pay a visit to our internet site at www.russellhrconsulting.co.uk or call a member of the team on 0845 644 8955.

Russell HR Consulting offers HR services to businesses nationwide, which includes Buckinghamshire (covering Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Banbury, Northampton, Towcester and surrounding locations), Nottinghamshire (covering Chesterfield, Mansfield, Nottingham, Sheffield, Worksop and surrounding areas) and Hampshire (covering Aldershot, Basingstoke, Reading, Farnborough, Fareham, Portsmouth, Southampton and surrounding locations).