Grievance Procedure & Hearings

If you’re having a problem at work, such as a dispute with your employer, talk to Tees. We’ll explain your legal rights and options for getting it resolved.

Grievance meetings at work: Advice for employees

If you have concerns or complaints about something that’s happened at work, it’s usually best to try to sort problems out informally. Talk to your employer, starting with your manager – or if they’re the cause of the problem, HR or another manager that you trust. If not suitable for dealing with informally, or matters are not resolved, you may need to raise a formal grievance.

What is a grievance hearing?

A grievance meeting or hearing will be the meeting that takes place to consider your formal grievance. This is usually after prior informal attempts to resolve the problem have been unsuccessful.

At the meeting you can communicate your complaint in more detail, share written evidence and ask questions; your employer will also likely ask questions. You will be able to say what it is you want done about the problem; your employer may, reasonably, have already invited to you provide details of your desired outcome. It’s not meant to be an adversarial meeting with two opposing ‘sides’ and both parties should seek to understand and discuss the issues and see how they might be resolved.

After the meeting your employer should respond in writing and if your grievance isn’t upheld, they should tell you that you can appeal.

You can find out more about raising a grievance on the ACAS website.

The team is always keen to assist, providing articulate and accessible legal advice.
Legal 500 UK, 2025

I think I’ve been treated unfairly at work – what can I do?

There are very strict time limits for making claims to employment tribunals. You usually have just under three months to make a claim and will need to go through ACAS Early Conciliation first. So if you think you might need to take your employer to an employment tribunal, there’s no time to lose. You need to get expert advice.

Our grievance hearing services

Our specialist employment solicitors can help you by:

drafting your grievance
briefing you on the process of the grievance meeting
advising on strategy and planning the key points you need to get across
helping you identify a companion for the meeting – who could be a union representative, or a friend or colleague
advising on an appeal against the decision, if your employer does not uphold your grievance and rectify the situation
advising you on how you might pursue a settlement agreement strategy for exit and enter into a “protected conversation” with your employer, if that’s what you ultimately want
taking your employer to an employment tribunal and other considerations; this is only if it cannot be resolved and you choose to do this; we will advise you on all the options.