FAMILIAR WITH THIS NIGHTMARE?
Released On 31st Oct 2022
FAMILIAR WITH THIS NIGHTMARE?
The nights are drawing in, the clocks are going back and pumpkins are being carved. It can only mean one thing; Halloween is upon us, and we can’t let the week pass without commenting on the nightmare horror story that is managing competing grievances and disciplinary matters. We’ve been a bit inundated recently with employers facing a multitude of linked issues and sometimes it’s hard to separate the wood from the trees in the haunted forest that is employment law.
Let’s take the classic situation where you unearth misconduct. (Rightly) you raise it with the employee and, before you know it you are presented with a grievance and subject access request, together with a month long Fit Note citing work-related stress (coincidentally timed to expire with the time limit for complying with that pesky subject access request – spooky!) and a demand for the grievance to be dealt with before it could possibly be fair to progress the disciplinary matter; a melting pot (or cauldron) of issues. Even worse, there more’s than one individual involved, and the HR advisor or manager becomes the victim of their very own witch-hunt.
So where do you start?
We favour keeping it simple, dusting the cobwebs off your policies and taking a logical approach to resolving the issues. The key is to always put yourself in the shoes of an Employment Tribunal Judge and, whilst every situation is different, usually the fact that the stress is being caused by the uncertainty around the disciplinary issues means it’s best to (sensitively) get on with the task at hand. It could well be reasonable to park the grievance or deal with both the grievance and disciplinary matter at the same time.
What not to do?
Fly off on your broomstick and hide in the stormy clouds, hoping that time is a healer. You are likely just delaying the inevitable and will soon find yourself on the end of a ghosting / gaslighting allegation too. Sometimes it feels like you can’t do right for doing wrong when it comes to keeping in touch with employees who are off sick, right? Contact them too much and you’re harassing them. Contact them too infrequently and you are ignoring them. Striking the balance isn’t easy!
Sometimes just talking it all through and getting some reassurance is a real life-saver and that’s what we are here to do – provide objectivity and practical support to shine a lantern on the ghastliest of problems.
Anyway, puns over. Have a great weekend and enjoy the extra hour!
If you require any help or assistance regards this topic or anything else employment law related, please contact our Employment Law Team
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