Grievance Letter

This document can be used to raise a formal grievance at work. It acts as a signed letter confirming a formal grievance has been raised, and is provided by the employee who is raising the grievance to the employer.

The document can be tailored to describe:

• the nature of the grievance;
• the number of incidents during which the grievance has occurred;
• the date of any incidents which took place;
• if the employee has previously raised the grievance with the employer informally; and
• the rationale for why these incidents constitute a grievance.

It is a legal requirement that all employers provide their employees with a written copy of their relevant grievance procedure, often this may be included in an employee's contract of employment with the employer. It is important that an employee has consulted any grievance procedure they have received from their employer before they issue a formal grievance in order to make sure that it meets the employer's required standard.

How the document is to be used

The document should be signed and dated by the employee raising a grievance and provided to the appropriate individual within the employee's organisation who will be responsible for investigating the incidents, such as the HR Director. The person raising the grievance may wish to keep a copy of the document in case the employer loses or claims never to have received the original.

Once the employer has responded to the employee's grievance they will be invited to a formal meeting to discuss the issues surrounding the grievance. An employee will have the right to be accompanied to such a meeting by another colleague or a relevant union representative. Where the employer does respond to the employee's grievance and the employee is not satisfied with that response they may wish to formally appeal against the employer's decision.

Any applicable law

There is no formal law surrounding the grievance process, however the issues detailed in the grievance may contravene various acts in employment law, such as the Employment Rights Act 1996, the Employment Act 2008 the Equality Act 2010.

Employers should be aware of government guidance, ACAS guidance on dealing with grievances at work and the ACAS code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures.

Help from a lawyer

You can choose to consult a lawyer if you need help.

The lawyer can answer your questions or help you through the process. You will be offered this option when you complete the document.

How to modify the template

You fill out a form. The document is created before your eyes as you respond to the questions.

At the end, you receive it in Word and PDF formats. You can modify it and reuse it.