Work ignoring my Grievance - at end of tether

[Shrimp79]

I raised a serious grievance with my employer but 8 weeks later I still haven’t had a hearing date or any real engagement. I’ve been sent a couple of emails asking for information which is clearly already in the grievance. It feels like they are stalling for time as the case has been passed through 3 departments so far.

As a result of the serious issues raised in my grievance I am off work with depression and anxiety, the first time in 25 years I have had any significant time off sick. My sick pay is due to reduce from 100% to 40% in 2 weeks time and I’m the main breadwinner in my family. We rely on my salary and I never envisaged this happening.

Industry is a heavily regulated one and would be very reputationally damaging to the company and senior individuals if the concerns were made public.

I’m at the end of my tether and feel like they are deliberately stalling in the hope I break and give up. I have realised they’ve done this to employees before.

Any advice appreciated

Also to add I have raised with ACAS but they have backlogs so no one has been allocated yet. I have also appointed a solicitor although they haven’t been directly involved yet and I’m so worried about the costs

Have you raised this with union?

I’m not in the union unfortunately

Do they have a grievance policy with a timeline for responding?

They are stalling because most grievances can only be taken to a tribunal if they are reported to the courts at 3 months minus one day after the incident. It depends on the nature of the grievance.

I would fill out an ET1 form and have it logged so you don’t have a time barred situation

check you joke insurance and see if you have legal cover added to your policy

The policy states ‘usually’ 5 days!

good point about the home insurance - I’ll check

do I need the ACAS reference though before I can lodge the tribunal claim?

Any other advice from the daytime MNs?

They are stalling because most grievances can only be taken to a tribunal if they are reported to the courts at 3 months minus one day after the incident. It depends on the nature of the grievance

I'd expect the 3 months less one day (3-1) to run from the point at which the employer had given a final decision in terms of their own process.

Alternatively one might argue that 3-1 began when the expected time for the employer's process ended.

Too late now and no judgement but here's why paying your subs to the union has value

It's difficult to advise without knowing exactly what the serious concerns are but have you:

• raised your issues with someone very senior (ie CEO) as well as the grievance so it is known about
• suggested an appointment with occupational health
• depending on what the issues are, have you raised this with outside agencies ie health and safety?

And fgs join a union in case of future issues.

I get the point re Union, tbh it’s not a particularly union heavy sector but certainly understand the help they may have been able to provide.

There is a relevant regulator but I haven’t reported to them yet. It’s the order of cards to play I find difficult

it’s a serious matter so I won’t be returning but I can’t navigate their time delay tactics as a household we haven’t anticipated this and will struggle. Do I have a case to ask for full pay whilst the delays are their end?

I imagine they are hoping you'll be forced to return to work and forget about your grievance when your sick pay drops as that's what some people do (I dragged myself into work years ago when my pay dropped).

They are playing games. Hopefully acas come back to you shortly to advise.

You don’t have a case to request full pay while you wait for the grievance to be investigated because you don’t need to be off sick for that to happen.

Letting them know in advance you have no intention of returning while this is outstanding calls your sickness into question (because you can’t plan being sick).

If ACAS are taking too long, you need to pay a lawyer to speed things up.

If you win, you can try to negotiate compensation for loss of earnings but again this is difficult because you are off sick, not off pending the outcome.