Preparing for grievance hearing

[anewbie86]

Hi ladies,
I am preparing for a grievance hearing with my employer during w/c 9th April. I wanted to hear from anyone who has done this - how did you approach it? What evidence etc did you bring with you? I was thinking that I would write out all of my concerns in a sort of script so that I can make sure I don't forget any details, I won't read directly from it as such but I want to be sure that I am giving all the information.

Quick background...I'm on mat leave...my little boy is 12 weeks. There have been many issues that I've experienced (two that I believe are pregnancy/maternity discrimination and others that are just rubbish management on their part) - firstly training being turned down while I was pregnant (which I have in writing as the reason - how stupid are they?! But I can't take this to tribunal as the 3 months has passed because I happened to give birth in the middle of it and of course the outcome from that takes up quite a bit of time!!), not being told about new job opportunities (one of which I would have applied for and now can't), them not telling me about a structure change in my department, them not telling me I had a new line manager. Basically I just got sick of them being so crap when it's really not hard to BCC someone into an email...it's making me feel completely undervalued and there are loads of women on mat leave here so I imagine my experience isn't unique.

I am really nervous about this - you're instantly made to feel like the small person up against the big guys, and I get serious moments of feeling under confident about fighting this treatment, but I really still want to as it's really just not OK for women on mat leave to be treated in this way. But anyway - would love to hear your experiences...thanks ladies!

I wouldn’t do a script. I would firstly look at the Law as it applies to Maternity and pregnancy Discrimination. Acas has a very good guide and you can see the different elements of the law and how your experience amounts to discrimination.

Write out the law and the requirements of an employer. Write out your experience. How does this differ from the legal obligations of an employer? This is the essence of your grievance and that you were discriminated against. You can add dates and more information to stress the points you wish to make. I think I would present each point separately (1, 2, 3 etc) but you must reference it to what the law requires. You could bring copies of letters and emails as evidence to be attached to each point.

Others may disagree, but I don’t think you need reams of evidence. I think being concise, compelling and accurate in what you say is the most important thing. Don’t waffle. Do refer to any internal policies that were not followed.

Good luck.

Agree with PP that you don't need reams of evidence but think about each point that you want to make and be able to articulate it clearly and concisely.

For example,

I wasn't informed about xyz role. I found out through.... on (date) when it was too late to apply. Where was the job advertised? How would I have access to internal vacancies whilst on maternity leave? I'd like to understand why/how this happened.

I would also think carefully about what you want to happen here. Are you saying that your position is now untenable and you want to discuss an exit (which based on what you have said sounds fairly drastic) or do you have a genuine desire for the management team to improve their ways of working?

The first instance (being refused training on the grounds of being pregnant) does sound discriminatory. The others sounds more like poor practice. Trying to see the other side of the argument it is often difficult for employers to know how much to communicate to someone in the early months of maternity unless it has been discussed and agreed beforehand. Is it possible that the thought you would want to be left in peace with your DC and not bothered by work issues? I'm not saying that it's right but it may not have been deliberately discriminatory. One outcome from the grievance may be to agree how you would like to be kept informed during the remainder of your maternity leave.

Employees on maternity leave must be given information about job opportunities and training. It’s not just bad practice, it’s illegal. Please read the Guide from Acas.

As a person usually hearing grievances I would suggest you keep it sincere, factual and be clear what outcomes you would like to see in the future.

Thanks all...this is really helpful. What I’m trying to do is raise all of this because I’m just so sick of them being useless. I work in an industry where there are a lot of women childbearing age and therefore lots of us on mat leave. I think that they should be made to examine how they’re treating them and doing things properly. I have a list of 6 things I want them to do as a result of my grievance including training managers properly, reviewing their out of date policies etc. At the mo it’s not coming down to leaving and constructive dismissal etc. To be honest I think that will be too stressful for me to argue and go through at this point.

Have a date for my hearing now which is next week so getting on with my prep. Trying to make it as factual and emotionless as possible and I’ve been reading the equality act 2010 to quote the relevant bits (fun...who knew this is what I’d be doing on mat leave eh!), acas and the human rights commission.

Thanks!

The best advice is contained in the Acas maternity discrimination pdf. It’s got the latest advice in it and you don’t need to read the whole act. They give you the relevant points to argue. It is very poor that your company policies are not up to date.