Work grievance

[AvonCallingBarksdale]

Hello. If someone had a grievance lodged against them, I understand that they are told to keep it confidential and not discuss with work colleagues. Does the same apply to the person who had lodged the grievance? Are they allowed to discuss with work colleagues. If anyone is able to point me in the direction of a reliable source answer that’d be really helpful. TIA.

No one here will be able to tell you whether your employer has asked someone who has lodged a grievance to keep it confidential.

That’s that then. There’s a lot of info online but there’s a lot to wade through so “on the off chance” that it was clear cut I thought I’d ask here. I wasn’t aware it was a silly question. #slopesofffeelingshitterthanbefore

Does it say anything about confidentiality in your company’s grievance procedure? I would imagine both sides ought to keep things confidential particularly whilst there was any ongoing investigation but I’m no expert. Are you the person who has raised the grievance or have you had one raised against you?

It's not a silly question, but it is employer specific. There is no law that says you can't discuss things with a colleague, but your employer could ask that you don't. Any instruction from your employer must be reasonable though, so there may be instances where a blanket rule like that could be overridden.

If you can be more specific (without giving any identifying details) we might be able to help more.

What’s actually the problem though OP? There’s no law saying that if an employer raises a grievance they can’t tell anyone about it. Laws around grievances are there to protect the employee raising the grievance.

But if you say what’s actually happening and how it’s affecting you, there may be another route to deal with it, either involving another piece of law or more practical/procedural stuff.

employee raises a grievance, stupid autocorrect

I'd have expected both sides to not openly discuss a grievance, it could set staff up against each other and cause people to take sides but don't know what the law is. I would also have expected management , union or h.r, to have advised both parties on what they can or cannot discuss.

I had a grievance lodged against me and was told neither of us should discuss. He did and many of his colleagues who'd thought he was really cool cane and asked me outright if I'd said what he said I'd said (yelling and swearing at him). I replied we've been told not to speak about it so I can't answer but what do you think? Then smiled and walked away. Anyway, his disclosure led to colleagues coming forward as character witnesses, he lost everyone's trust (I'm not a sweary person at all so it didn't make sense). He ended up dropping it, admitting he lied and apologised. His friends (colleagues) were a lot nicer to me after that as he'd been feeding them various lies about what a bitch I was for months and they realised it was all bullshit.

Overall they can't stop you talking but it could go against you so Best avoided.