Being forced into a grievance hearing

[Tracyuk89]

Can my employer continue with a grievance if I've written to them to retract it? I've been sent the dates of a hearing even though I've said I wish to retract. They've not even interviewed my witness and are going ahead with a grievance hearing. Also, should someone outside the department be chairing the grievance ? It is all within my own department (my department manager, department hr advisor who investigated, another manager within my department etc)

Have you put it in writing that you definitely want to retract it?

I think a lot of it would depend on the grievance , if it is something they think is serious like sexual harassment , bullying, discrimination etc they may need to go ahead with it legally, particularly the bullying aspect as you in theory could of been bullied into retracting your statement.

Your management may also be aware that whatever your grievance is /was has been brought up by other people as well so need to address the situation.

It is up to the company to decide. It depends what the complaint was and the reasons you have given to withdraw the complaint. Was it settled, are there people who have a question against them now, was It done in the heat of the moment or has it been drawn out, etc? What effect would not completing it have on others etc. The answer is it depends on the problem..

I think it maybe out of your hands-in an old job my letter of resignation led to a grievance automatically.

I don't follow @Booksandwine80, why did your resignation cause a grievance 'automatically' ? Was it against you?

@daisychain01

Sorry, that wasn’t clear. When I gave the reasons for my resignation they automatically began the grievance procedure against an individual I had mentioned as the main reason for leaving, along with the company themselves.

Thank you for clarifying @BooksandWine80. It must have been frustrating that they only responded because you resigned. Often the way, they don't know what they've got til it's gone!

Can my employer continue with a grievance if I've written to them to retract it?

Yes they can depending on the nature of the accusation.

And just to answer the other part of your question - unless your company policy specifically specified otherwise, then no it doesn't have to be dealt with by someone outside your department. Shouldn't obviously be being dealt with by the person the grievance is about though.