Help writing a grievance letter...

[newmomma]

My original thread was this:

Employer trying to screw me

I now have to raise a grievance with my boss as our last conversation was basically him saying I'll pay you both as I know they're due - but I didn't think I was going to have to. If you pursue this it will cause bad feeling between us and change our working relationship.

As we have no formal policy and I can't afford to go straight to an Employment Lawyer I have to lodge a grievance with him (ACAS's advice). But I'm not sure how much detail I should go into.

ACAS also said that HE gets to decide what the outcome of my grievance is. How is that fair? And if I'm not happy with the outcome that I can lodge an appeal - also to be decided by him

I am allowed to take a fellow employee in or a union member but as I'm not a member of any union, but it seems pointless to take in a fellow employee - surely they'll always side with my boss in order to keep their own job safe.

He's just trying to screw me out of what I'm due - because I've taken back to back maternity leave (not planned!!) and its pissed him off. But I don't know where to go from here.

I don't like answering the phone to him any more because I just get 'snide' wrapped up with a smile. And he won't put anything in writing 'because I could use it against him'.

Can anyone lend some advice/personal experience please?

What do you want the outcome of your grievance to be newmomma?

If it's a small company and your boss has no one above him there's really no option but for him to both hear the grievance and also decide on the outcome. Is that the case, is he in charge with no other option to hear it or provide input?

You can appeal, and both the grievance and the appeal are steps you really need to go through if you're thinking of taking it further. Is that what you're planning to do?

Flowery - sorry to crash the thread, but could you give me some wise words here ? Thanks

I'm not really sure flowery

A little bit of me thinks I should just resign and think about another job after my ML is up.

But then a larger part of me feels completely unjustly treated and can see this ending up in a tribunal because his last conversation basically said 'I'll pay it if I must but it'll affect our relationship going on from here' - I'm not even sure what that means.

I've worked there for 7 years loyally and seen them through some real struggles and being told I was a very valued employee - it just seems so unjust that they can do this to me because I'm pregnant.

I'm scared to answer the phone to him now.

Should I let him get away with sex discrimination or potentially constructive dismissal or just walk away. Life's too short...?

If I haven't got a job I feel comfortable going back to then maybe I need to try and get some kind of financial compensation to see me through this fact.

I'm so confused. And hurt - but then that's probably just hormones. Apparently my boss thinks it is!

The trouble is I'm not convinced you'd get much in the way of compensation for the fact that you had to argue to get what you're entitled to (but did get it) and for the fact that he has said your relationship will change. Not an awful lot in terms of proof of sex discrimination really and not enough to justify resigning and claiming constructive dismissal yet either.

You aren't in work at the moment iirc, you are on holiday, and won't be going back to the office before you begin another maternity leave of up to a year. So much can change in that time anyway. You might find a new job, for example, or things might change at work. There's no reason for you to speak to your boss if you don't want to while you're on either holiday or maternity leave. I'd probably be inclined to drop it for now, obviously reserving your right to raise it formally later. You've got your financial entitlements, come back if you want to after maternity leave and if at that point it becomes clear he is treating you poorly you can raise a grievance then and take forward a claim if appropriate.

There is a time limit of 3 months to bring a sex discrimination claim to a tribunal, from the date of the incident, but if the incident is part of a pattern of behaviour, you can include things that are well out of the time limit. You already have some evidence in the bag that if things are bad when you go back, it is likely to be because of your maternity leave and you demanding your rights, because he's basically said so. You have the evidence that he was reluctant to pay you your entitlements. If he continues the behaviour when you return you can use these things to demonstrate an overall pattern of discrimination. But at the moment I really don't think a grievance would achieve much other than getting his back up. I don't think a claim for discrimination would be worth pursuing in terms of stress and cost at this moment, as it's unlikely to be very lucrative. I don't think you have enough for constructive dismissal either, all a grievance would do is give you a chance to air your concerns and get them recorded formally. But you can do that later if things haven't improved in a year or so when you go back.

So him saying that:

He'd fiddle management accounts to not pay me commission I'm owed,

Saying he'd hold me to a 7 year out of date contract which doesn't include the profitable part of the franchise,

Trying to duck out of paying me money I'm contractually owed and threatening me with our 'future relationship',

Calling me names, accusing me of getting pregnant again on purpose for my own ends, not completing his side of our agreements such as writing to me when he said he would; due to the whole issue being 'my hormones causing me to overreact to a petty issue',

Paying other MALE employees full pay whilst on Paternity leave,

And all while (and because of being) pregnant, isn't sex discrimination?

I realise I have little 'proof', but that doesn't make what he's doing right surely? Or something I should just ignore. Doesn't the fact that he has specifically said that if I demand my contractually allowed financial benefits that it will cause bad feeling prove sex discrimination?

If there is a 3 month time limit on sex discrimination cases and this isn't a pattern of behaviour - he's never treated me like this before, isn't it silly not to do something about it now?

Sorry if I sound disgruntled - I'm just so stressed out at the moment, not just with this matter, that it seems like 'the straw that is breaking the hugely fat pregnant lady's already broken pelvis'.

Thanks for your advice though flowery - perhaps you're right - I should just take what I'm owed, even if it means he hates me behind the scenes, and forget about the whole thing in the meantime.

I didn't say it wasn't sex discrimination and I didn't say it was right.

A lot of the list you just posted is the same thing - him not wanting to pay you your contractual entitlements and trying to find ways of getting out of it. Not acceptable and yes discrimination in his attitude, although resulting in no financial loss.

Would you be claiming that paying male employees full pay whilst they are on paternity leave is sex discrimination? Do you think you should receive full pay whilst you are on maternity leave? The whole year or the 9 months paid maternity leave? Have you raised that with him?

If he follows through with his statement that your relationship will have changed, and demonstrates that with comments/incidents, then you will have a pattern of behaviour. His actual behaviour on your return from (or possibly during) mat leave and his threats and behaviour now.

My point was that in your case a grievance in terms of solving the problems isn't going to work. If you raise a grievance with your boss accusing him of sex discrimination he is hardly going to admit it. So in your case the only reasons for raising a grievance now are to vent your feelings and/or to tick the box enabling you to move forward with a sex discrimination claim. If you want to bring a claim now, as you go off on maternity leave, then yes you need to act now and raise a grievance.

My point was I personally think a case would be more likely to be successful and bring higher compensation and also be easier for you to bring from a personal stress point of view much later on. You would have more actual evidence (if he follows through), and because with discrimination it is possible to include incidents from way before the time limit, you are not precluding yourself from claiming against what's just happened by not doing so immediately.

Focus on whatever you want to achieve and how best to achieve that.