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Browse frequently asked questions and answers on key HR issues. Navigate by topic or key word search. View latest additions or suggest a question to the XpertHR editorial team.
What is the minimum an employer must offer an employee in terms of access to a grievance procedure? Can an employer deal with a grievance informally? Is an employee who does not submit a written grievance barred from bringing a tribunal claim based on his or her complaint? Who should deal with an employee's grievance? What should an employer do if an employee retracts a grievance? Where a grievance hearing has been arranged but the employee subsequently cannot make the arranged time, how should the employer handle the situation? Must a disciplinary or grievance hearing be held during an employee’s normal working hours if these are outside normal office hours? What should the employer do if an employee fails to attend a meeting under the grievance procedure? Can an employer anonymise witness statements obtained during a grievance or disciplinary procedure? Do workers have the right to be accompanied at a grievance hearing? For the purpose of the right to be accompanied how is a disciplinary or grievance hearing defined? What is a "reasonable" request by a worker to be accompanied at a disciplinary or grievance hearing? Who can be chosen as a companion at a disciplinary or grievance hearing? Can an employer reject an employee’s choice of companion for a disciplinary or grievance hearing?
No. A worker does not have a statutory right to be accompanied by a family member at a disciplinary or grievance hearing, unless the family member is a work colleague or trade union official, in which case he or she will be a permissible companion under the statutory right to be accompanied. Having said that, there is nothing to prevent an employer from allowing a worker to be accompanied by a family member and it may be appropriate to allow this in the case of a very young individual.
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