Deal with an employee's request to postpone their grievance hearing

Key points

  • Both parties are required to conduct themselves reasonably during grievance proceedings and the employee must make all reasonable efforts to attend a grievance hearing.
  • However, the employer must also make reasonable efforts to accommodate the employee if they have a genuine reason for not being able to attend. If the employee requests a postponement, the employer should enquire as to the reason for this and consider whether or not a postponement would be reasonable.
  • The employer should take account of the principles of the "Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures" when deciding whether or not to postpone the hearing.

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