What should I do when an employee raises a grievance against me?

This is one of the most destabilising things that can happen to a founder or MD who's been managing their team without HR support. An employee raises a formal grievance. And it's about you.

Maybe it's about a decision you made. Maybe it's about how you spoke to them. Maybe it's about a pattern of behaviour they're framing as bullying, or a promotion they didn't get, or a concern that's been building for months that you didn't know about.

Your first instinct is probably defensive. You've built this business. You've treated people fairly. You can't believe they'd raise a formal complaint. But what you feel doesn't change what you need to do.

The first thing: don't respond to the substance

When a grievance is raised, the worst thing you can do is have an informal conversation with the employee to try to resolve it yourself. Especially when you're the subject of the complaint. You can't investigate a grievance about yourself. You can't hear a grievance about yourself. You can't decide the outcome of a grievance about yourself.

That sounds obvious. But in a small business where the founder handles everything, the instinct to deal with it directly is strong. Resist it.

Who should hear it?

The grievance needs to be heard by someone who's independent of the complaint. In a larger business, that's a senior manager or an HR professional. In a small business where there's nobody senior enough, or where the only people senior enough are too close to the situation, you need to bring in someone external.

An independent HR professional can hear the grievance, investigate it, and make a recommendation. This is one of the most common reasons founders contact me. Not because they want ongoing HR support, but because they have a specific, live situation that they can't handle internally and they need someone credible and impartial to manage it.

What the process should look like

The employee should put their grievance in writing. If they haven't, ask them to. You need to understand specifically what the complaint is about.

An investigation should be conducted. This means talking to the person who raised it, talking to any witnesses, reviewing any relevant documentation, and forming a view on the facts.

A grievance hearing should be held. The employee attends, presents their case, and has the right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative. The person hearing the grievance considers the evidence and makes a decision.

The outcome is communicated in writing, with a right of appeal. The appeal should be heard by someone different from the person who heard the original grievance.

That's the framework. The ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures sets this out, and tribunals expect employers to follow it. Failure to do so doesn't just look bad. Under the current rules, a tribunal can increase any compensation award by up to 25% if the employer unreasonably failed to follow the ACAS Code.

Why it matters more than you think

A grievance isn't just a complaint. It's often the precursor to something else. A constructive dismissal claim. A discrimination allegation. A whistleblowing complaint. Employees don't always raise grievances because they want a resolution. Sometimes they raise them to create a paper trail.

That's not cynicism. It's reality. And it's why handling the process properly matters regardless of whether you think the complaint has merit. A grievance that's dismissed without proper investigation or process becomes evidence in a later claim. A grievance that's handled fairly and transparently, even if the outcome isn't what the employee wanted, is much harder to use against you.

What to do right now

If you're sitting on a grievance and you haven't responded yet, don't wait. Acknowledge receipt in writing. Confirm that it will be investigated and heard. And get advice on who should hear it and how to run the process.

If you don't have a grievance procedure, get one in place before you need it. Not after.

Book a free discovery call with King HR Advisory.