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Failure to adapt grievance procedure gives rise to constructive dismissal claim

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that an employer’s refusal to vary its contractual grievance procedure at the request of the employee amounted to a breach of trust and confidence, entitling the employee to resign and claim constructive dismissal.

In GMB Trade Union v Brown (EAT 0621/06/1610), Ms Brown raised a grievance against her line manager, a regional secretary of the GMB. This largely resulted from the breakdown of their working relationship. Under the union’s grievance procedure Ms Brown was required to progress the matter with her line manager before moving on to the next stage. After four unproductive meetings with her manager, she asked to skip the first stage as she felt that further meetings with him would make her ill. The union refused her request. Ms Brown was then absent on long-term sick leave due to stress, and resigned over a year later when the union’s new acting general secretary refused to meet with her to discuss her grievance. Ms Brown brought a claim for constructive dismissal.

The tribunal and EAT both concluded that the union had acted unreasonably due to its failure to be flexible regarding the grievance procedure and to properly deal with Ms Brown’s grievance. The employee made it clear that if she was required to attend another meeting with her manager, this was likely to damage her health. It was therefore unreasonable in the circumstances for the union to insist on full compliance with its grievance procedure and the employee succeeded in her constructive dismissal claim.

This case emphasises the need for flexibility by employers when implementing their policies and procedures. It is good practice to have clear policies in place, but these should not be applied rigidly, regardless of the circumstances. If an employee has good reason to seek a change to a particular policy, this request should be taken seriously by the employer. If it is not, the employer’s actions could amount to a breach of the relationship of trust and confidence and therefore give rise to a constructive dismissal claim.

For further information regarding constructive dismissal, see the Q&A at the end of this month’s Employment Brief.


Read the other articles in this newsletter:

Third party pressure to dismiss
Smoking dismissal was fair
Manager selected for redundancy because of his age
Q&A – Constructive dismissal


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