A grievance appeal by the same manager who rejected it is not independent.
“EATStands for Employment Appeal Tribunal. It hears appeals from employment tribunal decisions on points of law, not on the facts. It is not a way of simply asking for a second opinion on the outcome. held a same-manager grievanceA formal complaint raised by an employee against their employer, triggering a legal obligation to investigate and respond. appeal can breach trust and confidence.”
A grievance appeal heard by the same manager who rejected your original grievance is not a genuine appeal, and that failure can matter to a constructive dismissalWhen your employer's behaviour is so serious that you feel you have no choice but to resign, the law may treat that resignation as a dismissal. The most common basis is a fundamental breach of the imp... claim.
- If the same manager hears your appeal as heard your original grievance, note this down clearly, including how long the appeal hearing actually lasted.
- This is one factor among others; it does not need to stand alone to matter, so keep a record of everything else that has gone wrong alongside it.
- Get advice before resigning if you are relying on a pattern like this, since how and when you resign affects whether a tribunal will find it was genuinely in response to the breach.
The situation
A driver at a distribution depot raised a grievance about health and safety concerns, inadequate training, and how a manager had spoken to him. A senior manager heard the grievance and rejected it. When the driver appealed, the same senior manager heard the appeal too, in a hearing that lasted around 20 minutes, and rejected it again. The driver resigned and brought a claim for constructive unfair dismissalA legal claim you can bring if your employer dismissed you without a fair reason or without following a fair process. You normally need two years of continuous employment to qualify, though some dismi..., arguing that the lack of a genuinely independent appeal was part of what broke down the working relationship.
What the tribunal found
The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the employment tribunalAn independent court that hears disputes between employees and employers. It is free to bring a claim as a claimant, and most hearings take place in public. had been wrong not to properly consider whether the lack of an impartial appeal could amount to a breach of the implied termA term that forms part of your employment contract even though it is not written down. The duty of mutual trust and confidence is the most important implied term, but others include the duty to pay wa... of trust and confidence. A grievance appeal heard by someone with no previous involvement is a basic requirement of a fair process, reflected in the ACASThe Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. A public body that provides free, impartial guidance on workplace rights and disputes, and runs the mandatory early conciliation process before any ... Code. Failing to provide that is capable of contributing to, or itself amounting to, a breach serious enough to justify resignation and a constructive dismissal claim. The EAT did not say every procedural slip has this effect. The point is that a tribunal has to genuinely weigh it, not treat the outcome would have been the same anyway as the end of the enquiry.
Blackburn v Aldi Stores Ltd. UKEAT/0185/12. Employment Appeal Tribunal. July 2013.